THE ART OF WALT DISNEY (1988, Christopher Finch)

Christopher Finch. The Art Of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms. New York. Portland House. 1988

/ PDF / English / 160 pages / 0517664747 / 978-0517664742

First published in 1973, The Art of Walt Disney is one of the most successful and influential illustrated art books on American popular culture ever published. This book was the first to reveal the wealth of concept art, animation drawings, and archival material created in the course of animating films. In this newly revised edition, author Christopher Finch has thoroughly reworked every chapter to incorporate the vast achievements of The Walt Disney Company in filmmaking, theater, and theme parks, from Walt’s day to the present, including all-new exciting chapters on Pixar Animation Studio and Walt Disney Animation along with extensive interviews with their chief creative officer, John Lasseter, and president, Ed Catmull. Offering hundreds of new images and unparalleled access to leading filmmakers and artists at The Walt Disney Company, The Art of Walt Disney will once again capture the imaginations of animation fans young and old.

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THE ART OF THE IRON GIANT (2016, Ramin Zahed)

Ramin Zahed. The Art of The Iron Giant. Insight Editions, 2016.

/ PDF / English / 144 pages / 1608878880 /  978-1608878888

This beautifully illustrated book revisits the classic film The Iron Giant, with unprecedented access to rarely seen development art and storyboards from the Warner Bros. archives.

In director Brad Bird’s beloved and critically acclaimed 1999 movie The Iron Giant, an inquisitive young boy named Hogarth Hughes forms a powerful friendship with a robot visitor from outer space. Set in the days of the Cold War, the film follows the adventures of Hogarth and the Iron Giant as they try to escape a town’s hysteria, a shady government agent, and the US military.

Featuring the voices of Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, and Eli Marienthal, The Iron Giant is considered one of the classic animated gems of the era, offering a beautiful mix of hand-drawn and CG animation. In celebration of the timeless legacy of the film, Warner Bros. released a special remastered Signature Edition featuring two new scenes.

The Art of The Iron Giant takes an in-depth look at the making of this modern classic, featuring interviews with the director and the talented members of the creative team who worked endless hours to bring their vision to the big screen. Including never-before-seen images, concept art, backgrounds, and storyboards, this deluxe volume provides fascinating insight into the creative process, in addition to offering a sneak peek at some of the alternative images and plotlines the filmmakers considered before coming up with the final version of the movie. Showcasing the brilliant work of Brad Bird and his tireless team of masterful artists, The Art of The Iron Giant is a must-have companion to the movie and a wonderful testament to the enduring magic of this animated classic. (Amazon)

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FUNNY! (2015, Jason Katz)

Jason Katz. Funny!: Twenty-Five Years of Laughter from the Pixar Story Room. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2015.

/ PDF / English / 168 pages / 1452122288 /  978-1452122281

The funny pictures are always diformed, with certain characteristics exagerated. But the thing is you pretty much know who are these characters: speaks about how Pixar is now part of Pop Culture... Their characters are as recognizable as Mickey, Chaplin, Bugs Bunny, Michael Jackson, Nomi Malone or:

"I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?... You said I'm funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!"

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THE ART OF ZOOTOPIA (2016, Jessica Julius)

Jessica Julius. The Art of Zootopia. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2016.

/ PDF / English / 160 pages /  1452122237 / 978-1452122236

Some years ago Disney finally bought Pixar (and John Lasseter's soul muhahahaha). The idea was having them as a subsidiary separate studio releasing CGI animation features and to keep the Walt Disney Animation Studio making beautiful classic style "2D" animation... That didn't work, sigh... Classic animation is dead for the most part, sigh, sigh... But something odd happened... Disney did in fact absorb the Pixar style and business model (which is what they wanted), but, here is the weird part, they make it even better! like Wtf! And this days Disney is releasing super original, innovative work (like this feature Zootopia, a kids silly movie that is really about prejudices, stereotypes and racism!!!) and Pixar, or Disney-Pixar whatever you wanna call it, is stuck on safe cruiser mode: Nemo's sequel, Toy Story 11 (Woody should die already ok?: burn him alive), Cars Sequel again, The Incredibles sequel... Yeah they're still Top Notch film makers don't get me wrong, but something is not entirely there... Even Inside Out (beautiful and all...) but yeah: safe! Well, like 20th century's greatest poet used to say: Nothing Lasts Forever.

