These are character designs from the early stages of production, by Nicholas Marlet. You can see that they seem quite free-form, with visible rough sketch marks still on the page. The colours are muted, to just give a suggestion or hint of the shading and colouring of the creatures. The style is spindlier and creepier than usual Disney, which shows that they have not been refined and reproduced multiple times yet in the studio. They almost look like the work of Chris Riddel, one of my favourite children's illustrators. Indeed, they look more like static illustrations than actual designs for moving, living characters. The physics of some would be too disproportionate to animate properly/ realistically.
Source:
disneyconceptsandstuff.tumblr.com/post/102219297046/character-designs-from-monsters-inc-by-nicolas
These character design/concept art pieces by Carter Goodrich are even less coloured than the previous ones, and instead rely more heavily on shading and depth to convey a sense of atmosphere rather than actual form. They are pencil sketches, but intricately done, and give the additional information of the environments that the characters might appear in or the actions they will partake in. Pieces like these would be great to use in a pitch of the story, to communicate the feel and the purpose of the tale.
For neither of the above images to I have a credit for the actual artist, as it was not listed on the course site I found them on. They are taken from the visual development stage of the film, when basic setting, character, colour key etc ideas were being formulated. The picture is roughly done, in pen and marker it seem,s with just enough detail, colour and shading to suggest the look of the scene in the final finished film. Images like these might also be the kind to appear on a storyboard, as they have basic blocking included and very decisive camera angles.
Source:
disneyconceptsandstuff.tumblr.com/post/102224963929/visual-development-from-monsters-inc
All of the above images are colour keys by Dominique Louis. They are painted with either pastel or chalk it seems, to give rich and complete tones to the images. These keys show the atmosphere of each scene, without the drawings being terribly intricate. It gives and sense of the mise-en-scene. In some shots, the blue colours suggest night time, loneliness, isolation and the urban, while the ones with warmer pink and golden tones are more inviting, and we expect it to be a happier scene. Yet all of these examples show the mood without even featuring actors, dialogue or plot.
