The Art of The Princess and the Frog

by Jeff Kurtti, John Musker (Foreword), Ron Clements (Foreword)

This Fall, The Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to its timeless art form of hand-drawn animation. From the creative minds of directors John Musker and Ron Clements ( The Little Mermaid and Aladdin ) comes an American fairy tale and musical set in the heart of New Orleans during the Jazz Age. This unforgettable tale of love, enchantment, and discovery features Tiana, a young girl with big dreams who is working hard to achieve them amid theelegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. The Art of The Princess and the Frog showcases the lush concept art of this sure-to-be-classic movie, including sketches, character designs, lighting studies and storyboards, alongside inspiring quotes from the directors, producers, artists and designers, including veteran hand drawn animators that brought you many of Disney's most classic and unforgettable characters.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Film, Reference, Coffee Table Books, Ebooks, Media Tie In

160 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2009

Reviews

[Gretel Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realmente amé esta película; es posible que sea mi película de Princesas Disney favorita; la representación de la cultura afroamericana me pareció lo mejor de la cinta; esta representación obvio que está muy presente en el arte de la película; así que amé leer el libro sobre el arte de este filme.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have ranked this higher if I hadn't read the Tangled art book first - this is amazing and beautiful, and the detail of the city and buildings blows my mind every time I look at it, but I really think it needed MORE art. Ridiculous thing to say about an art book, but NEEDS SO MUCH MORE ART WORK OF TIANA BEING AMAZING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. LIKE, GIVE THE CHARACTERS A CHAPTER EACH, I CAN TAKE IT.

[Galy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro precioso libro de esta colección. En este me han dado muchas ganas de visitar Nueva Orleans porque hay una gran mezcla en un solo sitio.

Los dibujos y bocetos son maravillosos. Me gusta mucho ver cómo evolucionan los personajes y me encantan las esculturas ¡y ahora quiero ver esculturas de todos los personajes Disney!

Adoro esta colección de libros.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Looking through the art in this book, one would not have guessed that Disney actually decided to phase out traditional animation in 2004. The Princess and the Frog essentially marks a comeback, a representation of what Disney used to be. That's good news for all fans of traditional animation.

The Art of The Princess and the Frog is filled character designs, background art and storyboards. The art is unmistakeably Disney-style — the caricature style of characters, stylized set designs and lush colours. The story is set in New Orleans and there are plenty of background paintings in different moods. The characters are lively and backgrounds beautiful.

The team of contributing artists is impressive. There are new artists as well as familiar names. It's impossible to name all but those whose name keep appearing are Rik Maki, Armand Baltazar, Bill Schwab, James Aaron Finch (production designer), Ian Gooding (art director), Sue Nichols, Mark Henn, Chris Appelhans, Kevin Gollaher and many more.

The artists and staff contribute numerous interesting quotes. They talk about the creative process, characters, the set and a bit on the story. There are stuff like what they did or where they went for research, inspiration and influence from older classic animated films. All interesting and insightful to read.

This book a refreshing and welcome look back at traditional art, after being exposed to so much digital animation. Old school still has its distinct charm.

[Sofia Ferreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to travel to New Orleans, especially at the Mardi Gras.
The characters are very good, but it was the drawings of the city that won me over. Every detail has been thought and designed meticulously, from the color palette to the architectural details. Everything is amazing.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Princess and the Frog is my favourite Disney film and this book did not disappoint. ❤️

I have wanted to own this book for so long and I never thought it would happen. I got this for Christmas after years of not being able to find it for a reasonable price and as cheesy as it sounds, reading it actually made me quite emotional.

This book is stunning! The art is breath taking, and the amount of passion these artists have is infectious. The fact that hand drawn animation is no longer valued the way it should be is a crime and I definitely think that we should go back to making films this way.

If you love The Princess and the Frog, you’ll love this book. This book could be 300 pages longer and I don’t think it would be enough.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

594 - 2020

[Cantdance · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Drew Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Kurtti has written several "The Art of [Disney movie name here]" books, and he usually does a great job talking about the process, the art, the creative crew and the ties to the studio's legacy. As moving and impressive as The Princess and the Frog was to me, I'm afraid this book fell a little short in a couple of areas. This was a very interesting book about the making of The Princess and the Frog, and it features a great deal of beautiful artwork, but I think it could have focused a little more on the characters and their animation. There was usually a page or two about each character, but compared to the author's more recent book on the making of Tangled, it just seems like very little character design or concept work. The featured artwork seemed to focus a lot more on setting and overall look and feel, a lot about research in New Orleans (where they REALLY Disney-fy the Mardi Gras experience...), and a lot about the scenery and set design: the various homes and bayou setting. I know these are important elements to the story, but I felt like the excellent characters were sort of short-changed. I mean, the Tangled book seems to be just bursting with incredible character sketches, even starting with the inside flaps. Also, there seemed to be a little more text than expected for an art book, and the writing seemed a little less polished. There were some pretty obvious and unforgivable typos (I just don't know how those things get through in this day and age of spell check).

