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Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney's Inspirational Sketch Artists
Born from daydreams, meditations on color, character and form, and sheer inventiveness, Disney's pioneering animated films begin in the imagination of the "inspired sketch" artist. Now, for the first time ever, noted animation historian John Canemaker chronicles the lives and work of these artists, from the 1930s to the present, situating them in the history of modern art and analyzing their influence on the form. 300 illustrations.
- GenresArtNonfictionHistory
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 1996
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About the author
John Canemaker
36 books29 followersJohn Canemaker (born 1943) is an Academy Award-winning independent animator, animation historian, teacher, lecturer, and author perhaps best known for his many books about the Disney studio, including Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation.In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts', Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Department. Since 1988 he has directed the program and is currently a tenured full professor. From 2001-2002 he was Acting Chair of the NYU Undergraduate Film and Television Department. In 2006, his film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, a 28-minute animated piece about Canemaker's relationship with his father, won the Academy Award for best animated short. In 2007 the same piece picked up an Emmy award for its graphic and artistic design.
His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, detailing the making of an animated feature based on Johnny Gruelle’s storybook characters, was published in 1977. Eight more books followed: Treasures of Disney Animation Art (1982),Winsor McCay: His Life and Art (1987), Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (1991), Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1996), Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1996), Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999), Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001), The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003), and a revised and updated edition of Winsor McCay (2005).
His first book, The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy, detailing the making of an animated feature based on Johnny Gruelle’s storybook characters, was published in 1977. Eight more books followed: Treasures of Disney Animation Art (1982),Winsor McCay: His Life and Art (1987), Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (1991), Tex Avery: The MGM Years (1996), Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (1996), Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999), Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (2001), The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003), and a revised and updated edition of Winsor McCay (2005).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 5, 2024
Recently, I’ve started going through the wonderful They Drew As They Pleased series, an amazing collection of concept art from the often unsung heroes of Disney animation. A few decades earlier, John Canemaker released this groundbreaking book.
Featuring hitherto unseen pieces from Disney’s archives – a deep library collection I would love to take a professional dive into Scrooge McDuck style – he splits the discussion into looks at early inspirations, the Golden Age of Animation, Inspired Women, more recent pieces and those concepts that broke away from the norm.
Some of these figures I was already well familiar with: it’s hard to be a Disney animation fan/amateur historian without dropping names like Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Joe Grant and Tyrus Wong. We see the groundbreaking early work of Albert Hurter, the imagination of Ferdinand Horvath, the staggering detail of Gustaf Tenggren, and the sheer artistic beauty of Disney’s first female concept artist, Bianca Majolie. We see familiar scenes from works like Snow White, Bambi or Alice in Wonderland in styles we’ve not seen before, or early germs of ideas that became iconic images.
Yet Canemaker’s skill here is not just in collecting together the obscure and well-known works into one volume, but rather in telling a story. Canemaker champions the often unseen work of concept artists and their direct influence on films we love. For example, Wong’s brief stint at Disney singularly defined Bambi in ways no other artist. Except perhaps Earle on Sleeping Beauty.
Some people get more attention than others. Before his eventual book The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003; updated 2014), Canemaker spends a massive amount of time about her rise, influence on Walt and her sad decline later in life. Still, as a primer for future studies (like I said, this directly leads to the six volume set of Didier Ghez’s They Drew As They Pleased), it’s a wonderful exploration of animation as a form of art at its inception.
As this was published in 1996, some of the ‘sneak peaks’ are of films that are now over two decades old. However, there’s also some tantalising teases of films that never came to fruition, such as The Abandoned, a film about a boy who turns into a cat that never came to life before Joe Grant passed in 2005. It’s also fun seeing ‘emerging’ names like Chris Sanders mentioned in the last chapter, listed here as “one of the youngest visual development artists…who came to Disney in 1987 at age 25.” Six years after this book, he made his directorial debut with Lilo & Stitch.
Featuring hitherto unseen pieces from Disney’s archives – a deep library collection I would love to take a professional dive into Scrooge McDuck style – he splits the discussion into looks at early inspirations, the Golden Age of Animation, Inspired Women, more recent pieces and those concepts that broke away from the norm.
Some of these figures I was already well familiar with: it’s hard to be a Disney animation fan/amateur historian without dropping names like Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Joe Grant and Tyrus Wong. We see the groundbreaking early work of Albert Hurter, the imagination of Ferdinand Horvath, the staggering detail of Gustaf Tenggren, and the sheer artistic beauty of Disney’s first female concept artist, Bianca Majolie. We see familiar scenes from works like Snow White, Bambi or Alice in Wonderland in styles we’ve not seen before, or early germs of ideas that became iconic images.
Yet Canemaker’s skill here is not just in collecting together the obscure and well-known works into one volume, but rather in telling a story. Canemaker champions the often unseen work of concept artists and their direct influence on films we love. For example, Wong’s brief stint at Disney singularly defined Bambi in ways no other artist. Except perhaps Earle on Sleeping Beauty.
Some people get more attention than others. Before his eventual book The Art and Flair of Mary Blair (2003; updated 2014), Canemaker spends a massive amount of time about her rise, influence on Walt and her sad decline later in life. Still, as a primer for future studies (like I said, this directly leads to the six volume set of Didier Ghez’s They Drew As They Pleased), it’s a wonderful exploration of animation as a form of art at its inception.
As this was published in 1996, some of the ‘sneak peaks’ are of films that are now over two decades old. However, there’s also some tantalising teases of films that never came to fruition, such as The Abandoned, a film about a boy who turns into a cat that never came to life before Joe Grant passed in 2005. It’s also fun seeing ‘emerging’ names like Chris Sanders mentioned in the last chapter, listed here as “one of the youngest visual development artists…who came to Disney in 1987 at age 25.” Six years after this book, he made his directorial debut with Lilo & Stitch.
June 7, 2023
Very informative and some beautiful artwork on display. In the last chapter, it's fascinating to get a glimpse into the inner workings of the studio at the height of the Renaissance in the 90s, before all the older artists were gone and technology swept away the traditional techniques.
The subtracted star - which may seem rather mean-spirited - was because of how surprisingly depressing the book is. So many of the artists had awful lives, marred by abuse, alcoholism, poverty and worse, that I found myself getting distracted from the beauty of their work by my sorrow for their sometimes appalling situations. I'm glad Canemaker didn't hold back from the truth, but it made for grim reading at times.
The subtracted star - which may seem rather mean-spirited - was because of how surprisingly depressing the book is. So many of the artists had awful lives, marred by abuse, alcoholism, poverty and worse, that I found myself getting distracted from the beauty of their work by my sorrow for their sometimes appalling situations. I'm glad Canemaker didn't hold back from the truth, but it made for grim reading at times.
November 10, 2008
Nice bios of Disney inspirational sketch artists.
May 30, 2017
Well researched, curated and written -- especially interesting for those who want to learn more about Disney animation during Walt Disney's lifetime.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews