Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Farewell to all D&M readers , with a final surprise



That's it, my friends, it's Disney and more last post. And just like at Disneyland where each day ends with a firework, Disney and more also have its final fireworks as you can see above. But at Disneyland before the firework there is generally a great show or parade. I don't have any parade for you but i have a final surprise: a brand new website, dedicated to a great man who was also a WDI Imagineer: Tom Scherman.



Without Tom we won't have the almost real-size Nautilus at Disneyland Paris. He was without a doubt the Nautilus world specialist and a genius model maker. Since he saw "20000 Leagues under the Sea" at 17 Tom found in love with Harper Goff's submarine, did his first Nautilus model and many others later, became Harper Goff friend and even designed his own apartment with a gorgeous Nautilus style!

So, let's have a look to what you will find in the Tom Scherman's web site that i've tried to design with a Nautilus theming. First, the url to put in your bookmarks is: http://tomscherman.blogspot.com/. There is a slide show of fourteen different header images and four of them shows Tom at different ages of his life. On the right side bar you have the links to each article and the front page article is a tribute to Tom Scherman and will learn you more about his life and career.



There is a lot of never seen before documents in the site and the first of them is the incredible scrapbook that Tom did when he redesigned his apartment as a submarine at the end of the 1960's.



Rowland Scherman, Tom's brother who provided most of the documents for this site also found back great Nautilus paintings that Tom did a long time ago.



Before he passed away in 1995 Tom sent to me exclusive pictures that he shot while he was creating DLP Nautilus at WDI facility. This article will tell you everything on the making of DLP's attraction.



For this project Tom did a lot of "napkin sketches". Some of them were reproduced in my DLP book but here you will find an extended selection of Tom's sketches.



And because "Les Mystères du Nautilus" attraction is Tom's masterpiece you will find a full pictorial report AND a brand new 10 minutes video of the whole Nautilus walk through that i've filmed last week at DLP!



Tom did also some great sketches for the Discovery Bay project which inspired TDS Mysterious Island.



I've added to this new web site previous articles posted on D&M before, like this one about the amazing Nautilus Two model.



You will find also others great articles about 20000 Leagues under the Sea, the now extinct WDW attraction and also all about the beautiful eFX Nautilus Replica model available for pre-order and which will be released next month!

Finally, in the "Vulcania Treasures" section you'll be able to order beautiful limited edition prints of Tom's artwork. Now, and although i might add one or two more articles to this new site, this will not be a site where i will post daily articles as i did the last three years on Disney and more. The Tom Scherman site is pretty complete as it is right now and we tried Rowland and I to give a totally deserved tribute to a great man, in a elegant way. I hope you will enjoy this new site, let me know in your comments!

Before i end this final post i want to thank all of you to have been so faithful to Disney and more during the last three years. All i've tried to do was a really good web site and the best possible tribute to Walt Disney Imagineering. I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed it and i'll try to comeback from time to time when there will be a new attraction or a major announcement - like Shanghaî Disneyland. A last and good news for those of you who were not there from the start of Disney and more and missed a lot of good articles: a best-of of Disney and more articles will run on Mice Age each Sunday, beginning in some weeks from now.

If you miss Disney and more articles, remember also that you'll find all D&M archives on the right side bar, or on Disney and more Artwork, or on Disney and more Movies. Don't forget too the new Innoventions Blog with interesting tech articles.

Again, many thanks for your loyal support, and i wish you all the best for your life and future projects.

Alain Littaye

34 comments:

ghislain said...

Thanks for all Alain !!!! D&M is a part of the dream now !!!

Nicolai said...

Dear Alain,

thank you for all your time and all your great work on this blog!!

There is no doubt whatsoever that this was by far the the richest and most interesting blog about Imagineering, a real Treasure Chest of invaluable Information and rare Artwork.