All in all though, I have to concede that it's still a very nice "art-of" book. It did tie this movie into the Disney animation canon and legacy, and nicely related it to the films that provided inspiration and reference material (most notably Lady and the Tramp and Cinderella). Some of the awesome featured artists are legendary Disney animators Eric Goldberg, Mark Henn, Andreas Deja and BYU alum Randy Haycock, Sue Nichols, Bill Schwab, and even a few from directors Ron Clements and John Musker. It makes you a little sad that animation studios have so shied away from traditional animation in recent years, when the people involved obviously have such a love for the art form, and are so skilled at doing it. The Princess and the Frog was truly an amazing, sadly underappreciated film, already overshadowed by the studio's next (admittedly excellent) film, but this book could help readers realize the in-depth and complex process that a huge and talented production team undertakes to create such a stunning work of art.

So, even if it doesn't quite live up to my probably unrealistic expectations as to what kind of treatment a movie this glorious deserves, it's a wonderful book of beautiful artwork.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Art of The Princess and the Frog' is a richly illustrated coffee table book on the charming film, chock full of concept art, background art, storyboard art and such. Text, on the other hand, is rather scarce, and we learn only the outlines of the origin and development of the film. In the end, 'The Princess and the Frog' deserves a more thoroughly historical approach, but as a source of inspiration for artists this book is highly recommended.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy the movie (maybe I expected something different), I almost snoozed near the end, but I sure loved the art-book.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡He deborado este libro! Teniendo en cuenta que Tiana y el Sapo es una de mis películas preferidas de Disney, imaginaros las ganas que tenía de leer este libro... ¡una auténtica fantasía!

Aunque he notado que en este volumen se decantan más por hablar de experiencias personales y no tanto las referencias culturales (que es lo que a mí más me interesa), de ahí que le haya dado cuatro estrellas; si es cierto que la arquitectura juega un papel fundamental y nos aporta leves trazos: desde la naturaleza de El Bayou, la zona más rica y pomposa de Nueva Orleans El Garden District, las fiestas del Mardi Gras o los origenes de Tiana en el Distrito Nueve.

¡Un disfrute!

[Alex Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well done Art of book. Focusing on the Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog, this book features gorgeous artwork used for the film. This includes storyboarding, sketches and final images.

Being that the film takes place in New Orleans, the city plays a vital role in the story. The artwork reflects that, as the filmmakers wanted to create a film that used the character of the city to its advantage.

If you like animated films and/or New Orleans you will love the gorgeous artwork featured throughout.

[Sil_entre_libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro magnífico con un montón de información, un libro que te cuenta como crearon este clásico de Disney, como recorrieron las calles de Nueva Orleans para buscar información de las casas y como estuvieron en el carnaval Mardi Gras y les gustó tanto que lo incluyeron en la película es un libro para la gente que le guste Disney y quieren saber cómo hicieron esta película y la magia con que la hicieron

[Xenos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply exquisite!!! The Princess and the Frog is Disney's best (and, unfortunately, last as of this review) 2D animated film. Kudos to the artists who brought us this meticulously crafted movie and book. Your painstaking and beautiful creation is truly a "work of art".

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous movie and beautiful art. I loved the description of various departments who designed the characters and settings, as well as the Behind-the-Scenes perspectives of the artists.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ale Tosti · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a birthday present a few years back and I must say it was probably the best thing I got that year... tied with a collection of Studio Ghibli movies. This was also my first art book about animation and it is still my favorite art book relating to animation to date. The book is cleverly divided into three main chapters based on the iconic locations in the film: New Orleans, The Garden District and The Bayou with mini sections in the book such as The Restaurant or The La Bouff Estate and a Preface, a foreword, introduction, Coda and acknowledgments. Of course since New Orleans is a real life place the book goes into detail into the trips that people made to New Orleans and talks a little bit about the locations and their history, so if you're like me and you've never been to New Orleans, you might come away knowing a thing or two more about the Crescent City.

