Review
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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'