My Favorite Disney "Art of..." Books Part 1

My Favorite Disney Art Books (Part 1)

The Art of The Lion King 

by Christopher Finch  (Author), James Earl Jones (Foreword), Penelope Niven (Foreword)

HUGE book! One of those old school Hyperion sized books.  Plenty of Chris Sanders artwork.  It's also nice to see him being credited for it as well.  I'm winking beneath my eye patch right now but you can't see it.  

It will only set you back around $13.00 right now, well worth it if you ask me.

The Art of The Lion King - Amazon

The Art of Wreck-It Ralph (The Art of Disney) 

by Maggie Malone (Author), Jennifer Lee (Author), John Lasseter (Preface), Rich Moore (Foreword)

Art Director Mike Gabriel hit a home run with the look of Wreck-it Ralph.  Ian Gooding was the Co-Art Director here and I'm happy they are both back to do the sequel.  Each world could be it's own movie and the book is beautiful in the way that the Tangled and Frozen art books are.  It does the film justice.  The only trouble I have with it is that I would like to have seen more work by a variety of artists besides just the few that are predominately featured.  It seems the same few artists show up on every page with this book more than in some of the others and even though the art is stunning, I'm bummed that I didn't see more artists or anyone new.  I legit think Bruce W. Smith was featured on one page.  ONE PAGE.  I could be wrong but that's how I remembered it.  Great book though all around, just for me the balance seemed off a bit and that's why Tangled is still probably my favorite "Art of..." book released by Chronicle so far.  This is still very much worth purchasing though.  Jeff Turley is AMAZING here.

$20.00 Brand New on Amazon!

The Art of Wreck-It Ralph - Amazon

The Art of Frozen 

by Charles Solomon  (Author), John Lasseter (Preface), Chris Buck (Foreword), Jennifer Lee (Foreword)
The Art of Frozen - Amazon

Beautiful book and the forward by Jennifer Lee is simply inspiring. This book is full of girl power and not just because it's a story about sisters. Lots of great art by some of Disney's lovely female artists.  I've been a huge fan of Brittney Lee ever since this book came out and she is certainly one of the artists at Disney right now who is a legend in the making.  I think this book must be in it's 20th printing by now.  I have 2 copies myself and I'm pretty sure one if listed as being the 11th edition.  How crazy is that?  

The Art of Pocahontas

by Stephen Rebello  (Author)

The Art of Pocahontas - Amazon

This is the second "Art of.." book that is from Hyperion on this list.  This book is the one I remember looking at the most when I was little despite The Lion King being my favorite Disney movie.  I think Glen Keane's sketches for "The Colors of The Wind" sequence are sometimes as mesmerizing as the sequence itself.  Absolute perfection.  Also there is a variety of concept pieces from Mike Gabriel that you will want to frame and put on your walls.

Pocahontas Art by Glen Keane

Pocahontas Art by Glen Keane

Pocahontas Art by Glen Keane

Pocahontas Concept Art by Director Mike Gabriel 

Pocahontas Concept Art by Director Mike Gabriel 

Pocahontas Concept Art by Director Mike Gabriel 

The Art of Tangled

by Jeff Kurtti  (Author), John Lasseter (Preface), Nathan Greno (Foreword)

The Art of Tangled - Amazon

This book is a dream come true for any Glen Keane and Claire Keane fans.  Part of this book makes me a little sad because I'm one of the people who would have preferred for Tangled to be a 2d movie and this gives a glimpse of what might have been.  My heart is breaking at just the thought of it now.

Tangled Concept Art

Tangled Concept Art

Part 2 will be posted soon! There's just too many books that I love to make a single post.

Can You Paint With All The Colors Of The Wind? (Probably Not, But Michael Giamio Can)

 (Michael Giamio was the Art Director for Pocahontas.)  

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"Making Hellfire Even Better" A Post From The Hunch Blog

"Making Hellfire Even Better"

Link To Original Article by The Hunch Blog February 2013

“Who among us hasn’t watched a particular “Hunchback” scene and thought, “This is good, but it would be better with some cats? “- AnaykhOntheDoor

This got me thinking. Yeah, Hellfire is awesome but it could use a few cats.

Hellfire made even better with Cats

There! Purrrr-fect

List of the Cats;

Prince John – Robin Hood
Nala & Simba- The Lion King
Oliver – Oliver and Company
Dinah & the Cheshire Cat- Alice in Wonderland
Sgt Tibbs – 101 Dalmatians
Tigger – Winnie the Pooh
Bagheera & Shere Khan – The Jungle Book
Lucifer – Cinderella
Duchess, Tom O’Malley, Marie,Berlioz and Toulouse – The Aristocats
Rufus – The Rescuers
Si & Am – Lady and the Tramp
Figaro- Pinocchio
Rajah- Aladdin

(masking whiskers is hell)"

Sending out a GIANT THANK YOU to The Hunch Blog for this post!

www.thehunchblog.com

I shared this post today because I thought this picture of Hellfire with cats was the funniest thing. Thanks again to Jess who for allowing me to do this. Don't forget to stop by The Hunch Blog if your are ever online looking for Hunchback on Notre Dame resources.  
Link To Original Article by The Hunch Blog February 2013

Here are a few of my favorite Disney related posts by The Hunch Blog: 

"The Top Ten Best Things About The Disney Version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

http://www.thehunchblog.com/2014/06/top-ten-best-things-about-the-disney-version-of-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/

"Annie Leibowvitz And The Hunchback"

http://www.thehunchblog.com/2013/06/annie-leibovitz-and-the-hunchback/

"Disneyland Paris Hunchback Light Show"

http://www.thehunchblog.com/2014/12/disneyland-paris-hunchback-light-show/

The Background Art For Disney's Aladdin 1992

Some Background Artwork From Aladdin (1992)

I'm going to embrace my recent Eyvind Earle trend even more by taking a moment to focus on MORE great background art that came out of Walt Disney Studios.  I decided to kick things off with films from the era that I grew up in.  Aladdin was released in November of 1992 in those early years of Disney Renaissance.  It was the highest grossing animated film for 2 years until The Lion King came along and took the title.  The Lion King held a strong reign for over 15 years until 2010's Toy Story 3.  The background art for Aladdin is nearly flawless and was inspired by the layout supervisor Rasoul Azadani's home town in Isfahan, Iran.  These pictures bring my childhood right back.