Monday, June 21, 2010

The amazing accuracy of Walt Disney Imagineering Artwork



What always amazed me with Walt Disney Imagineering renderings is how accurate they are. I mean: when you look at the real thing, once it is built, it looks exactly like it was on the artwork, sometime released many years before.

That's what i like: WDI artwork never cheat. What you see is what you'll have once it will be built. It's not only remarkable but also WDI renderings are without a doubt the most accurate i've seen. Other theme parks - like Universal - also release artwork months before the opening of an attraction, but they're not as accurate.

May be there is a good reason why WDI artworks have this degree of accuracy: they're also done to show Disney executives how a project will look in real, and, as a budget - translate: lot of money - will be unfreeze for this particular project, the artwork better be accurate...

So, today we will have a look to some brilliant example of this "artwork accuracy" with both renderings and picture of the real thing. First example is with the above Blizzard Beach artwork - and below a photo of the park shot at the opening.



Same thing with the artwork of Tike's Peak, the kids "iceberg" zone...




Next example will be the Disney Institute - here is the artwork...



And here is a picture of the Institute in real.



Disney's Wide World of Sorts is another good example...




It's even more spectacular with the hotels. Here is the Boardwalk Hotel artwork...



And here are three pictures on different angles of the area shown on the rendering.





Same perfection in accuracy with the Wildeness Lodge DVC: the artwork...



And two pictures of the real thing.




Next one is the Coronado Springs Resort with its Spanish style...




...that we find in the final result.





The artwork of Downtown Disney's Cirque du Soleil is also a perfect example.




I will end with some artwork of Celebration campus and school...




And a picture of the campus entrance.



Hope you enjoyed this little demonstration of WDI artists talent!

All Artwork and pictures: copyright Disney

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Looking for a great Disney book ? Then, the Disneyland Paris book is the perfect gift for any Disney fan !



Editor's Important Note: I was at the park last week and i was wondering if they still had copies of the english edition of my Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book and at my big surprise they don't have any more copies of the english edition! I asked them to have a look in their computer and DLP's computer keep saying that it's out of stock. This mean that i'm the last person with DLP's book english edition available and i don't have a lot of them, may be 10 copies, not more... As the publisher don't plan to re-print the book it means it's really the last copies and it's a bad news, but those of you who don't have yet this great book still can order it to me, have a look to the special offer below.

If you're looking for a great gift to offer to anyone you love - including you! - my "Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality" book with its 320 pages and 750 pictures - including 250 renderings from Walt Disney Imagineering - would be a GREAT gift for any Disney fan!

I still have copies of the book, and, as i am one of the two authors of the book, each copy will be sign specially for you or anyone you wish. Of course, don't forget to tell me the name to whom you wish i dedicate the book.

An important note before i go further: If you're not in a rush to get the book, choose the flat shipping option (also indicated below) which usually takes between 3 to 6 weeks delivery (depending if you're living in Europe or in the U.S) and is also much less expensive.

And now, here is a description of the book and everything you need to know to order one of the last signed copy of this beautiful book. Please note that NO re-printing of the book is scheduled, and these last available copies may be the REAL last one!


IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE ENGLISH EDITION OF THE BOOK WITH THE TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Price for one copy of the english updated edition is 87 Euros and Shipping: is 15 euros.

If you have a Paypal account you can proceed to the payment by paypal - paypal payment including your choice of shipping must be sent to the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

Important: Note that the price is in Euros, not in U.S $, so you have to choose the "euro" currency when you do the paypal payment.

If you don't have a Paypal account, a bank wire transfert is possible, just let me know.

And, of course, thanks to confirm me your order and payment AND the shipping adress by email at the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr


PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR NOW I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE COPIES OF THE FRENCH EDITION, SORRY. IF YOU STILL WISH A FRENCH COPY? PLEASE LET ME KNOW? I'LL TRY TO FIND A COPY FOR YOU.

As i am the one who designed the book, i'm not really at the good place to send compliments about it, but if you are a reader who already own the book, please leave a comment at the end of the article to let other readers know what you think about it.
Previous comments can be read at the bottom of this page where the article below was previously posted.

So, here is a little description of the book, now - See below some pictures of the book pages - click on each of them to see the photo-montage pictures in big size.



The book is a gorgeous "coffee table book" with 320 pages and 750 pictures - of which 500 are park and attractions photos and 250 are Walt Disney Imagineering renderings!