Ok, so another "Art Of" with all the usual stuff you find in this sort of books: fine... With a very minor look to what went into the making of the awesome film Zootopia (needs more words, interviews, the original script, some stupid production memo idk, something!...)

(by pelida77)

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THE ART OF FINDING DORY (2016)

The Art of Disney Pixar Finding Dory. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2016.

/ PDF / English / 179 pages /  1452122245 / 978-1452122243

In-depth looks into the process of of making the beautiful Pixar sequel to Nemo.With a preface by John Lasseter (Big Boss), Andrew Stanton (Director) and Steve Pilcher (Production Designer)

Early character sketches on scrap paper, to graphic artist renditions of logos or posters that dress the sets of the film provides digital paintings but also pencil sketches, storyboards, notes about color theory and how color and lighting is used to elicit particular emotions, colorscripts and text with even more insights into the art which fills the pages.

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THE ART OF FROZEN (2013, Charles Solomon)

Charles Solomon. The Art of Frozen. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2013.

/ JPEG / English / 150 pages / 1452117160 / 978-1452117164

Preface by John Lasseter. With a Foreword by Chris Buck (Director) and Jennifer Lee (Director, Screenplay)

The film originates in 2008 when Chris Buck talked John Lasseter about his interest in making a feature on Andersen's The Snow Queen (1844). But really this project has been a favorite for Disney's Studio since 1938!!! The new management faced the same problem the old studio had back in the day: a very difficult story to adapt because of its episodic nature. The solution they found was to make an entirely new story loosely based on the tale. They've replaced the classic princess/romance format with a story about siblings: two antagonist sisters.

Many artists talking about the process of Storyboarding (Drawings pinned to large sheets of cork board in a sequence that explains an action or scene). The script; the artist first pass, the struggle to put words into images, and then images into words when you're explaining your sequence to the rest of the team. And the key to a good animated scene, ask yourself: can you do it without dialogue?

Nowadays the majority of artist draw on computers; so they get to see the scenes in rough form before any animation is done. The artist made a trip to Norway, in order to get a feeling of the place, decorative arts (patterned) and architecture. You get to know all the little choices made by Michael Giaimo (Art Director). To him all you see must be related; the enviroments are related to the characters, and the characters to their costumes. He favored yellow greens, ochres, and olive colors with Ana to reflect her sunny nature. Elsa, a repressed character, is like a beautiful and harmonious ice crystal. Hans is an elegant chameleon.  

Nice movie, nice book. (by pelida77)

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THE ART OF BRAVE (2012, Jenny Lerew)

Jenny Lerew. The Art of Brave, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2012.

26 MB / JPEG / English / 160 pages / 9781452101422 / 9781452101422

I like Brenda Chapman. She's been in the animation business for nearly 30 years: begining as sync checker in Dennis the Menace the TV Series (1986); Then Disney: Storyboard in The Little Mermaid (1989); Story in Beauty and the Beast (1991); Story Supervisor in The Lion King (1994); Story in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Fantasia 2000 (1999). Moving to Dreamworks: Directing, The Prince of Egypt (1998). Story in Chicken Run (2000). Finally, directing Pixar's Brave (2012), creating the story and characters based on the relationship with her own daughter, and her love for Scotland. She has a sensibility that's quite rare in this boys club. 

She was replaced as a director due to "creative disagreements" (seems to me not everything is gold in the wonderful land of Pixar). Among many other changes, Disney-Pixar decided to make Merida thinner!!! I've always imagined Brenda to be just like her character, a fiery Scottish archer at heart (and she did not probed me wrong: pointed at Lasseter for her firing... I mean...yickes!) Certainly I admire her even more now: remained loyal to her believes on how female characters should be portrayed specially when your audience are kids. (by pelida77)

 

A lovely book: a preface by John Lasseter, Brenda Chapman, and Mark Andrews (the replacement). You'll see the very first drawings of Merida made by Steve Purcell (Story) after Brenda told him about her ideas; the artists trip to Scotland to "soak in the atmosphere of the country". How the designers created each character. The sculpts that helped the artists. The engravings are outstanding.

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THE ART OF WALL-E (2008, Tim Hauser)

 Tim Hauser. The Art of Wall-e, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2008.

32 MB / GonVisor File / 160 pages / 0811862356 / 978-0811862356

A nice film made by the famous Studio Pixar. The first half is touching, beautiful and poetic... and then the movie went to hell. It's like puting voices, dialogue and a narrator to a Chaplin movie. You don't do that!