Of course I wish you the best for all your endeavours but I really wish you would reconsider!! The only excuse I'd accept is if you were working on a new book ;-)

Again, all the best wishes from me and thank you for everything you did here.

Kind Regards
Nicolai

Nicolas said...

C'est à la fois un jour un peu triste qui célèbre la fin de Disney and more, mais également un départ pour une nouvelle aventure avec le site consacré à Tom Scherman, qui connaitra je l'espère autant de succés que Disney and More!

N.D

Trumple said...

Thanks for everything!

Matt said...

Exceptional work, Alain. You'll be missed.

Vincenzo Mauro said...

I think I'll miss so much this blog...the first and only blog which took me in a dream and in a fantastic trip into the Disney parks...

Once again:

THANK YOU ALAIN FOR THIS FANTASTIC BLOG! :)

nicholas said...

I'm sorry that I started reading this blog so late in its life, but it was a pleasure and a privilege to do so.

Anonymous said...

Alain, If they have boat rides in Heaven, then Tom Sherman is your Captain! R1

StrawDog said...

Thanks Alain. I came to consider this site on of the best (if not the best) Disney sites on the web. I was always amazed at the info and concept art you were able to dig up and present. Thanks for all the hard work!

If you ever choose to return to D&M, I'll be right here waiting!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for your amazing work!! I'm looking forward to hearing more from you in the future, pls don't make us wait too long!!!
All the best!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for Disney and More - I will miss it very much. :o)

Dr Bitz said...

Alain,
As you know, the most valuable asset we have is our time. You gave all of us so much of yours with three years of non stop amazing articles and images. At least it will stay for us to enjoy over and over. It will really be an online resource. You have done so much good for the WDI legacy by showing it to us in a positive and still accurate way. You never stooped to sniping or attacks like so many sites, you just gave us the streams of consciousness that led to great attractions. For me personally, reading about those progressions of thought and seeing how ideas evolve is educational and inspiring. Thank you. Disney sites should learn from this and move on from discussing the rising cost of Popcorn.

You have done more for the PR and legacy of WED/WDI than any site Disney could have done. D23 should pay you. I'm sorry to see you go and honored to have been a willing guest in the past.

You deserve to have a life, so use the time wisely, All the best to you! Merci Beaucoups!

Eddie Sotto

Dr Bitz said...

Re:Tom Scherman Site.

Tom spent his life immersed in 20k and this site fully illustrates how well he executed on his passion. It was total and so is the site. Thanks to Alain and the Scherman family for making this site possible.

The most interesting thing to me are the "Napkin" sketches. Tom decided to do the simplest document he could to clearly communicate his ideas. I was trained to do 8.5 by 11 sketches (to scale) to do details in the field and to sketch simply as to distribute the idea to others. This saves money if coordinated well and keep the designer directly in control of the design. Tom did this at an even a greater economy and look at what came of it? His projects are faithful to the napkin sketches. Of course, they had to de interpreted by skilled draftsmen, but his sketches were explicit enough and had detailed notes (the important ones) to move things forward. He knew what not to say too. How many bad projects are there in the world built from volumes of design?

Tom didn't just live in his dream, he also taught us an interesting way to design that is cost effective and works. Alain, thank you for posting these great sketches and the great site.

Eddie Sotto

RandySavage said...

For its duration D&M was the very best themepark content-provider on the internet - as demonstrated by the support of Imagineering insiders like Eddie Sotto, Thor, Don Carson, the Scherman family, Hani El Masri, Pat Burke, etc.

Alain, you should be proud of that accomplishment.

Maybe it D&M will be re-born one day in the future....

Best of luck

Anonymous said...

Thanks Alain!

For all the amazing stories and articles you wrote!!!

I'll will miss it!

Good thing that you keep this site as an archive!

Greetings and hope to hear from you soon ;-)

Yves
(Belgium)

Brandon Starr said...

