House of Summersville: Lilo & Stitch

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Will Stop For Watercolor Backgrounds - Best in Watercolor Background Art (I sort of got on a Lilo and Stitch rant near the end....)

Will Stop For Watercolor Backgrounds.

(all photos property of Disney)

I've got a soft spot for the use of watercolor paints in background art. My favorites are Dumbo, Pinocchio, and of course Lilo and Stitch.
What Disney movie's background art do you like best?

Background Art from Bambi by Tyrus Wong 1942

Screenshot for Dumbo 1941

Screenshot from Dumbo 1941

Background from Pinocchio 1940

Screenshot from Pinocchio 1940

If you like background art, I recommend you pick up Layout and Background Design by The Disney Book Group. It's a steal right now for $30-40 on Amazon. The list price for these books are $50-$60 at Disney.com and they are giant in size. This one is my favorite of the of 4 in the series simply because I'm a total junkie for background art in general and of course it does features a decent amount of work by Eyvind Earle. The content and price tag make this a perfect Eyvind Earle starter book. All 4 of the books in this set are worth owning in my opinion but this one especially so. The only thing that drives me nuts about this book series is how often artwork seems to go uncredited. I don't understand why things have gotten so lazy and they don't put the effort into making sure they acknowledge artists by name in Disney books like the use to.

Layout and Background Design

Finally, I have got some images from Lilo and Stitch (2002). This was the epic return of watercolor backgrounds for Disney and I think animation historians years and years from now will be writing books about the background art in the movie alone. These backgrounds are simply breathtaking and should be formally celebrated. Lilo and Stitch doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves within the studio in general. For those that don't know, Chris Sanders (director and creator of Lilo and Stitch) had some kind of falling out with John Lasseter in 2006 over the movie American Dog (later renamed Bolt) and Chris Sanders ended up leaving not only the project but Disney Studios all together because of these creative disagreements with John Lasseter. There is an article about it in The Disney Blog and you can read if you want to see the few details yourself.

The Disney Blog - Former Disney Animator Speaks Out Against Management

It doesn't feel right to me when it sort of looks like maybe this 2008 dispute has influenced how the studio manages the Lilo and Stitch franchise today. It's unbelievable that Chronicle Books hasn't put out a "The Art of..." book for Lilo and Stitch already and it does upset me in a way that makes me think of Kanye West's VMA outburst. I temporarily took this entire post offline because I don't have anything nice to say about how Disney has managed the legacy of Lilo and Stitch. It's not just the art book, it is also how they have handled DVD releases and merchandise. When you consider that Stitch is one of Disney's best selling characters, you know an art book would sell like crazy if Disney wanted to take the horse blinders off and give credit where credit is due. I know that Stitch doesn't really fit neatly into his designated "Disney Era" but a single anomaly on the Disney Studios timeline of films isn't the worst thing to happen in the history of animation. It is a classic and I don't care if John Lasseter and Chris Sanders couldn't make American Dog work 15 years ago. The movie Lilo and Stitch deserves a better art book and some sort of Anniversary edition DVD release at the very least. The artists deserve it. The fans deserve it. The animation historians and Disney Bloggers of tomorrow deserve it. I actually do love Pixar very much and John Lasseter, Imma let you finish, but Chris Sanders had one of the best videos of all time.