This one should have been silent, a pure pantomime animation, and a master piece. Sadly is only a nice movie.

A short foreword by Andrew Stanton (Director). You really can't get much from it, besides how they faced a big problem to make the robot communicate just through its movements and R2D2 kind of sounds.

Usually in art-books, you only get images. But luckily in this book these are accompanied by words and quotes from the creators, explaining what were their intentions.

You get the thoughts from: Jim Morris, Ralph Eggleston (Producers); Alan Barillaro (Animator); Anthony Cristov (Art); Jeremy Lasky (Cinematography); Noah Klocek (Sketch) and many others, with, of course, two main protagonist: Stanton and John Lasseter. (by pelida77)

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MARAVILLAS DE LOS DIBUJOS ANIMADOS (1968, Bob Thomas)

Bob Thomas, Maravillas de los Dibujos Animados, Valencia, Gaisa, 1968.

JPEG / 66 MB / Spanish - Espanol / 185 pp / (A scan made by Ernest Pfluger)

This is the spanish translation of The Art of Animation (1958, Bob Thomas) The original english book is no longer being published. (If you can't read spanish, you'll still be able to enjoy the art, and inside-studio photographs.)

Like the Thomas and Johnston Illusion of Life, this is an absolute classic of animation literature. This book inspired a whole generation to become animators. John Lasseter once said that through this book he realised that people made cartoons for living... and of course, that's what he wanted to do. The book was used as an advertising teaser for the upcoming release of Sleeping Beauty (1959); which is treated as the pinnacle of Disney's Art form, and so this movie serves as a unifying theme for the book. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the animation process; explaining its history, with recurrent memories about the old days, how things were made in the 20's (or even before) and how far with Sleeping Beauty they've come.

This was the first Disney book that gave partial credit to the artist (though it's funny-awkward how Walt Disney is depicted as someone that would actually make the drawings; and every now and then we get a boss ass-kissing sentence). Of course the nine are credited Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, Les Clark, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery and Eric Larson; and other famous artist like: Ub Iwerks, Fred Spencer, Wilfred Jackson, Albert Hurter, Gerry Geronimi, Fred Moore, Norm Ferguson, Burt Gillett, David Hand, Ham Luske, Byll Tytla... And more. But also some forgotten figures, like: Don DaGradi (writer); Webb Smith, Ed penner and Joe Rinaldi (Storyboards); Tead Sears and Dick Huemer (ex Fleischers animators). A MUST in your collection. (by pelida77)

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ALADDIN THE MAKING OF AN ANIMATED FILM (1992, John Culhane)

John Culhane, Aladdin The Making of an Animated Film, New York, Hyperion, 1992

JPEG / 43 MB / 123 pp / ENG / 1562828924 / 156282757X / 9781562827571

What we have here is a book on one of the milestones of Disney Reinassance, the multiple awarded film Aladdin (1992, Clements-Musker, Disney). It has a peculiar organization: "Each chapter is devoted to a particular aspect of animation as illustrated by a character" (So we get to see each of this departments for separate, one character for each department..., frankly thats quite stupid; e.g.: to ilustrate the Layout he chooses Abu!)

Story: The changes and variations over the original folk-tale. The exclusion of the "mother of Al" character. The biggest theme: freedom. The meaning of Aladdin "just be yourself". Jasmine as an independent-minded woman (almost like an animated feminist, really). Most of the coments included are by Clements and Musker.
Design: There's a detailed description of the work made by Eric Goldberg (great animator; in this film a designer); there's no mention at all of Glen Keane here... at least he got his own chapter (animation)
Direction: In this chapter we have a rather messy biographical aproach to Ron Clements and John Musker.
Sound: "You start from the story, you start from the characters, and where the plot goes. You need to have a number that expresses what the character wants" Alan Menken (Music Composer).
Animation: An interesting summary of Glen keane's career. And a shocking discovery for me: Acording to Keane the major influence for Al was... TOM CRUISE!!! in Top Gun (the crew watch the film over and over) This book is filled with memorable quotes, interesting anecdotes, an valuable lessons, like "Think in terms of movement: not one drawing at a time." G.Keane

"Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!"

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THE ART OF TANGLED (2010, Jeff Kurtti)

Jeff Kurtti. The art of Tangled. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2010.

