Thursday, January 21, 2016

More Book Ideas



I really enjoyed working with Focal Press (Taylor & Francis) on my Nine Old Men book. I was thrilled to find out about the generous page count of 400. And after discussing a unique kind of layout, designer Alex Lazarou did such a beautiful job with the look of each page.
There was one aspect that frustrated me though, because I wanted to include so much more animation art such as key drawings from the amazing John Lounsbery scene, pictured above. 400 pages is a lot...but there is so much more great stuff to share.

So here is my plan for the future:
After completion of my film Mushka, I will try to get a book published with more Disney animation art, but not only by the Nine Old Men. Work by Fred Moore, Tytla and others would also be included.
Lots of pictures, very little text.
I do believe one single oversized book just on Milt Kahl's work is overdue. There are so many of his rough drawings that have never been published before and need to be made available to whoever is fascinated by his art. This volume should also include photos showing Milt at work through the years.

I hope you like the idea for these two books. As I see it, we can't have enough classic Disney art to study and to be inspired by.

Looking back at the drawing with Tony and Joe from Lady & the Tramp, if this does't make you want to draw and animate, nothing will.

26 comments:

  1. Wow, that would be amazing, the more books the better!
    Can't wait for the film, sounds like a great project!

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  2. Yes, PLEASE, Andreas! Those would be incredible additions to the library of any animation fan.

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  3. As soon as I read the blog entry title, I couldn't help but smile. Seeing more work by the Nine as well as Tytla and my man Freddie? I cannot wait!!!!! Even the personal book ideas like just Milt's work would be a great reference for anyone, especially those studying animation/history. On the other note, your film is one animated picture I'm personally counting down the days to see. All the best to you Andreas!

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  5. YES!!! A Milt Kahl book with lots of drawings and never seen ones would be amazing and it is overdue. It must happen.
    Thanks for the initiative, Andreas.

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  6. You literally just read my mind, Andreas. I was reading Nine Old Men last night and had similar thoughts. I was studying Milts Bambi sequence and I thought to myself "this book needs to be bigger!"

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  7. Both Ideas are excellent especially a solo book on Milt Kahl. Another future project to consider might be the work of Ken Anderson.

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  8. Books on individual artists like Kahl would be fantastic! However I hope it wouldn't take too much of your own drawing time away

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  9. I just recently finally got a chance to take a look through the Nine Old Men book - absolutely wonderful! This is such great news, can't wait to see more books from you. Keep up the great work!

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  10. I love your current "The Nine Old Men" book, I would definitely support any future efforts you feel are worth it. A Milt Kahl book is LONG overdue for sure. I really like the Marc Davis book "Renaissance Man", a Milt Kahl version would be a must-have. Sign me up for a pre-order!

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  11. YES! YES! your enthusiasm is absolutely to admire!
    The future Milt Kahl book is very important, in order to preserve his memory and legacy! I had a wonderful experience reading your book this x-mas. Thank you!

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  12. This is awesome that you have more books about the masters of Disney animation. So I wanted to ask you something. Right now I am starting a motion graphic design class at my community college and we were talking a little bit on the method of the squash and stretch technique of a bouncing ball that Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston had in their book Illusion of Life. Anyway I did my first animation test on the bouncing ball using a computer, and I had trouble getting the ball to stretch and squash when it hit the ground. So I was wondering how long did it take for you to master the bouncing ball sequence?

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  13. Just another book idea; drawings and designs from stylized films like Toot Pluck, Pigs is pigs ,etc.
    Would be interesting to see this style in raw pencil.

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  14. Yes. Please...I'll eat all of my vegetables and watch all my arcs...

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  15. I loved your "Nine Old Men" book, but as a suggestion for your next idea, since it'll be done after "Mushka" is finished, why not an "Art of Mushka" book?

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  16. Yes! Please... I would love a book only about Milt Kahl´s art, he is my idol. BTW, I love your blog, each time I am looking for inspiration, I lookout for your blog. Thank you very much for sharing so amazing tips and art.

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  17. Sounds fabulous!

    Would you consider a book of nothing but model sheets? I love those things, and would like to go from the very beginnings of Disney all the way to the end of the hand-drawn era.

    Maybe if that's not your cup of tea, you could put a bug in the proper ear. Thanks so much.

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  18. YASSPLEEEEEZTHANKYOU!!!!!!
    There really is a Santa! Squeee! ;D...

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  19. I love your ideas!! The first book should be called before and after the 9 old men. It should feature the animators who trained the nine like Freddie Moore and Bill Tytla and Your generation who carried their legacy with the Disney animation boom from Roger Rabbit to Princess and the frog! Please have a special chapter on Freddie Moore! He was Disney drawing!!

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  20. I'm loving your book, and totally would enjoy seeing similar ones to it from you! It's great inspiration when drawing.

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  21. would be nice to see more ken anderson work too.

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  22. would be nice to see more ken anderson work too.

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  23. Andreas, I found this blog about a week ago and couldn't leave it alone 'til I'd read every post. When I'd done that, I knew I had to buy a copy of The Nine Old Men, and couldn't put that down until I finished it, either! Big thanks for all this showcase and insight of such fantastic creations; and no need to guess my reaction to any of your future books on Disney animation art.

    I'd also agree with Crazytoons about pencil animators from the eighties onwards. There needs to be a book featuring Jafar and Scar sequences!

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  24. Hi Andreas, yes please! I have your Nine Old Men book and its great! Another book with Fred Moore and Bill Tytla and a whole book dedicated to Milt Kahl would be fantastic! Maybe you could do one book for each of the Nine Old Men. ;) Thanks for this blog and for creating these books!

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  25. Go for it Andreas!
    This month I will attend an exhibition on Disneyart here in Sweden. The Aquarellmuseum in Skärhamn. Opening the 16th.

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