The Animated Man

Film and televsion.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was one of the most significant creative forces of the twentieth century, a man who made a lasting impact on the art of the animated film, the history of American business, and the evolution of twentieth-century American culture. He was both a creative visionary and a dynamic entrepreneur, roles whose demands he often could not reconcile. In his compelling new biography, noted animation historian Michael Barrier avoids the well-traveled paths of previous biographers, who have tended to portray a blemish-free Disney or to indulge in lurid speculation. Instead, he takes the full measure of the man in his many aspects. A consummate storyteller, Barrier describes how Disney transformed himself from Midwestern farm boy to scrambling young businessman to pioneering artist and, finally, to entrepreneur on a grand scale. Barrier describes in absorbing detail how Disney synchronized sound with animation in Steamboat Willie; created in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sympathetic cartoon characters whose appeal rivaled that of the best live-action performers; grasped television’s true potential as an unparalleled promotional device; and—not least—parlayed a backyard railroad into the Disneyland juggernaut. Based on decades of painstaking research in the Disney studio’s archives and dozens of public and private archives in the United States and Europe, The Animated Man offers freshly documented and illuminating accounts of Disney’s childhood and young adulthood in rural Missouri and Kansas City. It sheds new light on such crucial episodes in Disney’s life as the devastating 1941 strike at his studio, when his ambitions as artist and entrepreneur first came into serious conflict. Beginning in 1969, two and a half years after Disney’s death, Barrier recorded long interviews with more than 150 people who worked alongside Disney, some as early as 1922. Now almost all deceased, only a few were ever interviewed for other books. Barrier juxtaposes Disney’s own recollections against the memories of those other players to great effect. What emerges is a portrait of Walt Disney as a flawed but fascinating artist, one whose imaginative leaps allowed him to vault ahead of the competition and produce work that even today commands the attention of audiences worldwide.

The story behind the creation of one of the most celebrated, revolutionary animated series of all time X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series takes fans behind the scenes of the landmark cartoon that laid the groundwork for the dozens of Marvel Comics adaptations that followed. Interviews with series writers, producers, executives, and artists reveal the razor's edge that Marvel and Fox navigated in order to bring the X-Men to television, and detail the tough decisions, compromises, and brilliant solutions that resulted in a series that has been lauded by critics and fans for nearly three decades. Along the way, readers will encounter such comics and entertainment luminaries as Stan Lee, Avi Arad, and Haim Saban. This book gives a firsthand account of what it's like to develop, pitch, design, write, draw, direct, and produce an animated series, accompanied by rare original art, animated cels and still frames, and production and merchandising ephemera.

"In late 1992, on small budgets and under tight schedules, the cast and crew of X-Men: The Animated Series crafted a television show that, despite an industry full of naysayers, immediately shot to #1. This "kids' show" often landed more than half the TV viewers across America, and a twenty-year gold rush of Marvel motion pictures and TV series followed. Previously on X-Men is Eric Lewald's personal, inside account of how the series got on the air, the many challenges that were overcome, and how the show prevailed. The head writer interviewed 36 of the artists, writers, voice cast, and executives who helped make this game-changing series a worldwide success. This book is an authoritative look into the creation of the animated series that nobody expected to succeed. Lewald offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Saturday-morning cartoon series that changed Hollywood"--Back cover.

In this account of the creative effort that went into setting cartoons of the 1930s through the 1950s to music, the author examines how this shaped the animated characters and stories that have become embedded in American culture.

Learn from the men who changed animation forever Walt Disney’s team of core animators, who he affectionately called his "Nine Old Men," were known for creating Disney’s most famous works, as well as refining the 12 basic principles of animation. Follow master animator and Disney legend Andreas Deja as he takes you through the minds and works of these notable animators. An apprentice to the Nine Old Men himself, Deja gives special attention to each animator and provides a thoughtful analysis on their techniques that include figure drawing, acting, story structure, and execution. The in-depth analysis of each animator’s work will allow you to refine your approach to character animation. Rare sequential drawings from the Disney archives also give you unprecedented access and insight into the most creative minds that changed the course of animation. Instruction and analysis on the works of each of the Nine Old Men broaden your creative choices and approaches to character animation Original drawings, some never-before-seen by the public are explored in depth, giving you behind-the-scenes access into Disney animation history Gain first-hand insight into the foundation of timeless characters and scenes from some of Disney’s most memorable feature and short films

In TASCHEN's first volume of one of the most expansive illustrated publications on Disney animation, 1,500 images take us to the beating heart of the studio's "Golden Age of Animation." Derived from the XXL book, this new edition again includes behind-the-scenes photos, story sketches, and cel setups of famous film scenes. It spans each of the...

From the day it opened in July 1955, in an event given live TV coverage, Disneyland has been a key symbol of contemporary American culture. It has been both celebrated and attacked as the ultimate embodiment of consumer society, a harbinger of shopping-mall culture, a symbol of American hegemony in entertainment, the epitome of fantasy, simulation, pastiche, and the blurring of distinctions between reality and mass-media imagery. Yet for all the power of Disneyland as metaphor, almost no one has discussed the making of this unique place, with its far-flung colonies in Florida, Japan, and France. Written to accompany an exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, "Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance" is the first book to look beyond the multiple myths of Disneyland. Uniting a roster of authors chosen from wide-ranging disciplines, this study is the first to examine the influence of Disneyland on both our built environment and our architectural imagination. Tracing the relationship of the Disney parks to their historical forbears, it charts Disneyland's evolution from one man's personal dream to a multinational enterprise, a process in which the Disney "magic" has moved ever closer to the real world. Editor Karal Ann Marling, Professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota, draws upon her pioneering work in the Disney archives to reconstruct and analyze the intentions and strategies behind the parks. She is joined by Marty Sklar, Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, historian Neil Harris, art historian Erika Doss, geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, critic Greil Marcus, and architectFrank Gehry to provide a unique perspective on one of the great post-war American icons.