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

Born from daydreams meditations on color character and form and sheer inventiveness Disneys 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 actions locale the mood and the use of color; in short the films 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).