Preston Erwin Blair was an American character animator, most noted for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Metro Goldwyn Mayer animation department. He was the brother of fellow Disney animator Lee Blair and the brother-in-law of Disney visual development artist Mary Blair.
At Disney, Blair animated cartoon short subjects, such as Mickey Mouse scenes in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" section of Fantasia, and the hippo-alligator dance in Fantasia's "Dance of the Hours" sequence. He also did some work on Disney's Pinocchio and Bambi, as well as the cartoon shorts The Whalers, Beach Picnic, and Sea Scouts.
Blair left Disney after the 1941 Disney animators' strike and was hired to work for Tex Avery's unit at MGM. His most notable cartoon that he served as an animator for was Red Hot Riding Hood where he animated the titular female character without the usage of reference.
He is most noted, however, as an author of animation instructional books for Walter Foster Publishing. His first book, Animation, was published in 1948 and originally included images of the famous MGM & Disney cartoon characters he had animated, who were redrawn to obscure their origins in the second edition of the book. Blair would write many more animation how-to texts over the next forty years, culminating with 1994's Cartoon Animation, a 224-page book that compiles most of the content from all of his books.
Blair passed away on April 19, 1995 in Santa Cruz, CA.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Mickey's Polo Team | animator - uncredited |
| 1938 | The Whalers | animator - uncredited |
| 1938 | Donald's Golf Game | animator - uncredited |
| 1939 | The Practical Pig | animator - uncredited |
| 1939 | Beach Picnic | animator - uncredited |
| 1939 | Sea Scouts | animator - uncredited |
| 1939 | The Pointer | animator - uncredited |
| 1939 | Officer Duck | animator - uncredited |
| 1940 | Pinocchio | animator |
| 1940 | The Riveter | animator |
| 1940 | Donald's Dog Laundry | animator - uncredited |
| 1940 | Bone Trouble | animator |
| 1940 | Fantasia | animator - segments "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" "Dance of the Hours" |
| 1941 | Dumbo | animator - uncredited |
| 1942 | The Sleep Walker | animator - uncredited |
| 1942 | Bambi | animator |
| 1942 | T-Bone for Two | animator - uncredited |
| 1942 | Pluto at the Zoo | animator - uncredited |
| 1947 | Fun and Fancy Free | animator - uncredited |
| 1949 | Pueblo Pluto | animator - uncredited |
| 1999 | Fantasia 2000 | animator - segment "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" |
External links[]
