THEUNDERGROUNDSKETCHES

Many of the ideas for the Disney duck oil paintings Carl Barks made originated from fans and collectors requesting specific scenes. And Barks complied as best as he could, but the number of wishes by far exceeded what he was able to do during his overwhelmingly busy painting years. This meant that he had to disappoint a large number of hopeful, potential buyers, whose artwork suggestions could have easily doubled the number of finished paintings.
Once in a while Barks was contacted by companies that wanted him to paint a scene for use in their businesses (see an example HERE). In 1983 he was approached to produce a front cover painting for a book on Disneyana*, and he immediately got to work. The work title was Which Disney Theme Park is This? Still, the project came to a close after several sketches had been made, and no painting was ever produced. This is the story.

* Disneyana is a commonly used term for collectibles such as books, toys, souvenirs, and characters produced and licensed under the auspices of The Walt Disney Company. In fact, Barks later - on his own accord - made an oil painting featuring a large collection of Disneyana (see it HERE).

PROLOGUE

Barks intended to make an artwork filled with Disneyana, and based loosely on his 1956 adventure story U$13 Land Beneath the Ground. He worked on the project for a long time which resulted in a series of sketches some of which have survived.
The sketches render a unique and fruitful glimpse of the long train of thoughts that lay behind all of Barks' Disney paintings as well as the opportunity to graphically see how his mind worked and how many decisions and alterations were needed to finally arrive at the end result.
The sketches presented on this page have been unofficially divided into 4 versions that are different from each other in order for you to get an easier access to the material and its chronology.

INITIAL WORK

On the left you are presented to the first known idea scribblings from Barks' hand. They were quickly jotted down as they came to him.
Transcript:

Terrys & Fermys background
S (i.e. Scrooge), Ducks & others
Grand Adventure Theme
light & darkness accentuated
Panel showing "Trophy"
Booth showing Disneyana

The rough sketch seems to show an underground creature promoting a figurine or a doll.

VERSION #1

Rough idea pencil sketches

Layout sketch, pastel with crayons, 20x20" (510x510mms)

Barks made several initial sketches in which one of his main points was the rendering of Scrooge McDuck. In the first idea sketch he was situated in the far background with the Ducks in the foreground, but in the next Barks had reconsidered; now Scrooge has a more prominent place in the drawing (and he has switched places with the trophy presenting Terry wearing a bow tie (Terries wear bow ties, while Fermies wear a type of necktie called four-in-hands)). The trophy is the same vase presented to Scrooge in the story.

Then a more detailed sketch was done as a pastel, and you are now able to see that another Terry is trying to sell Disneyana; Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck (the initial type!), Pinocchio, Pluto, Elmer Elephant, Big Bad Wolf, and a young Bambi are easily recognizable.

VERSION #2

Idea sketch, oil on carton, 23x23" (580x580mms)

Idea sketch, oil on carton, 23x23" (580x580mms)

In the first sketch Barks now opted for a simpler and lighter background by placing a massive stone column that takes up almost all of the space. Several Terries and Fermies can now be identified on the left side of the drawing. A couple of the underground beings are wearing the well known Disneyland Mickey Mouse ears, and the original trophy vase has been substituted for a Goofy doll, which suddenly makes the presenter a Disneyana salesman instead. Observe, that the two already presented salesmen are both wearing Disney wrist watches. Also, there are changes as for the rendered Disney characters; Pinocchio is seen twice, a portrait of Snow White as well as a Mickey Mouse magazine have been added.

In the next sketch Barks reintroduced the complicated forest-like background of stone columns to obtain more colour possibilities. The Duck family is moved closer to the foreground. The Pinocchio doll on the counter is removed, while the string version remains. One of the portraits as well as a mug and two bunny rabbits have been removed.

VERSION #3

Barks was still struggling with the stone column background, and he made a number of his so-called 'feeling around' sketches, of which some are presented above. They are rough miniatures showing how he experimented with both the background as well as the character groups.

Layout sketch, pastel with crayons, 23x23" (580x580mms)

Idea sketch, oil on carton, 23x23" (580x580mms)

Barks now changed most of the ingredients in the project in diverse more or less subtle ways. As for the background he finally decided to go for a fairly well lighted version, and he added a large number of underground creatures. The booth with the counter and its contents to the right have been changed considerably (examples: the booth is moved backwards, the roof with the hanging wrist watches and Pinocchio have vanished, and a figurine of Snow White has emerged). The greeting Terry has disappeared and been substituted for a new salesman holding a Pluto figurine (and the little creature next to him is holding up a Daisy Duck doll). For some reason he is not wearing a Disneyland hat as opposed to the other salesmen who are wearing one each with different motifs. Still, the biggest set of alterations are that the Duck family has been moved to the absolute foreground where they have been joined by Scrooge.

The idea sketch is very reminiscent of the layout sketch, and Barks finally managed to position all the elements as an X, with the ducks in the center, and the other characters as spectators turned to the middle section. Also, the bright area behind Donald's and Scrooge's heads seems to radiate a strong ray of light flooding out. But there are other changes; Daisy has been substituted for a modern-type Donald, and the new presenter is all of a sudden a Fermy wearing a four-in-hand...

VERSION #4

Rough idea pencil sketch

The last sketch, oil on carton, 23x23" (580x580mms) presented by the master

Once again Barks rethinks and alters the main motif significantly. Gone are most of the underground creatures, the booths and most of the Disneyana. The only remaining, substantial collectible is a new, large Mickey Mouse figure to the left as a reminder that the painting was supposed to be the front of a book on different Disney collectibles. To the right are two creatures of which the bigger is carrying an open wicker basket. Now the 5 ducks fill most of the artwork area. At this point of time it seems fairly evident that Barks had given up on the ordered painting by eliminating nearly all of the Disneyana, and the project came to a screeching halt...