The Background Art of Johnny Johnsen

I would like to devote my first actual post to one of my favorite background artists in animation: John Didrik Johnsen. 

The Crackpot Quail, 1941, Warner Bros. This film in particular features some of my favorite background art from him.

Johnsen was Avery's background artist for most of his career. It is said that he started in the mid-1930s, though the earliest film that I recognize his work in is A Feud There Was (1938). 

A Feud There Was, 1938, Warner Bros. Ignore the MeTV watermark...this is the best print currently available.

A different artist seems to take over through the rest of the film, because it's rendered in a less detailed and more cartoonish style.

In fact, this particular background makes me think of Dr. Seuss.

It's been said that he may have been responsible for the colored pencil backgrounds in Little Red Walking Hood (1937), but I'm not too sure of the legitimacy of that claim. I wonder if anyone knows when he joined Schlesinger.

Anyways, one of my favorite things about his work is the naturalistic colors featured in his work. They're extremely vibrant, but it is very much rooted in reality.

The Heckling Hare, 1941, Warner Bros. Love these autumn colors...

A lot of The Bug Parade (1941) is very interesting to me because it is so unusual from Johnsen's regular work--many shots in that call for a rather microscopic view of the world, resulting in extreme closeups of the ground and/or flowers.

The Bug Parade, 1941, Warner Bros. There are also some neat "simulated focus" shots in the film.

Anyway, Johnsen stuck around at Schlesinger for a little while, doing the background work for some of Clampett's earliest films at the former Avery unit. After a few cartoons, he reunited with Tex at MGM, where he would stay.

The Wacky Wabbit, 1942, Warner Bros. This almost looks like a shot from What's Buzzin', Buzzard?

I would add more, but part of me wants to do a separate post on Johnsen's MGM work eventually. Either way, I wonder if any of these backgrounds still exist? It'd be nice if they did.