About the Book
Discover the lessons that helped bring about a new golden age of Disney animation!
Published for the first time ever, Drawn to Life is a two volume collection of the legendary lectures from long-time Disney animator Walt Stanchfield. For over twenty years, Walt helped breathe life into the new golden age of animation with these teachings at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and influenced such talented artists as Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Glen Keane, and John Lasseter. These writings represent the quintessential refresher for fine artists and film professionals, and it is a vital tutorial for students who are now poised to be part of another new generation in the art form.
Written by Walt Stanchfield (1919-2000), who began work for the Walt Disney Studios in the 1950s. His work can be seen in films like Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, and Peter Pan.
Edited by Academy Award®-nominated producer Don Hahn, who has prduced such classic Disney films as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
Table of Contents:
Part 1 Basics; Chapter 1 Enthusiasm; Chapter 2 Principles of Animation; Chapter 3 Consider Anatomy Alone; Chapter 4 Anatomy Continued; Chapter 5 Consider Weight; Chapter 6 Squash and Stretch – I; Chapter 7 Squash and Stretch – II; Chapter 8 Stretch and Squash – III; Chapter 9 Line and Silhouette; Chapter 10 Basic Shapes versus Details; Chapter 11 Using Basic Shapes as Aid in Difficult Drawings; Chapter 12 Simplify Where Possible; Chapter 13 Straights and Curves; Chapter 14 Overlap, Follow-through, and Drag; Chapter 15 Eyes; Chapter 16 Avoiding Tangent Lines; Chapter 17 Some Simple Rules of Perspective; Chapter 18 Some Ways to Create Space and Depth; Chapter 19 Some Principles of Drawing; Chapter 20 Great Performance or Just a Drawing?; Chapter 21 Drawing Calories; Chapter 22 Sketching; Chapter 23 Animation and Sketching; Chapter 24 Simplicity for the Sake of Clarity; Chapter 25 Construction Observations Useful in Animation; Chapter 26 The Opposing Force; Part 2 Gesture; Chapter 27 Anatomy vs. Gesture; Chapter 28 Mental and Physical Preparation; Chapter 29 Dividing the Body Into Units; Chapter 30 Dimensional Drawing; Chapter 31 The Value of an Action/Gesture Analysis Study; Chapter 32 Using a Simple (But Logical) Approach to Drapery; Chapter 33 Drapery – Its Role in Drawing; Chapter 34 The Seriousness of Head Sketching/A New Phrase: “Body Syntax”; Chapter 35 The Head in Gesture; Chapter 36 From the Living Model to the LivingGesture; Chapter 37 A Little More on Heads; Chapter 38 Feeling the Pose; Chapter 39 The Pose Is an Extreme; Chapter 40 Pose and Mood; Chapter 41 Pose and Mood Plus Timing and Phrasing and Texture; Chapter 42 Symbols for Poses; Chapter 43 Positive and Negative; Chapter 44 Silhouette; Chapter 45 P.S. The Metaphysical Side; Chapter 46 Draw Verbs Not Nouns; Chapter 47 Osmosis; Chapter 48 Drawing and Caricature; Part 3 Seeing; Chapter 49 What Not to See; Chapter 50 A Bit of Introspection; Chapter 51 It Ain’t Easy; Chapter 52 A Good First Impression; Chapter 53 Stick to the Theme; Chapter 54 Sometimes I Wonder Why I Spend the Lonely Hours…; Chapter 55 Cleanup – General; Chapter 56 Cleanup; Chapter 57 Inbetweening; Chapter 58 Problems with Drawing in Line; Chapter 59 Superficial Appearance vs. Creative Portrayal; Chapter 60 Creative Energy; Chapter 61 More Meanderings; Chapter 62 Those Who Cannot Begin Do Not Finish; Chapter 63 