Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts

The Art of The Princess and the Frog Review

The Art of The Princess and the Frog
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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.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

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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.

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Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World's Most Creative Corporate Playground Review

Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World's Most Creative Corporate Playground
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Since 1995 with the release of Toy Story, Pixar has created blockbuster animated films that the whole family loves. How do they KEEP doing it? To be creative and innovative once, twice, even three times is a major feat, but 10 in a row! Pixar replaced Disney as the family animation movie specialist and then was purchased by Disney for $7.4 billion in 2006.
The authors of The Disney Way researched and interviewed to find answers to Pixar's sustainable culture of innovation. The results are not surprising:
* Dream like a child
* Believe in your playmates
* Dare to jump in the water and make waves
* Do unleash your childlike potential
The book is loaded with lists of ideas based on Pixar's culture. For example, 10 ideas to encourage risk taking, 7 ways to create an inspirational environment, 41 ways to improve innovation, and 16 ways to get started.
At times, the book reads like a sequel to The Disney Way with the authors liberally quoting and drawing leadership points from their previous book. In many ways, Pixar is a sequel to Disney. The founders of Pixar has Walt Disney and Disney animation as their models. And Pixar recaptured what many saw was lacking in Disney's productions through the 1980s and 1990s.
As a short and inspiring book, The Pixar Way, left me with a number of ideas and a child-like zeal to innovate through fun.

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Praise for Innovate the Pixar Way:
"This tremendous book brings the magic and genius ofPixar to the page and lets us in on the secrets and intuitive synergy of such a successful company." -- Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
"Pixar is one of the most creative organizations in the world. Read Innovate the Pixar Way and explore the true beauty in how they sustain the environment. Who knows, maybe a little Pixar dust will fall on you!" -- John Christensen, coauthor of Fish! andplayground director AKA: CEO, ChartHouse Learning
"Creativity makes it possible for our dreams to become real--my life is my proof. This book puts all those possibilities in the hands of the reader . . . for those who will be creating the future." -- Carol Lawrence, singer, dancer, actress, and national spokesperson for theOpening Minds Through the Arts student achievement program
"With great and useful tips from beginning to end, this book will inspire workplaces to have more fun AND more success. I guarantee it!" -- George Zimmer, founder and CEO, Men's Wearhouse
"This insightful work is a great primer for leaders who are looking to unleash creative potential and instill a sense of joy and playfulness in their organizations." -- Brian Walker, president and CEO, Herman Miller, Inc.
Animate your team and unleash their creative power . . .The Pixar Way
"Creativity doesn't follow titles; it just comes from where it comes from." -- Ed Catmull, Pixar cofounder, Pixar and Disney Animation Studios president
In movies from Toy Story to The Incredibles to WALL-E to Up, Pixar Studios continues to set new standards for commercial and critical achievement. Pixar is a place where collaboration sets the tone for ""artists and geeks"to work side by side in a spirit of mutual respect and trust. The key lies not just in who--writers, animators, directors, tech wizards, and others--makes Pixar outstanding, but in how Pixar creates the ultimate havenwhere creativity overflows.
In this eye-opening book, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson, authors of The Disney Way, reveal how Pixar has reawakened the innovative spirit of Walt Disney. They explore how president Ed Catmull and chief creative officer John Lasseter and the rest of Pixar's braintrust have built an organization on the simple philosophy that quality is the best businessplan. It makes no difference if you are making a movie that takes four years or serving a customer that takes four minutes, you have only one chance to deliver that magical, magnetic, enchanting experience for your customer.
In this concise, accessible book, Capodagli and Jackson offer examples of how it's done--and explain what it takes to get your people to achieve greatness by unleashing theirpower to
Dream like a child . . . Have a vision, and be able to clearly communicate your objectives and goals.
Believe in your playmates . . . Hire creative people, trust in their skills and judgment, and inspire them to trust their colleagues.
Dare to jump in the water and make waves . . . Challenge the status quo. Encourage risktaking, but permit your people to fail, get back up, and try again.
Unleash your childlike potential . . . Focus on the details; make quality work your business's highest priority.

Learn not only from Pixar but also from how other leading organizations--Google, Griffin Hospital, Men's Wearhouse, OMA (Opening Minds Through the Arts) student achievement program, Nike, Target, and the Internet shoe giant Zappos--unshackle their people's imaginations and do outrageously great things. And by motivating your team toInnovate the Pixar Way you, too, can discover the magic that will help your business stay ahead of the competition, attract the best talent, and fatten the bottom line.
In 1993, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson cofounded Capodagli Jackson Consulting in West Olive, Michigan. They have helped scores of organizations revamp their customer service experiences and develop innovative products, andthey also have developed performance strategies to impact organizational change using Walt Disney's "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" success credo. Bill Capodagli is the most requested keynote speaker on the creative cultures of both Disney and Pixar.
Visit the authors at capojac.com

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Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture Review

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
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First of all, I'm a new father. Of a girl. Naturally I find myself wondering how on earth I am going to raise a confident, considerate and well adjusted girl in these complicated times. I also noticed that sometimes people's eyebrows would raise as they saw me reading this book in public. Trust me. This book is a worthwhile read for mothers AND fathers.
What this book has proven to be is an alarming expose of the numerous pitfalls our culture has created for girls. Orenstein humorously and cuttingly tackles issues such as the marketing schemes of the "disney princess brand", "pink explosion" of products marketed toward girls, the pattern of teen-icon role-models who go from "wholesome" to "whoresome" as they mature (even the seemingly incorruptible Miley Cyrus succumbed to it as she got older). AKA don't pose for Vanity Fair. The book is well researched and makes a compelling case for all parents to be concerned about the future of their daughters.
Orenstein's agenda is liberally slanted with an anti-consumer agenda, and you can tell because there's some obvious HRC/Palin comparisons in the book, but what would you expect from a lady living in Berekely, California? A Santa Cruz resident, myself, I didn't find these insertions bothersome, but to the politically conservative I advice a grain of salt.
At times the narrative seemed to get overly alarmist, raising red flags about things which I personally wouldn't worry very much. I understand why, but parts of the discussion seemed to over-stress the dangers to our nascent daughters. I just don't buy it. Meanwhile, the book offers a great amount of commentary/critique about these challenges, but provides very little of substance in terms of how to address these issues on the parental end. There are some gems scattered throughout but I found myself wishing there was more guidance for those who are struggling here. Maybe the answer is that there is no real answer, because the parenting experience is so different for everyone.

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