The size is 9 x 12 inches, all pages are in color and it's hardbound with a glossy dust jacket. The text (by Disney historian Didier Ghez), was written after more than 75 interviews he conducted with all the Imagineers who created the park. He goes into just about everything you wanted to know about this unique place that many describe as the best "Magic Kingdom" ever created by WDI.

It took five years to create the book, but it was worth all the time we spent on it, and the book looks just as good as we had hoped for at the beginning - in fact Imagineer Bruce Gordon told us that it was "probably the best book ever done on a Disney theme park". Coming from Bruce who did with David Mumford the great "Disneyland, The Nickel Tour" book, it was more than a compliment.

The first chapter about Main Street has 52 pages and introduces the reader to the "legend" of Main Street, USA. You'll learn all about the Disneyland Paris Railroad, the unique "Discovery" and "Liberty" Arcades; find out about the architecture, the restaurants (like "Walt's," a tribute to Walt Disney, but also inspired by Club 33 in Anaheim) and the shops; with dozens of photos, renderings, models, and reproduced for the first time here, all the "cities of the future" posters located in "Discovery Arcade."



The second chapter on Frontierland discusses the park's western side with extensive sections about its major attractions, "Big Thunder Mountain" and "Phantom Manor." In fact the book has the longest sections ever put together in a book on all the major attractions. The Pirates of Caribbean section in the Adventureland chapter is 26 pages, Phantom Manor has 16 pages devoted to it, as does Space Mountain, it's a small world, etc. The photo material was so great that we kept adding more pages to the book, which was supposed to have only 240 pages when we started... we ended up with 320 upon completion!



The Frontierland chapter also covers the Mark Twain, the River Rogue Keelboats, Fort Comstock, all the restaurants, the shops and Cottonwood Creek Ranch.and featuring stunning photos of Disneyland Paris from the air by Yann Arthus Bertrand, author of The Earth from Above that make spectacular "double-pages," and allow the reader to discover the park from a whole different angle.



The Adventureland chapter is even more interesting, as many elements of the land exist only in Paris - such as the Bazaar and Aladdin to Africa and the ex-"Explorer's Club." Plus there's a long section about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril," "Adventure Isle" and "The Swiss Robinson Treehouse" and, of course, "Pirates of Caribbean" the land's major attraction and featuring its amazing Audio-Animatronics! All in all there are 56 full pages about Adventureland, and as in the previous chapters, there are dozens of photos, lots of concept art, and many shots of Imagineers at work. There's even a great bonus here, with the Marc Davis artwork for "Pirates" also included.



56 full pages are also dedicated to Fantasyland. There's an extensive look at Sleeping Beauty Castle, sections on all the dark rides (Snow White, Peter Pan and Pinocchio), as well as a look at "Alice's Curious Labyrinth," the "Mad Hatter's Tea Cups," "Storybookland," and "Casey Jr." There are even 14 pages about "it's a small world" with stunning photos of nearly all the scenes in it. Here the reader can discover a new attraction that exists only at Disneyland Paris, with a great view from above of Alice's Labyrinth.

Discoveryland also gets 52 pages of special treatment, with sections on the Visionarium, the Nautilus, Star Tours, Space Mountain, and everything you wanted to know about the other attractions in this land – Autopia and Orbitron. In fact the Nautilus chapter takes you on a visit with photos of every room of this detailed walk-through and two double page photo spreads, one which makes you feel you're inside Captain Nemo's grand salon, and the other showing you a unique view of Discoveyland featuring the Nautilus and Space Mountain in a kind of "CinemaScope" view.



When the book was released in early 2002, the Walt Disney Studios didn't exist, so you won't see them in the book. But there's still one last chapter about the hotels of the park, and Disney Village too, with the great Buffalo Bill Wild West show that entertains hundreds each evening.

And because every day in a Magic Kingdom should end with a parade and fireworks, we have the Main Street Electrical Parade that close the book, with an Herb Ryman gorgeous painting!



Pictures: copyright Disney

Friday, June 18, 2010

Disney's Animal Kingdom Original Artwork - Part Two



Here is the awaited part two of the Disney's Animal Kingdom original artwork article , and if you've missed the part one you can find it HERE. Above, a great artwork showing different elements of the park!

We're back in Asia and we begin by Expedition Everest artwork! Below, a beautiful Dan Goozee concept-art.



Next, another early concept by Chris Turner showing the Tibetan temple where the train goes through on the first lift.