I've grown accustomed to reading your fantastic articles, and pouring through the collections of great artwork you've collected. While I'm sad you are ending D&M I understand the time and effort it must have taken to write a daily article. Now I'm looking forward to going back and catching up on all the articles I missed, and exploring the new Tom Sherman site. Sherman was a talented artist and a big inspiration for me in my artistic pursuits. Cheers!

Al Ventureland said...

Thank you for your wonderfull and amazing work Alain !

I had worked on Disney architecture during my history of art master (your book was one of my best work partner during this work lol)and I'm totaly fond of your amazing blog, probably the most complete blog for this subject on the web.

Thank you again and again !!

I hope to read you again in a new book or something like that ;)

Al Ventureland

(PS: Sorry for my Tarzan english XD)

JOSELO said...

I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR ALL THE GREAT WORK OVER THE YEARS.

WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCKS WITH YOUR FUTURE PROJECTS!


JOSE LUIS LOPEZ
Mexicali, Mexico.

Marco Antonio Garcia. São Paulo, Brazil said...

RIP Disney and more,
We are going to miss you.
Good luck on your future projects Alain! Thank you for this new web site.

It is I, Antwerp said...

Many, many, many thanks from a loyal reader from Belgium!

Ray Bryce said...

Thank you Alain I miss a lot your posts who I ever read during the lasts years.. Thanks to your work I am now a better Disney fan! ;) Bye!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your work during 3 years. And congratulation for your book, thanks a lot, and see you soon? I hope so,

Julien, France

Unknown said...

Thanks for everything! From Prague and Copenhagen

Robert/Cologne said...

Thank You so much for making every day a day to remember.I have logged on every day from day one and I doubt if you know how you made me laugh ,cry and sometimes helped me get from day to day.You touch my heart just as Walt does and you will be dearly missed.
Thank You and Good Luck.

Robert

Marco Bressan said...

Thank you for your great work. I'm happy to know that it will remain online, I hope for a long time! Marco Bressan (theme park designer), Ozlab Funfactory, Italy

rodrigoroura said...

Dear Alain: I met this blog too late, 3 months ago, but I can tell you that you made a very and deeply work in my soul and in my passion, Disney...So, I would like to thank for all the incredible pics, for all the knowledge of magic in this blog, and most of all, for all the time and work you made for us. Greetings from Mexico City and from the bottom of my heart.
Your Disney friend, Rodrigo Roura

Rampler said...

Thanks so much for this blog. I always looked forward to checking it out each day. And the wonderful images always bring much pleasure.

Anonymous said...

Here Here. A Blog Well Done. Thanks a Tonne! : D

Deb said...

Are you serious? What happened. Hands down, one of the best Disney sites in the entire world and that is saying a lot. Top 5 if you ask me.

Carsten said...

Hi Alain.

Thank you for your hard work on bringing us the most interesting news and artwork concerning Disney. Its the best Disney theme park resource on the net, and its nice that the site will stay online. I hope we'll hear from you in the future, perhaps on this site or perhaps in a new book (your book on Disneyland Paris is amazing,and books on other Disney theme parks from you would be great)

Greetings from Denmark.

Unknown said...

Alain,

It is with sadness that I see you go. I have visited the Disney and More website, religiously for the last year and a half. What am I to do now... ha, ha! There's still time to change your mind!

Seriously, you and this wonderful website will be truly missed. Please keep me abreast of future projects: dwightcraver@gmail.com

Bon Voyage!

All the best,
Dwight Craver

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for all that beautiful work you did. It was simply awesome to visit your blog and enjoy everything...... All the best to you from a regular reader from Germany

DS said...

I'll miss you, I wish all the best to you and all your projects. You're the proof that even non english native speakers can write great articles in English. It was a great blog and I'll miss it.

All the best,
Daniel Sil

Major Pepperidge said...

Wow, I can't believe this blog is ending! I have enjoyed the thoughtful and informative articles, and all of the amazing, high-quality artwork. Thanks for all of it!