Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists

New York: Hyperion Press, 1996. Cloth, xiii, 209 pages, illustrations (chiefly colour); 31 cm. Near fine. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Slight creasing to first two leaves. Stated First Edition. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by arrangement. Richly illustrated with colour plates. "Born from daydreams, meditations on color, character and form, and sheer inventiveness, Disney's pioneering animated films begin in the imagination of the 'inspirational sketch' artist. Allowed to work with an unprecedented degree of creative freedom, these talented painters, designers, and illustrators attempt to conjure the 'look' of a film - the appearance of characters, the action's locale, the mood, and the use of color; in short, the film's aura and feel. The result is some of the most beautiful and intriguing art to come out of the Disney studios. For the first time ever, noted animation historian John Canemaker chronicles the lives and work of the 'inspirational sketch artists from the thirties to the present, situating them in the history of modern art and analyzing their lives and interactions with the studio (and Walt Disney himself). / John Canemaker is a tenured professor and director of the film animation program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2006, his film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation won the Academy Award for best animated short. He has written numerous books on animation, including The Art and Flair of Mary Blair, Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards, Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists, and Walt Disney's Nine Old men and the Art of Animation." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Fine. 4to.