The artbook deals mostly with the setting and production but it does spare some room for the characters. These pages are pretty short, only about twenty pieces of concept art per character which kind of bothered me since there were some pieces of concept art which I have seen online that are not in the book. Also, they do not really talk about the process of how they ended up with the final characters we see in the film. For example, on Mama Odie's page there's a sketch by Daniel Chong that shows Juju talking to Naveen labeled "Snake does all the talking" which is an interesting idea but the book itself never explains it. But what we do get is very insightful, not on the character designs but on the characters' personalities. Tony DeRosa-Lawrence's supervising animator, for example, says that Lawrence is not only annoyed by Naveen ignoring his princely duties, but that "Lawrence feels like he would do better being the prince...and he probably would" the book then goes on to say that while Naveen likes dancing with commoners Lawrence sees himself above them, something probably a "proper" prince would do. I never thought about Lawrence that way but when I read that I realized he was right. Lawrence probably feels cheated because he feels he deserves to be prince instead of Naveen. It is a well known fact that a great animator knows the character they are animating as if they are real people that they know very well and reading this you can really see that in the staff.

The artbook also goes back to talk about environmental influences for the bayou, how Disney animators referenced classic movies like Bambi, effects animation and my personal favorite: Color and Light. Watching The Princess and the Frog from an artist's perspective, I noticed that the movie had a very beautiful yet subtle color scheme and use of lighting. The opening sequence with the soft pink light from Charlotte's room contrasting the blues of the night, the golds and greens and pinks from "Dig a little deeper" and the Bayou wedding and the purples and greens and pinks from the "Transformation Central" sequence and it was a real treat seeing the people who worked on the movie addressing and going into detail on this. This book is probably one of the most informative artbooks I have- and it's not even the biggest! It is also one of the most passionate which can make even non-animation fans appreciate all the work that they put into this. This passion is also a little bit sad, throughout the book they talk about how this was going to be the movie that was going to bring back hand-drawn animation to the U.S. but looking at this over five years after the movie's release, we all know that was not so. All-in-all this is a wonderful book and is great for just about anyone, animation fan or not. 4.5/5 stars

[em · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this for a uni project,, im a sucker for concept art

[Echo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought The Princess and the Frog was the best show Disney had put out in a very long time, and the return to 2D artwork had me more excited than I can convey here. So a book of art from the show? Count me in!
I mainly bought it for the pictures (and was not disappointed, though I could have handled some more picture of scenery in the bayou, I suppose), but I enjoyed the writing of the book itself as well. It gave a lot of insight into inspiration for the look behind the film, and also into how much thought the animators put into the characters and settings to bring them to life. Some of the details discussed here are things I would never notice while watching the movie (and, as the author points out, are things that aren't meant to be noticed, because they don't want the viewer distracted from the story itself), but that show just why Disney is at the top of the game when it comes to making movies like this one.
Now I just hope they continue.

[Nurulhazira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by the beauty of this book.

I got to learn more about how they came about with the concept, the look and also their inspirations. It also features beautiful artworks and inspiring quotes that wowed me.

I really like how the whole idea was well thought-out. They spent a lot of time developing the characters and they were able to tie them well with the ambiance and whatnot so that the audience can make an emotional connection. There is more than what meets the eye and I applaud the animators and those who are involved in this production for doing a great job.

[Elevetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

For going on and on and on about how precious this movie was because they went back to the old style of hand-drawing, almost all the art shown was digital.

Disappointing, to say the least.

Still, there were a few gorgeous digital backgrounds and sets, as well as the various versions of Tiana's bayou dress.

[Mireille Duval · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful, beautiful book. I would love to design those kinds of books! I'm so glad I managed to get a copy of this before it went out of print. I'll come back to it often, especially the tons of Tiana drawings.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of the concept art and storyboards that went into the making of the Princess and the Frog, it also has some information about how the story came to be and how a Disney film comes to be. Not as much behind the scenes and making of information as I’d like, but still wonderful.

[Tracey]

Xmas gift 2009

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a gorgeous, wonderful book about one of my all time favourite films! I thoroughly enjoyed it & the illustrations were absolutely stunning!

[AmyRa]

great

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bit light on text, but that leaves a lot of space for art. I really loved the background paintings and concept art of New Orleans. Those pieces really capture the magic of the city.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Loved looking at the sketches and background art. PATF is a great, underrated, movie. Tiana is one of my favourites. Lottie is a southern belle princess and I love her <3