The most famous of all Expedition Everest artwork, as it was the one chosen when the announcement was officially released.



Below, a Ray Spencer rendering showing the village of Serka Zong.



A rare rendering showing the beginning of the Expedition Everest ride.



This next one, an early concept by Chris Turner shows a never-realised scene, and all i can say is that i regret it as it looks really great!



Below, a beautiful painting by Joe Rhode of the yeti.



This Chris Turner concept shows a giant yeti. There is still a first encounter with the yeti and projection effect, but the size is smaller.



There is one more early concept for this ride scene with this Joe Rhode painting.



Just like in the part one, you will also find some pictures of the imagineers at work. Here a WDI imagineer is working on the tea train locomotive model.



A close shot on the locomotive itself.



It's time to move inside Dinoland, U.S.A and this first rendering is a Joe Rhode early concept for the Boneyard.



Here is another one by James Wong, closer to the final result. Note the coaster in the back. It was never build and should have been called "The Excavator"...



But i've found for you a rare rendering of it!



Next is an early concept by Chuck Ballew for Dino-Rama!



A "Triceratops Spin" concept by Victor Post...



...and another one by Jenna Goodman.



Below, a Dinoland entrance concept-art by Tom Gilleon.



Here is a rendering showing the entrance of the "Dinosaurs" ride - formerly known as "Countdown to Extinction".



This next painting was released as a postcard at the park's opening.



A rare rendering showing the ride vehicle and the dinosaur to be rescued.



The Carnotaurus attack is the climax scene of the ride.



These next three renderings are particularly interesting as they are showing scenes that were NOT realised. This first picture by Joe rhode seems to indicate that at one point the attraction was envisioned as a walk-through, or at least a part of the attraction.



And this velociraptor attack never happened too.



This next one shows a gorgeous scene that we can regret, and i have a story about it: In 1997 or so i was at WDI for a series of interviews and in the office of a an imagineer friend i saw this painting. I asked him if it was in relation with Animal Kingdom - not open yet at that time. He answered me that it was indeed for the "Countdown to extinction" attraction and that "we would be lucky if it looks like that at the end...". He was unfortunately right, and this leads me to the biggest problem with "Countdown to extinction" - now "Dinosaur": the cuts in the budget. Personally, i still like the attraction, and i quite liked it the first time i've ride it, but when you see this kind of concept and know how great it could have been, you really not in the mood to thanks the suits who were Disney executives at that time. One more Michael Eisner "mistake" - and i'm kind - that we still regret today.



The next picture shows a WDI imagineer at work on one of the dinosaurs that we can see in the first scene - it's the one "eating" a smaller dinosaur.



The two next one are showing imagineers at work on the Carnotaurus or programming the Audio-Animatronic.




Theater in the Wild is also in the area, and the next rendering was done for "Nemo, the Musical" show.



Now, there is a land that we all regret that it was never built: Beastly KIngdom. When Animal Kingdom opened, even the Beastly Kingdom land logo was at the entrance of the park and renderings of it were printed in the AK making of book. And then, we know what happened: this Beastly Kingdom project disappeared and chances to see it built one day are more than low. Thanks god, the artwork still exist, and here are some of them just to dream and see how good it could have been.

First, a bird-eye view of the whole land.



The castle, supposedly inhabited by a dragon...



The next artwork shows the labyrinth - the maze...



..and this is one of the mythical animals - a Griffin - that guests would have encounter.



The goal would have been to find the Unicorn, in a grotto at the end of the maze.




And a Fantasia flume ride wold have delight young children.



Let's not forget the dragon firing at the river cruise boats.



This Animal Kingdom article won't be perfect without some renderings of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Here are two of them showing the entrance and the lobby.




While we're here, i join two other renderings of the Disney Vacation Club Animal Kingdom Villas.




That's the end of this Animal Kingdom artwork article!


All artwork: copyright Disney - WED Enterprises.

Many thanks to Mark Taft for some of the renderings. I strongly suggest you to have a look on Mark's site Insights and Sounds, it's always interesting with rare pictures or renderings and Mark is posting new articles almost every day!

Some of the renderings are coming from the great "Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom" where you will learn all the WDI secrets in the making of the park. It's a "must" and you can find it on Amazon.com from only $3.87!



Some other pictures are coming from Jason Surrell's fantastic book "The Disney Mountains", full of WDI artwork. You can find it on Amazon.com from only $8.90 and it's also a "must"!