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Disney

One Shy Dragon

Dec 31st, 2015
by rodney.
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Shiyoon Kim is a professional character designer working for Walt Disney Animation. Recently though he branched out and created his first illustrated book for children, called Nelbert the Introvert. Nelbert is not your typical fierce fire breathing dragon. No, he’s a fire breathing dragon who likes to play chess. Trouble is, how can he convince people to sit down and play when all they want to do is run away? “Disney character designer Shiyoon Kim’s first self-published book is this children’s picture book with artwork inspired by Bill Peet, Hank Ketcham, and his other biggest influences. The story and art are both charming. A great gift for the introvert in your family.” So says Stuart Ng Books. Head on over and check it out. [And have a happy, safe New Year in 2016!]

image c. 2015 by Shiyoon Kim

image c. 2015 by Shiyoon Kim

Learn Your Animation History

Dec 12th, 2015
by rodney.
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All fans of classic animation history should learn about Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony series — if you don’t know about it already. Which means you should probably check out Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (whew!) by film historians J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt. Here’s what the publishers said on Amazon: “Launched by Walt Disney in 1929 as a ‘musical novelty’ series to complement his recent success with Mickey Mouse, the Silly Symphonies soon became much more. This line of delightfully innovative, animated cartoons ran for ten years and produced such classics as Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, Music Land, and The Old Mill. Silly Symphonies won every Academy Award. From the authors of the prize-winning Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney, this richly illustrated volume is a complete history of the Silly Symphonies including detailed entries for all the Symphonies along with a lengthy critical analysis and production history of the series.” Published previously in Europe, the book is available now in English.

image c. 2015 La Cineteca

image c. 2015 La Cineteca

This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record

Sep 29th, 2015
by rodney.
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Well now, this is something different: A “making of” book for a graphic novel. And in tune with the season as well. “High school can be tough enough as it is, but things get even more complicated when you’ve been bitten by a werewolf! Bestselling YA author Cornelia Funke (Inkheart) teams up with comic book artist and character designer extraordinaire Francisco Herrera and former Disney Animator and film Director Raul Garcia (The Missing Lynx) to create a wild and furry world where werewolves are real and hiding in plain view, even in high school! This lavishly illustrated sketch book documents the creative process of transforming Funke’s best-selling Young Werewolf into a brand new, exciting graphic novel series. Hundreds of sketches and color studies show the process of fleshing out the characters of the book as we discover the story of Matt, Lisa, and the incredible odds they have to face to battle an old Hollywood curse.” Bitten: The Full Moon Book is coming soon (in limited quantities) from Magnetic Press. Find out more over at Nerds Unchained.

image c. 2015 Magnetic Press

image c. 2015 Magnetic Press

He’s Back. Imagine That.

Sep 1st, 2015
by rodney.
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Disney’s favorite dragon (well, unless you count Malificent) returns later this month when Figment (the on-again/off-again mascot of Disney’s EPCOT Center in Florida) comes back in his second full-color comic book miniseries, appropriately titled Figment 2. From Comic Book Resources: “Critically acclaimed writer Jim Zub returns alongside artist Ramon Bachs for the next chapter in the lives of the enigmatic inventor Dreamfinder and the legendary Figment! Thrust forward into the present day, these two time-travelling explorers must brave a modern world as new and unexpected dangers lie before them. Gone over 100 years, our imaginative duo are known the world over, and must struggle to live up to their own legend. But with their greatest challenges still ahead, can they embody their own legacy, or will it ultimately be their undoing?” Marvel.com also has an extensive write-up of the new series.

Image c. 2015 Marvel Comics

Image c. 2015 Marvel Comics

Bygones are Bygones

Aug 20th, 2015
by rodney.
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And once again Disney Junior keeps marching forward with Goldie & Bear, a new CGI series that is coming as a downloadable app in September and then a TV series later in the year. According to the article in Variety: “Each episode of the new program, which will debut on Disney Junior in November, includes two 11-minute stories that show Goldie and Bear — reunited after an infamous ‘porridge incident’ — in the midst of escapades with their neighbors in Fairy Tale Forest, all of whom have roots in familiar storybook figures. The protagonists might help Jack and Jill get up a hill or ask the Big Bad Wolf to consider others’ feelings before blowing down the houses of those who reside within.” The article also features interviews with Disney Junior folks and a preview video.

