SAVE THE DATE (If you live in Los Angeles)

If you live in LA, here is an event you do not want to miss. On Saturday, October 21, I will be selling and signing copies of They Drew As They Pleased - The Hidden Art of Disney's Late Golden Age at the Wonderful World of Animation Gallery (9517 Culver Blvd., Culver City) from 2PM to 5PM.

This will be the only time this year that I will be in LA and this will mark the official launch of the third volume in the They Drew As They Pleased book series.

Mindy Johnson will also be there selling and signing her seminal book about Ink and Paint - The Women of Disney's Animation.

See you there soon!!

Kem Weber: Furniture Designs for the Disney Studios by Dave Bossert

I love this new initiative by Dave Bossert (click on the link above) and I am planning to support it next week.

OK, now that Irma is behind us, that I enjoyed a relaxing two-week vacation and that my computer issues are fixed, I am finally back.

I think many of you will enjoy the interview that Dave Lee conducted with me about the making of the third volume of the They Drew As They Pleased book series which will be released in just a few days, on October 10.

Dear all: Have you been considering buying They Drew As They Pleased - Volume 2 but postponing your decision? If so, please think about buying it as soon as possible and possibly pre-ordering Volume 3. Both volumes are selling at a 55% discount on Amazon.

If sales do not pick up sharply for those two volumes before the end of the year, I am afraid that the future of the series may be at stake, which is a major concern on my end.

Those books are a labor of love. They are the books I have dreamed of writing my whole life. They can't exist, however, if sales are luck-warm. 

Project Updates

The blog will be silent for two weeks (until September 25), so I thought it might be time to give you a quick update about ongoing projects. Here is what I am working on at the moment:

1. They Drew As They Pleased

Volume 3 (The Hidden Art of Disney's Late Golden Age) will be released on October 10 this year. Later this week I will be able to start reviewing the first layout of Volume 4 (The Hidden Art of Disney's Mid-Century Era, which focuses on artists Lee Blair, Mary Blair, Tom Oreb, John Dunn and Walt Peregoy). This also means that I am now hard at work conducting research about Ken Anderson and Mel Shaw for Volume 5.

2. Walt's People

Volume 10 has just been re-released by Theme Park Press.

More importantly, Volume 20 will be released between the end of November and the first week of December.

3. Snow White's People - Volume 2

The manuscript is ready and the book should be released between January and February 2018.

4. My Life As A Cartoon by Leo Salkin

The recently re-discovered autobiography and diaries of Disney story artist Leo Salkin should be released around the beginning of next year at the latest.

5. Other projects

The Ward Kimball diaries are for the moment on the back burner for reasons outside of my control, but I am hoping that the project will be back on track at some point next year.

I recently located the lost autobiography of a Disney artist who was also a member of the Firehouse Five Plus Two. The book is quite fascinating, and while I can't give more details about the project yet, I am hoping that it will be released towards the middle of next year.

A great review of They Drew As They Pleased - The Hidden Art of Disney's Late Golden Age has just been released by Jerry Beck on Cartoon Research.

For those of us who can read Italian, this book promises to be interesting. I will become available via Amazon.it on October 1.

This just in from Jake Friedman via Facebook:

[After SEVEN YEARS of research, last March I began writing my book about Art Babbitt and the Disney strike. 

My goal: to complete the first draft before the end of the summer.

Yesterday: mission accomplished!!! 

Stay tuned for the book "WAR IN THE FACTORY OF DREAMS".]

Can't wait!