The last character Harald Siepermann worked on for Treasure Planet was Hands. Hands is part of John Silver’s pirate crew, and in the script described as a hulking alien swabbie who is as mean as he is stupid.
“Israel Hands is the most brutal of the pirates,” commented Harald Siepermann. “I wanted him to be a cockroach, with his knifes and daggers being part of his actual anatomy, like the clamps or a lobster.” Below are very rough copies of Harald Siepermann’s visual development for the character:
Harald Siepermann did all his work for Treasure Planet from his home in Germany, and periodically he would send the originals to the Walt Disney studio in Burbank by FedEx, and made copies for his own archive. However, as Harald Siepermann commented, “I was way behind, had to send the stuff over in a hurry and with FedEx knocking at the door, I only had the time to copy my favorite one on the fax machine.” Therefore the copies above are the only surviving drawings of Hands in Harald Siepermann’s archive. And unfortunately none of Harald’s designs for Hands were featured in the book Treasure Planet A Voyage of Discovery. Let’s hope Disney will publish them someday, so we can have a more clear and colorful view of Harald’s design for Hands.
Harald Siepermann made his last sketch for Hands, and also for Treasure Planet, on November 16, 1998. A few weeks later Harald went to the Walt Disney studio in Florida to start on visual development for a new project called Brother Bear.
