BEFORE EVER AFTER SAMANTHA SOTTO

BEFORE EVER AFTER SAMANTHA SOTTO

BEFORE EVER AFTER SAMANTHA SOTTO

Before Ever After is a treasury of rare and unpublished lecture notes, photographs and drawings which reflect the culture of learning that Walt Disney curated to raise the level of his artists in preparation for their first feature: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt hand-picked instructors from the renowned Chouinard Art Institute to hold classes on action and drawing.  He screened films for study.  He brought in talent from Architect Frank Lloyd Wright to choreographer George Balanchine to humorist Alexander Woollcott to teach and inspire his team.  The result is a stunning collection of transcripts and history which not only lay the artistic foundation for the animated art form, but also give u s an intimate look inside the walls of Walt Disney"s studio during a seminal and profoundly creative moment in time.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Walt Disney built a cartoon studio and an empire on the shoulders of Mickey Mouse, but to make the leap from shorts to feature films, he knew his artists had raise the bar.  At first Disney himself drove artists to nearby Chouinard Art Institute for classes, then expanded that educational effort by building his own in-house training program like no other before or since.

Before Ever After is a compilation of rare and previously unpublished lecture notes from that extraordinary training effort.   Among others, Frank Lloyd Wright who spoke about his philosophy on art and design, Alexander Woollcott about humor and entertainment, Yale color theorist Faber Birren on color theory, Disney Legends Art Babbit, Fred Moore, and Bill Tytla gave live critiques of their animation and artist Don Graham lectured extensively on composition, drawing and fine art.

Now some eighty years later, these lost lectures are presented with text and context, richly illustrated to show the brilliance of Walt"s plan to raise the level of his artists to invent the modern animated

About the Author

Don Hahn is a writer/producer/director whose credits include the worldwide phenomenon The Lion King, the classic Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie.   Don"s books on animation, art and creativity include the best seller Brain Storm, the acclaimed Drawn To Life: The Complete Works of Walt Stanchfield and the much anticipated Before Ever After: The Lost Lectures of Disney"s Animation Studio.

Tracey Miller-Zarneke has become a key figure in the world of animation, way beyond her credited roles on the feature films such as Chicken Little and The Emperor"s New Groove. She has authored eight books on the art of animation including The Art of Kung Fu Panda,  The Art of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and The Art of Planes.  Tracey served as editorial advisor on the landmark textbooks Producing Animation and Directing Animation.  She also serves on the Bo ard of Directors of Women in Animation