Cartoon Modern

Here are stills from the finished film with backgrounds painted by Bob McIntosh. These were scanned from an old 35mm print and unfortunately some of the colors are faded and, even with some tweaking, are not as accurate as they should be.

This is a UPA background by Bob McIntosh for an early-1950s TV commercial or industrial film. I haven’t been able to identify what it was for, but it was likely done around the time he first arrived at the studio in 1952.

(click on image for larger version)

These are a couple caricatures of Bob McIntosh painted by genius director/designer John Hubley, while they were serving in the First Motion Picture Unit in the early-1940s. There’s also an incredible Hubley drawing of McIntosh that will be printed in the book. Prior to joining UPA in 1952, McIntosh had worked at Disney (where he painted multiplane backgrounds directly on glass for BAMBI), the First Motion Picture Unit during WWII, and at Paul J. Fennell’s TV commercial studio Cartoon Films Ltd. Bob is happily still with us today, at age 89, and still quite active as a fine art painter.

(click on images for larger versions)

Bob McIntosh was one of the main background painters at the leading design-oriented studio of the time, UPA (United Productions of America), where he worked primarily on the Mister Magoo shorts. He started at UPA in 1952 and stayed through the decade. He has a very direct and efficient style, moreso than the other painters at the studio. The flat poster-like quality of his work often reminds me of Stuart Davis though McIntosh told me that Davis was never that big an influence on him. He cites Picasso, Matisse and Miró as his primary modern influences. A typical example of his painting style can be found in these stills from MAGOO MAKES NEWS (1955). I especially like the outlandishly decorative printing press that Bob Dranko designed and McIntosh painted in this film. It is UPA design excess at its best.

(click on images for larger versions)