Body Language; Chapter 64 Note Taking and Sketching; Chapter 65 Using the Rules of Perspective; Chapter 66 Applying the Rules of Perspective; Chapter 67 Copy the Model…Who Me?; Chapter 68 Talk to Your Audience – Through Drawing; Chapter 69 Getting at the Root of the Problem; Chapter 70 Doodling vs. Drawing; Chapter 71 Purpose in Drawing; Chapter 72 When Acting (Drawing) is an Art; Part 4 Analysis; Chapter 73 Action Analysis Class I; Chapter 74 Action Analysis Class II; Chapter 75 Using Cylinders; Chapter 76 Action Analysis – Hands and Feet; Chapter 77 Angles, Angles, Angles; Chapter 78 Using Angles; Chapter 79 Angles and Tension; Chapter 80 Applying Angles and Tension in Our Drawings; Chapter 81 Tennis, Angles, and Essences; Chapter 82 More on the Same; Chapter 83 More on “Essence” Drawing; Chapter 84 Driving Force Behind the Action; Chapter 85 A Drawing Style Appropriate for Animation; Chapter 86 A Drawing Style for Animation, Part II; Chapter 87 Learn to Cheat; Chapter 88 One Picture Worth A Thousand Words?; Chapter 89 Double Vision; Chapter 90 Lazy Lines; Chapter 91 Spot It for Yourself; Chapter 92 Do You Promise to Draw the Action, The Whole Action, and Nothing But the Action?; Chapter 93 The Pose – A One-Drawing Story; Chapter 94 My Eye Is in Love; Chapter 95 Become the Director; Chapter 96 Hone Up or Bone Up; Chapter 97 The Illustrated Handout; Part 5 Creativity; Chapter 98 Drawing on the Artist Within; Chapter 99 Fine Tuning the Gesture; Chapter 100 For a Better Gesture, Adverbs; Chapter 101 Omni – on Creativity; Chapter 102 Metamorphosis; Chapter 103 Mime; Chapter 104 True Gesture Drawing; Chapter 105 A Second Chance to Make a First Impression; Chapter 106 A Good Sketch Is Like a Good Joke; Chapter 107 Opposition; Chapter 108 Elastic Band Tension; Chapter 109 Get Out of the Way; Chapter 110 Play-Acting; Chapter 111 A Storytelling Drawing; Chapter 112 Drawing Techniques; Chapter 113 Step Into It; Chapter 114 It Could Be That….; Chapter 115 A First Impression – Your Intended Goal; Chapter 116 Gallery of Class Drawings; Chapter 117 Think First….; Chapter 118 Piles of Nuts; Chapter 119 A Meaningful Assembly; Chapter 120 The Time has Come, The Walrus Said…; Chapter 121 Clarity; Chapter 122 Action or Reaction?; Part 6 Thinking; Chapter 123 Be Transformed; Chapter 124 Be Relentless; Chapter 125 Adjust Your Crystal; Chapter 126 A Love for Drawing; Chapter 127 A New Slant on Drawing; Chapter 128 Think Gesture; Chapter 129 Precious Instruments; Chapter 130 Gesture Drawing, Enthusiasm, and Stuff Like that; Chapter 131 Shape – A Multi-Form Drawing Tool; Chapter 132 Deciphering and Defining Gestures; Chapter 133 The Decisive Moment; Chapter 134 Relationship of Character to Prop; Chapter 135 Drawing; Chapter 136 Words That Help in Drawing; Chapter 137 A Simple Approach to Drawing; Chapter 138 Vocalizing; Chapter 139 Abstracting the Essence; Chapter 140 Common vs. Uncommon Gestures; Chapter 141 A Thinking Person’s Art; Chapter 142 Lines, Lines, Lines; Chapter 143 Feel, as Well as See, the Gesture; Chapter 144 Savvy Sayin’s; Chapter 145 The Inner Force; Chapter 146 The Power of “mmm”; Chapter 147 Gestural Symbolism; Chapter 148 Some Left Over Thoughts; Chapter 149 The Right Way;
About the Author :
Walt Stanchfield, Don Hahnpson
Review :
For nearly thirty years, the artists that passed through the gates of Disney Animation, and even non-artists like myself, were influenced by the craft, skill, wisdom, writings and sketches of Walt Stanchfield.
