Editing Dumbo (section)

===Animation===
From Disney's perspective, ''Dumbo'' required none of the special effects that had slowed down production and grew the budgets of ''Pinocchio'', ''Fantasia'', and ''Bambi''.{{sfn|Barrier|1999|page=272}} When the film went into production in early 1941, supervising director [[Ben Sharpsteen]] was given orders to keep the film simple and inexpensive.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|page=333}} As a result, the character designs are simpler, background paintings are less detailed, and a number of held cels (or frames) were used in the [[traditional animation|character animation]]. Although the film is more "cartoony" than previous Disney films, the animators brought elephants and other animals into the studio to study their movement.<ref name="John Canemaker" />

[[Watercolor painting|Watercolor paint]] was used to render the backgrounds. ''Dumbo'' is one of the few Disney features to use the technique, which was also used for ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'', and regularly employed for the various Disney cartoon shorts. The other Disney features used [[oil paint]] and [[gouache]]. 2002's ''[[Lilo & Stitch]]'', which drew influences from ''Dumbo'', [[Lilo & Stitch#Design and animation|also made use of watercolor backgrounds]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/06/19/a-look-inside-the-creation-of-lilo-and-stitch|title=A Look Inside the Creation of Lilo and Stitch|work=IGN|date=June 19, 2002|access-date=June 19, 2020|archive-date=April 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413215011/https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/06/19/a-look-inside-the-creation-of-lilo-and-stitch|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Disney animators' strike====
{{main|Disney animators' strike}}
During a story meeting for ''Bambi'' on February 27, 1940, Disney observed that ''Dumbo'' was "an obvious straight cartoon" and that the animators that were assigned on ''Bambi'' were not appropriate for the look of ''Dumbo''. Animators such as [[Art Babbitt]] and [[Ward Kimball]] were considered for the film.{{sfn|Barrier|1999|page=272}} For that reason, less experienced animators were brought on to animate the characters. Kimball recalled that Disney approached him in a parking lot about ''Dumbo'' and summarized the entire story in five minutes. "And listening to him tell that story," Kimball noted, "I could tell that the picture was going to work. Because everything sounded right. It had a great plot." In spite of this, [[Bill Tytla]], who was one of the studio's top animators, animated the title character, but admitted that "it was in the nature of the film to go very fast and get it out in a hurry." To speed up production, Disney used photostats of story sketches instead of full layout artwork for the film, and had experienced animators to supervise the younger, less experienced animators assigned on the film.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pages=333–334}}

Production on the film was interrupted on May 29, 1941, when much of the Disney animation staff went on strike. Kimball chose to not to strike, but his close friend [[Walt Kelly]], who was an assistant animator helping him on the crow sequence, left the studios shortly after for reasons unrelated to the strike.<ref>{{cite book|last=Canemaker|first=John|title=Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation|chapter=Ward Kimball|pages=104–105|year=2001|publisher=Disney Editions|isbn=978-0-786-86496-6}}</ref>

Some have interpreted the clowns' requests to get a raise from their boss being a reference to the Disney animators that went on strike in 1941 (during the creation of the film), demanding higher pay from Walt himself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lowry |first=Sam |title=The Disney cartoonists strike, 1941 |url=http://libcom.org/history/1941-disney-cartoonists-strike |website=Libcom |access-date=May 27, 2020 |archive-date=April 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412064012/http://libcom.org/history/1941-disney-cartoonists-strike |url-status=live }}</ref> Animator and strike organizer Art Babbitt denied this, saying he had been assigned to animate the sequence before the strike. "People attached political significance to what happened there.  You know, 'Let's go on strike' and so on.  We weren't thinking strike at the time.  In fact, there never would have been a strike if it hadn't been forced on us."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Friedman |first1=Jake S. |title=Dumbo! During Labor Unrest! |url=https://babbittblog.com/2016/10/26/dumbo-during-labor-unrest/ |website=BabbittBlog.com |date=October 26, 2016 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124053427/https://babbittblog.com/2016/10/26/dumbo-during-labor-unrest/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Canemaker |first1=John |title=FANTASIA'S 80th Anniversary – and a 1975 interview with Art Babbitt |url=http://animatedeye.johncanemaker.com/blog/fantasias-80th-anniversary-and-a-1975-interview-with-art-babbitt/ |website=John Canemaker's Animated Eye |date=November 13, 2020 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124053427/http://animatedeye.johncanemaker.com/blog/fantasias-80th-anniversary-and-a-1975-interview-with-art-babbitt/ |url-status=live }}</ref>