Tom Sito's autobiography! This will be good.

I have not been to the cinema in quite a while (I am not proud of this) and yet I definitely plan to go watch Zootopia 2 on the big screen when it is released later this month.

I am a huge fan of Zootopia, which I consider to be one of the very best Disney movies of the 21st century, and I just wrote a whole chapter about that first movie for an upcoming Taschen book. Which makes me even more curious to discover the new characters and neighborhoods that the artists created for Zootopia 2.

The Art of Zootopia 2 book by Chronicle Books is so gorgeous and full of compelling visual development artwork that it raises my anticipation to yet another level.

Sanjay Patel used to work for Pixar and wrote and directed the beautiful short Sanjay's Super Team.

His new book, Mahabharata: Designs of Dharma may not be a Disney publication, but it is so beautiful, so massive and makes for such a great gift for the holidays that I have to mention its release on this blog.

One of the two important epics of Hinduism along with the Ramayana, the Mahabharata is a complex story which is splendidly adapted and illustrated by Patel in this 400+ art book.

Way to go Mr. Patel. That you from all of us for this absolute masterpiece!

I just became aware last week of this excellent new book released by Theme Park Press (under new management) and immediately picked up a copy.

Tim Foster's book about "it's a small world" has just been released. Like Tim Foster's previous books it is an excellent entry point to this aspect of Disney history for casual Disney enthusiasts.

I particularly enjoyed the portraits of the artists in the style of Mary Blair :-)

I just received one of the books that I was most looking forward to: Worlds to Conquer: The Art & Making of Walt Disney's Fantasia by JB Kaufman. 

I was not disappointed. In fact, I am blown away, as expected. The research that JB conducted is in-depth and all-encompassing, which is no surprise, and I discovered many photos from the making of the movie that I had never seen before.

Of course, the sections that I most enjoyed are the ones entitled "The Cutting Room Floor" about the elements that did not make it into the movie.

Way to go JB. Once more this one is a "must-have."

Three wonderful Disney-related comic books / graphic novels released this year:

Disney Epic Mickey: The Comics Collection

Uncle Scrooge And The Infinity Dime Gallery Edition

Marvel & Disney: What If...?

 

Great auction coming up this week at Heritage Auctions, which will delight both Disney parks and Disney animation enthusiasts.