Roy Disney
Walt was a kind of Mark Twain for us at Disney. He always taught with humor and skill. You learned to see the world through his eyes. I remember him one day encouraging us to leap into our drawings with boldness and confidence, "Don't be afraid to make a mistake. We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us so the sooner you get them out the better!" Sitting in Walt's class was as much a psychology course as it was a drawing class. One couldn't help walk away with your mind and soul a little more open than when you entered.
Glen Keane, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Stanchfield's classes and writings were little distillations of the man: quirky, strongly stated in a genial voice, and brimming with a lifetime of sharp observations about story telling and graphic communication. Whether he drew with a ball point pen or painted with a brush dipped in his coffee cup, he got to the essence of things and was eager to share what he learned to his eager disciples, myself among them. He was grizzled and he was great and proof that there was more than one Walt at the Disney Studio that could inspire a legion of artists.
John Musker, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Stanchfield was one of Disney Animation's national treasures. His classes and notes have inspired countless animation artists, and his approach to drawing of caricature over reality, feeling over rote accuracy, and communication over photographic reproduction gets to the heart of what great animation is all about. Huzzah to Don Hahn for putting it all together for us!
Eric Goldberg, Walt Disney Animation Studios
During the Animation Renaissance of the 1990s, one of the Walt Disney Studio's best kept secrets was Walt Stanchfield. Once a week after work, this aged but agile figure jumped from drawing board to drawing board, patiently teaching us the principles behind the high baroque style of Walt Disney Animation drawing. Being in a room with Walt made you feel what it must have been like to have been taught by Don Graham. Having one of your life drawings be good enough to be reproduced in one of his little homemade weekly bulletins was akin to getting a Distinguished Service medal! Senior animators vied with trainees for that distinction.
Tom Sito, Animator/Filmmaker/Author of Drawing The Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson
This exciting collection of master classes by the great teacher Walt Stanchfield is destined to become a classic on the order of Kimon Nicolaides' exploration of the drawing process. Stanchfield (1919-2000) inspired several generations of Disney animators and those of us outside the studio fortunate enough to happen upon dog-eared copies of his conversational notes, which we passed around like Leonardo's Codex Leicester. Stanchfield beautifully communicates the essence and joy of expressing ideas through the graphic line and accumulating a visual vocabulary. DRAWN TO LIFE is a treasure trove of cogent, valuable information for students, teachers and anyone who loves to draw.
John Canemaker, NYU professor and Academy Award-winning animation filmmaker
Walt Stanchfield, in his own unique way, taught so many of us about drawing, caricature, motion, acting and animation. Most important to me, was how Walt made you apply what you had observed in his life drawing class to your animation. Disney Animation is based on real life, and in that regard Walt Stanchfield's philosophy echoed Walt Disney's:
'We cannot caricature and animate anything convincingly until we study the real thing first.'
Andreas Deja, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Stanchfield's renewed emphasis on draftsmanship at the Disney Studios transformed the seemingly moribund art of animation. His students were part of a renaissance with The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a renaissance that continues with films ranging from The Iron Giant to Lilo and Stitch to Wall-E.
Charles Solomon, Animation Historian
I'm so grateful to Focal Press for publishing these fabulous Walt Stanchfield books. They are veritable 'gold dust' for the serious (and aspiring) animator! So 'hurrah' to Focal and 'hurrah' to Don Hahn to committing himself to compiling them. I ordered my copies the minute I saw them and will of course hope my students are smart enough to do so too!
Tony White, DigiPen, Author of 'Animation: From Pencil to Pixels' and 'How to Make Animated Films'
