Before the Animation Begins

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).