JPEG / ENG / 121 MB / 169 pp / 0811875555 / 978-0811875554

- A preface by John Lasseter
- Foreword by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard (Directors)
- The original concept sketches; background art
- The influence on art of: Pinocchio; Cinderella; Sleeping Beauty.
- Artwork by: Glen Keane; Laurent Ben-Mimoun; Dan Cooper; Claire Keane; Victoria Ying and more..

Artbook for the first succesful attempt of making a Disney Fairy Tale in CGI.
I wouldn't dare to call it a Disney work in the classical sense; this has the Pixar smell all over it, and the Dreamworks sarcastic way of approaching a fairy tale. But it is an attempt to emulate Disney Style, so... (by pelida77)

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TOY STORY THE SKETCHBOOK

Disney Pixar Toy Story. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books, 1997.

PDF / 28 MB / Eng / 94 pp / 1557093407 / 978-1557093400

In November 1995, the feature length film "Toy Story" was released as a joint venture between Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Studios. Until 1999, when "Toy Story 2" was released, "Toy Story" was the third most successful animated film at the box office. This sketchbook contains: sketches and background studies done for both films. Intro by John Lasseter.

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THE LITTLE MERMAID SKETCHBOOK

Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books, 1997.

PDF / 14 MB / Eng / 73 pp / 155709344X / 978-1557093448

Features the preliminary sketches used to create the Disney animated classic Little Mermaid (1989), containing 150 black and white sketches by the hand of Mark Henn, Glen Keane, Ruben Aquino, Andreas Deja and Dan Haskett. Introduction by Ron Clements.

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SLEEPING BEAUTY SKETCHBOOK (1997, Thomas and Johnston)

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston [editors]. Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books, 1997.

PDF / 15 MB / Eng / 75 pp / 1557093431 / 978-1557093431

Features the preliminary sketches used to create the Disney animated classic Sleeping Beauty (1959), containing near 200 black and white sketches by the hand of Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Eyvind Earle, Milton Kahl and Frank Thomas. Thomas and Johnston are credited as "contributing editors", which means they get to choose the artwork worth to publish.

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THE LADY & THE TRAMP SKETCHBOOK (1998, Thomas and Johnston)

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston [editors]. Walt Disney's Lady and The Tramp. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books, 1998.

PDF / 13 MB / Eng / 75 pp. / 1557093466 / 978-1557093462

Features the preliminary sketches used to create the Disney animated classic The Lady and the Tramp (1955), containing near 150 black and white sketches by the hand of Joe Grant, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Milton Kahl and Frank Thomas. Thomas and Johnston are credited as "contributing editors", which means they get to choose the artwork worth to publish.

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PETER PAN THE SKETCHBOOK (1998, Thomas and Johnston)

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston [contributing editors], Walt Disney's Peter Pan. The Sketchbook Series. Bedford MA, Applewood Books. 1998

PDF / 15 MB / Eng / 74 pp. / 1557093458 / 978-1557093455

Walt Disney's Peter Pan: The Sketchbook Series features the preliminary sketches used to create the Disney animated classic Peter Pan (1953) and contains more than 150 black and-white sketches done by such Disney greats as Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Marc davis and Ollie Johnston. In addition this sketchbook contains 12 color reproductions of original background studies done by David Hall and Mary Blair used in styling the film.

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THE ART OF HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2010, Tracey Miller Zarnecke))

Tracey Miller-Zarneke, The Art of How To Train Your Dragon, London, Titan Books, 2010.

PDF / 37.2 MB / Eng / 157 pages / 1557048630 / 978-1557048639

- With a preface by Cressida Cowell (who is she? ...??????) Well she is the author of the original novel series.
- Comments by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders (Directors)
- An inside into the production of this movie. Multiple quotes explaining the choices made by the creators.
- Each one of the characters are explain in detail.


"And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole.And I saw the look on his face...
I was delicious! He must have passed the word because it wasn't another month before another one of them took my leg!"

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THE ART OF MONSTERS, INC (2001, PIXAR)

Laura Lovett and Patrick Barber, The Art of Monsters, Inc., Singapore, Disney Enterprices, 2001.

JPEG / 18 MB / Eng / 144 pages / 0811833887 / 978-0811833882

- A brief introduction and comments by John Lasseter (Producer, head of Pixar) and Pete Docter (Director)
- Concept Art By: Harley Jessup (Production Designer); Bob Peterson (storyboards); Geefwee Boedoe; Dominique Louis; J. Otto Siebold; Jill Culton; Lou Romano; Ralph Eggleston; Ricky Nierva; Dan Lee;Tia Kratter; Lou Romano; Bob Pauley; Nicolas Marlet; Oscar Grillo; Jeff Pidgeon.

