My Friends and Fellow Cartoon Fans/Aficionados, I have seen the Promised Land. It is in Seattle until May 26.

At MOHAI (The Museum of History and Industry) in Seattle's Montlake District is holding an exhibit called "The Art of the Warner Brothers Cartoons". It's in the Merrill Green Gallery (for all you Seattleites).

Any animation student/fan, or anybody who watched these cartoons on Saturday Morning, would be doing themselves a favor to see this. It has some of the most beautiful animation artwork I've ever seen. Lining the walls of this exhibit is the actual artwork used in the films themselves, not the crappy versions they use today.

Artwork includes storyboard drawings (mostly from 1930's Porky Pig cartoons, layouts, animation drawings, and model sheets (like a 1945 model sheet of Tweety), not to mention actual cels and promotional drawings. When possible, they actually credit the artist who made the drawings themselves.

The exhibit showed animation drawings by Ken Harris (Chuck Jones's top animator)of Wile E. Coyote from a RoadRunner cartoon, along with drawings of Bob McKimson's Bugs Bunny animation from "Hare Ribbin'". I saw the famous 1943 model sheet for Bugs Bunny, the one that defined his look.

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the exhibit was along one wall, they showed how a cartoon was made, from storyboard to final cartoon. With each step, they had an example of what was used during the process. That part of the exhibit included an exposure sheet (what the director used to time the cartoon), which blew me away. I would think that other people wouldn't find that interesting.

Apart from the actual Warners artwork, the exhibit included demonstrations of cartooning and animation from two local cartoonists. One is Kevin Boze, creator of the comic strip for the military called "Cpl. Kev". The other is Bob Abrams, an animator who actually worked at Warner Brothers. He also worked at Disney (on "Sleeping Beauty") and on Bob Clampett's "Beany and Cecil".

All in all, this is something that should not be missed.

Happy Trails