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ashleylm's review
3.0
Interesting but not particularly urgent book, with a nice but not earth-shattering collection of nondescript-to-pleasant-to-inspiring images.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
catladyreba's review
4.0
This was a fun read. It was nice to see some of the original, lesser artists of early Disney featured, especially Bianca Majolie.
bellebelly's review
4.0
The text of this book is well written and interesting (which seems to be unusual for a coffee table book these days). I learned about artists I was unfamiliar with, and got a glimpse into what the early days were like at Disney. The art is beautiful, of course, but is also well selected to help tell the stories of the artists profiled.
ginabelle's review
4.0
I very much enjoyed this book as a lover of Disney art! I appreciated the intentionality of the choice of artists for this volume as I was less familiar with their work. I especially enjoyed the collaboration with the Disney Archives (and other such institutions). I can only imagine how much work and research went into this!
My only disappointment was the lack of focus the section on Bianca Majolie seemed to receive. Not only did she share her biography section with other women (which is fine but ultimately the focus should be on Majolie and more so how she directly impacted those women, then back to her, correct?), but her section was disappointingly the shortest in both biography and art selections. She was such a huge contributor to the studio and instead her biography seemed determined to spotlight any sour notes she had with the company instead of highlighting her accomplishments and beautiful art. She had a similar story to other male artists (some even in this same volume!) but her section left me feeling like she was miserable her whole Disney career and left pouting which truly belittles the amazing work she did such as redirecting the entire story arc of “Pinocchio” making it into the glorious version of what we see today. However, I appreciate she was included and I was overall very impressed with the beauty of this book.
My only disappointment was the lack of focus the section on Bianca Majolie seemed to receive. Not only did she share her biography section with other women (which is fine but ultimately the focus should be on Majolie and more so how she directly impacted those women, then back to her, correct?), but her section was disappointingly the shortest in both biography and art selections. She was such a huge contributor to the studio and instead her biography seemed determined to spotlight any sour notes she had with the company instead of highlighting her accomplishments and beautiful art. She had a similar story to other male artists (some even in this same volume!) but her section left me feeling like she was miserable her whole Disney career and left pouting which truly belittles the amazing work she did such as redirecting the entire story arc of “Pinocchio” making it into the glorious version of what we see today. However, I appreciate she was included and I was overall very impressed with the beauty of this book.
sallyepp's review
3.0
A very interesting read for those interested in the history of art and animation. Lovely reproductions of sketches, character designs and concept art. The section on Bianca Majolie was noticeably shorter than the sections for the other three (male) artists, and her salary was minuscule compared to theirs. I look forward to reading the next volume.
cait_margaret's review
4.0
Maybe more of 3.5 stars than a true 4 star rating.
I love the information included here, highlighting four lesser known animators who mostly did conceptual work for Disney, and the art itself is gorgeous and printed beautifully. Unfortunately, the actual writing itself is where this book falls a little flat for me. I found the mini-biographies for each of the artists very dry and, while I appreciate the use of myriad primary sources for information, I also felt that Ghez relied much too heavily on block quotes from those materials.
Depending on a perspective reader's main point of interest, I'm not sure that this book is worth the money. If someone just wants a beautiful coffee table book full of rough and preliminary artwork, then it probably is. However for those who prefer these types of books to also have a lot of substance to them (like I do) then it falls a little short. Luckily I found it on Amazon for $7 rather than the $40 original price and for that amount it's obviously more than worth it.
Overall, I'm thrilled to have a new book added to my Disney collection, and relatively happy with the new information and art found within it.
I love the information included here, highlighting four lesser known animators who mostly did conceptual work for Disney, and the art itself is gorgeous and printed beautifully. Unfortunately, the actual writing itself is where this book falls a little flat for me. I found the mini-biographies for each of the artists very dry and, while I appreciate the use of myriad primary sources for information, I also felt that Ghez relied much too heavily on block quotes from those materials.
Depending on a perspective reader's main point of interest, I'm not sure that this book is worth the money. If someone just wants a beautiful coffee table book full of rough and preliminary artwork, then it probably is. However for those who prefer these types of books to also have a lot of substance to them (like I do) then it falls a little short. Luckily I found it on Amazon for $7 rather than the $40 original price and for that amount it's obviously more than worth it.
Overall, I'm thrilled to have a new book added to my Disney collection, and relatively happy with the new information and art found within it.
redrocketpanda's review
4.0
My partner bought me this beautiful hardback for a Christmas or birthday a few years back and, in good timely fashion, I have only just gotten around to reading it. I cannot fault the quality of this book, which is the first installment of the They Drew as They Pleased series, as it is beautiful. You can tell that so much research by the author has gone into this book and, from what I understand, the entire series, especially as one of the author's aims, is to reveal 'hidden art' which has been lost to time or otherwise has tended to be ignored in other Disney history books. Ghez focuses on 4 employees who worked for Disney during the 1930's, one of whom was the first woman to work at Disney, and includes pages of quality art and sketches alongside short biographies of each person.
This isn't really the book that I expected it to be as I had thought it would be more about the art and styles of the movies and shorts as a whole rather than focusing on individual people (something that I find quite dry to read). It made for an interesting, and short, read but definitely focuses more on the artists than the art itself. One thing that did bother me a little is that there were so many pages dedicated to the first two (male) artists yet this attention wasn't equitably given to the only female artist featured in this edition, whose section was fairly short and included more general information about other women who came after.
It's a lovely book to own but something which is more of a Disney collectible and coffee table book for me than a book to read. I would be interested in checking out the other editions though, mostly to complete the set, though I would particularly like to read the ones on the 60s and 90s!
This isn't really the book that I expected it to be as I had thought it would be more about the art and styles of the movies and shorts as a whole rather than focusing on individual people (something that I find quite dry to read). It made for an interesting, and short, read but definitely focuses more on the artists than the art itself. One thing that did bother me a little is that there were so many pages dedicated to the first two (male) artists yet this attention wasn't equitably given to the only female artist featured in this edition, whose section was fairly short and included more general information about other women who came after.
It's a lovely book to own but something which is more of a Disney collectible and coffee table book for me than a book to read. I would be interested in checking out the other editions though, mostly to complete the set, though I would particularly like to read the ones on the 60s and 90s!
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