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Description
For 's "Disney Shorts" contest.

The Flying Mouse is one of the strangest Disney works I've seen. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's a Silly Symphony in which a mouse rescues a fairy and is granted the ability to fly. He receives bat wings, and as a result, he is shunned by the very birds he admired, is unrecognized by his own family, and is even taunted by the bats. He eventually finds the fairy again, and returns to normal, reuniting with his family.
The intended moral lesson was likely meant to be "be yourself- don't try to be something you're not", but it comes out more like "don't ever try to change or better yourself- stick to what you know or else!", which is quite unlike Walt's usual follow-your-dreams message.
I had honestly expected the plot to go somewhere quite different- while he is rejected at first, he eventually uses his wings to save the day some way or another, but soon realizes he was happier the way he was, bingo, happily ever after. That would be more in line with the usual '30s Aesop-type plots.

But in the hands of someone with a more modern storytelling style, though (say a comic book writer), the outcome would have been quite different. Shunned by the forest's denizens, accepted by none, not even the creatures of the night, the mouse goes into hiding, using his power of flight and small size to protect the other animals he still loves, albeit grudgingly.
This is basically what I've drawn here.

It was quite interesting adapting the mouse to my more realistic technique while still retaining the vintage cartooning style. When I took all those screenshots, I noticed that as the short progresses, his face becomes less mouse-like, and more round and Mickey-ish.
I didn't originally have his shirt ripped, but in drawing the wings with real bat anatomy in mind (instead of the weird floppy things of the original), it just didn't look right without the webbing extending down to his hind legs. Looks cooler that way anyway.

~Criswell

The crayon coloring for the night sky here is mostly inspired by James Whistler's "Nocturne in Black and Gold", although the image I found online was more greenish, so I doubt it was accurate. It kinda came out looking more like Van Gogh's "Starry Night", but whatever. I had a fun time creating the light effects.
The tree was partly inspired by the creepy tree at the climax of Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. I won't explain what that tree is, because that would be a spoiler!

...I don't know why I refer to master painters for cartooning, but it works so well for me and I love doing it...

~Fatal hilarity

tymime.deviantart.com/journal/…

Description
For 's "Disney Shorts" contest.

The Flying Mouse is one of the strangest Disney works I've seen. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's a Silly Symphony in which a mouse rescues a fairy and is granted the ability to fly. He receives bat wings, and as a result, he is shunned by the very birds he admired, is unrecognized by his own family, and is even taunted by the bats. He eventually finds the fairy again, and returns to normal, reuniting with his family.
The intended moral lesson was likely meant to be "be yourself- don't try to be something you're not", but it comes out more like "don't ever try to change or better yourself- stick to what you know or else!", which is quite unlike Walt's usual follow-your-dreams message.
I had honestly expected the plot to go somewhere quite different- while he is rejected at first, he eventually uses his wings to save the day some way or another, but soon realizes he was happier the way he was, bingo, happily ever after. That would be more in line with the usual '30s Aesop-type plots.

But in the hands of someone with a more modern storytelling style, though (say a comic book writer), the outcome would have been quite different. Shunned by the forest's denizens, accepted by none, not even the creatures of the night, the mouse goes into hiding, using his power of flight and small size to protect the other animals he still loves, albeit grudgingly.
This is basically what I've drawn here.

It was quite interesting adapting the mouse to my more realistic technique while still retaining the vintage cartooning style. When I took all those screenshots, I noticed that as the short progresses, his face becomes less mouse-like, and more round and Mickey-ish.
I didn't originally have his shirt ripped, but in drawing the wings with real bat anatomy in mind (instead of the weird floppy things of the original), it just didn't look right without the webbing extending down to his hind legs. Looks cooler that way anyway.

~Criswell

The crayon coloring for the night sky here is mostly inspired by James Whistler's "Nocturne in Black and Gold", although the image I found online was more greenish, so I doubt it was accurate. It kinda came out looking more like Van Gogh's "Starry Night", but whatever. I had a fun time creating the light effects.
The tree was partly inspired by the creepy tree at the climax of Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. I won't explain what that tree is, because that would be a spoiler!

...I don't know why I refer to master painters for cartooning, but it works so well for me and I love doing it...

~Fatal hilarity

tymime.deviantart.com/journal/…