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation.

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation.

A Palace of Princess Pets. Perfect.

Aug 18th, 2015
by rodney.
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The Walt Disney Company found great success with their Palace Pets app — a down-loadable spin-off of the endlessly-profitable Disney Princess line, this time for younger kids. The idea is that each of the famous Disney Princesses has a cute funny animal pet, and they (the pets that is) often meet up and go on adventures together. Well the success of that app lead Disney to now create Whisker Haven Tales, a series of cartoon shorts airing on Disney Junior. Check out the Disney Wiki article to learn more about it, or take a look on YouTube for one of several official uploads from Disney Junior.

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

Return of the Roar

Aug 12th, 2015
by rodney.
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More news regarding Disney TV Animation’s upcoming new Lion King spin-off series The Lion Guard, thanks to a recent article in Variety: “Disney will launch The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, a short prime-time movie focused on the son of Simba, the hero of the original film, in November on Disney Channel. The program will follow Kion, Simba’s second-born cub, as he and a team of animals known as ‘The Lion Guard’ try to keep the peace in the surrounding terrain. Disney intends to launch a Lion Guard TV series on Disney Channel and Disney Junior outlets around the world in early 2016.” In this new series, “Kion breaks tradition by forming ‘The Lion Guard’ out of a varied group of animal friends he thinks are heroic. Typically, only the bravest, strongest lions in the African savanna can be members.  In the movie and the TV episodes that follow, the crew will learn how to use unique abilities to solve problems while introducing young viewers to new kinds of fauna.” The article includes a short video clip from Return of the Roar as well. See you in November!

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

Return of the Royal Purple Dragon

Jun 26th, 2015
by rodney.
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Recent announcement from D23, the officially-sanctioned Disney fan club: Following the success of the first 5-issue miniseries (and the subsequent graphic novel compilation), Figment will return this fall in a brand-new full-color series from Marvel. “Figment 2 will be written by Jim Zubkavich (aka “Jim Zub”) and penciled by Ramon Bachs, and it’ll pick up where the first series left off—but in a totally different time period. When last we left our intrepid hero Figment and his pal Dreamfinder, they’d saved the world and were awarded for their good deeds by being stuck out of time for a century. As Jim Zub explained to our pals at the Disney Parks Blog, ‘[The pair is] now in the modern world, and they’re going to discover that a lot of things have changed in their absence… Couple that with a young dreamer inspired by the Academy Scientifica-Lucidus and a dark threat from an unexpected source, and we’ve got all the ingredients for high adventure’.” Check out D23 for more information.

image c. 2015 Disney/Marvel

image c. 2015 Disney/Marvel

Drawing His Characters… and Many Others!

Jun 21st, 2015
by rodney.
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Eric Goldberg is a supervising animator at Walt Disney Pictures, well known for his work on such classic cartoon films as Aladdin, Hercules, and Fantasia 2000. He also recently began a stint as an artist-in-residence instructor for character animation at the University of Southern California (USC). For the opening of a new Disneyland in Shanghai, China, Mr. Goldberg helped to decorate one of the restaurants by drawing a series of Disney characters in the caricature style made famous by restaurants like The Brown Derby and Sardi’s in Hollywood.  In fact, Mr. Goldberg wound up drawing nearly 200 pictures for the project! Now no less than 180 of these black & white illustrations have been gathered together in a new hardcover book — An Animator’s Gallery: Eric Goldberg Draw The Disney Characters from Disney Editions. According to an article at Stitch Kingdom, “Fans of all ages, and from all over, can enjoy Eric’s playful portraits, starting with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse from the Company’s early days through Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Bonus sections will even feature some of the most beloved characters from Pixar (Toy Story, Cars, Monsters, Inc.) and live-action films (Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean).” Featuring text by fellow Disney animator David Bossert and a foreword by John Lasseter, An Animator’s Gallery will be available this September.

image c. 2015 Disney Editions

image c. 2015 Disney Editions

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