Nice Pixar Movie. In the same line as A Bug's Life; that is: maybe not as revolutionary to the media as Toy Story and Nemo or Ratatouille, still, a very nice movie. Lovable characters, great lines, a beautifully designed world... you know 10 years from today we will still remember how much Pixar amazed us back in the day.

(by pelida77)

"There's nothing more toxic or deadly than a human child. A single touch could kill you. Leave a door open, and one can walk right into this factory; right into the monster world."

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THE ANIMATED RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY (1977, John Canemaker)

Canemaker, John. The animated raggedy Ann & Andy: An Intimate Look at the Art of Animation Its History, Techniques, and Artists[Uncorrected Proof], New York, [no ed] , 1977

PDF / 83.5 MB / Eng / 127 pages / 0672523299 / 978-0672523298

Richard Williams Raggedy Ann & Andy is one of the most beautiful animation feature-lenght ever made. Sadly, nowadays it's almost forgoten. Anyway, someone (TheThiefArchive) upload this movie to the tube, it's a very nice restoration, so if you didn't watch it, why don't you take a look at this...

This one was the first book by John Canemaker and one of the very first of animation criticism. That's why before examining RA&A, John explains all the production steps involved in a comercial animation. The story sketches; The storyboard; Design and Layout; Soundtrack Recordings; Key and Pose animation; Rough Animation and Cleaning; In between; Ink and Paint; photography; print.

Chapters on the life and career of:

- Johny Gruelle, the creator of the Raggedy Ann & Andy original book series.

- The canadian animator, director and genius behind this movie, Richard Williams. Multiple quotes from Dick, some of his letters during the production, and final comments about any aspect of the movie.

- Top class master animators and some young talents (young, back in the day):
Cornelius "Corny" Cole (really a Designer, Art); Arthur Babbitt (The Disney legend; here with 69 years old, Key: Camel with the Wrinkled Knees); Hall Ambro (Key: Babette, the french doll); John Kimball (the son of... yes, Key: Loony Knight; the weird camel mirage, The Spooky, Ha Ha Hall); Emery Hawkins (Warner Bros, MGM, Lantz, Disney... you name it, he's being everywhere, here, Key: The Greedy); Gerry Chiniqui (ex- Warner brothers animator, key: The dancing Twin Penny dolls, and King Koo Koo); Charles E. Downs (Key: The Captain and his parrot); Tissa David (once the assistant of Grim Natwick, and Key animator of Ann, and Andy);
Chrystall Russell (Key: Raggedy Ann); GRIM NATWICK (at the time of this movie 87 years old!!!!!, Key: The Loonies in King Koo Koo sequence); Spencer Peel (Key: Playroom dolls)

"When you're wrinkled and cold, and your Fortune has all been told, and you're nobody's 'I Love you' How can you be happy? How can you be smiling? How can you be anything but lowdown saggy and blue?"

What an amazing movie.

by pelida77

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THE ART OF THE LION KING (1994)

Finch Christopher. The Art of The Lion King. New York, Hyperion, 1994.

JPEG / 110 MB / Eng / 192 pages / 0786860286 / 978-0786860289

The Last epic movie by the greatest animation studio of all times. (Well, at least the last one that really worths watching.)

- Concept art, colour pencil storyboards, and film stills.
- Character Designs and Background paintings.
- Sadly, no interviews or explanations of any kind. You only have some lines explaining the plot.

I don't know if an artbook needs any further explanation, so I would like to say a few words about a rumor that has spread through the web. It is said that with LK Disney committed plagiarism, copying scenes and characters from Tezuka's Jungle Taitei.

If you ever watched Jungle Taitei you know this is bullshit, because it suck sooo bad (yeah I'm making a really stupid argument... that's not even an argument!... who cares... let me tell you my golden rule: if you can do it better than the one you took it from, and you raise a piece of trash to the heights of art, that's not plagiarism that's merely... inspiration). So stop repeating this kind of things, you put yourself in evidence. I like Tezuka, but it's not fair to compare him with Disney.

(by pelida77)

Well then my little ones, remember, you must take your place in the Circle of Life...

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