The Art of Hercules: The Chaos of Creation [Hardcover]

Stephen Rebello (Author), Jane Healey (Author), Peter Schneider (Foreword)

Book Description

Similar to Disney's illustrated companion books to its other recent animated films, the companion to the movie Hercules contains the full range of art produced during the film's creation. 50,000 first printing. Movie tie-in."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Disney studio returns to form with its take on that ancient superhero, Hercules. No Quasimodo (hero of last year's tepidly received Hunchback of Notre Dame), the Greek demigod is in the Disney mold: young, good lookin', a bit naive. Furthermore, his mythic story provides fantasy elements like those in Disney's most memorable films. Like the book tie-ins to other recent Disney animated features, this handsome coffee-tabler traces the new film's history and production with hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations and commentary from its creators. The volume's highlight is a section of drawings by production designer Gerald Scarfe, best known for his work on the film of the rock group Pink Floyd's album The Wall. Scarfe's loopy, chaotic style is quite a departure from the usual, homogenized Disney approach, and if his distinctive character designs survive in the finished film, Hercules may go down in Disney annals for something other than truckloads of box-office proceeds. Gordon Flagg

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (June 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786862637
• ISBN-13: 978-0786862634
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 11.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Rebello is the author of the non-fiction books Reel Art - Great Posters From the Golden Age of the Silver Screen (largely featuring the poster collection of Richard C. Allen), Bad Movies We Love (with Edward Margulies) and Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of 'Psycho.' He is also known for feature articles for such magazines as Playboy, Movieline, Hollywood Life, Statement, GQ, More and Cosmopolitan. In his widely quoted celebrity interviews, he has drawn out provocative revelations from Matt Damon, Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Beyonce, Drew Barrymore, Charlie Sheen, Scarlett Johansson, Clive Owen, Jerry Bruckheimer, Eva Mendes, Benicio Del Toro, Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, Lee Iacocca, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Cruise, among others. Born in Massachusetts and a Los Angeles, California resident, he is currently a Playboy magazine Contributing Editor. His screenplays include one for a dramatic feature film inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of 'Psycho'; the motion picture is in the works for 2010 theatrical release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disney take on Greek Art!, March 11, 2003

By 

Edward Juan "ghost" (Valencia, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Hercules: The Chaos of Creation (Hardcover)

As an animation student, I just LOVE this book. It is full of colorful concept sketches, drawings, color thumbnails, and awesome storyboards. A really special part of the book is a collection of caricature sketches for the movie by Gerald Scarfe, an ink master of the century! If you like Hirshfeld, this is like Hirshfeld meets Disney.
There are few pages of storyboard, especially the beautiful color storyboard for the song "Zero to Hero". It is a true inspiration for any illustrator or animator. The character development sketches are really good too, though not as experimenting as the book "Art of Monsters Inc." (Pete Doctor, John Lasseter).
Overall, if you are a fan of Disney art, or animator, or even just an animation student like myself. GET THIS BOOK! Worth the decent cost. You wouldn't want to miss it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Behind-the-Scene Book for the Whole Family, February 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Hercules: The Chaos of Creation (Hardcover)

Though I work on Wall Street, I still hold on to my childhood dream of being a Disney animation artist. This book on Hercules (which BTW is my all-time favorite) is lighter on technical details than the similar books on Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but still lots of fun.

2.0 out of 5 stars This artbook is a sad shadow of the film, November 21, 2011

By 

Luis David Gomez Delgado "LDavidG" (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Hercules: The Chaos of Creation (Hardcover)

I was looking for this book for years. I knew of its existence but its price was very high in all cases I've found it.

Fortunately, several stores have recently released several for sale and its price has been greatly reduced.

The quality offered by this book is good. Physically it is a well-constructed book, hardcover, with a low cover of waxed paper, paper 100 gr and good interior impression.

From the standpoint of image quality, I was a little disappointed that it was better than expected and has not met my expectations. The drawings in too many cases are very gullible. There are very good illustrations, especially when it shows backgrounds, designs of buildings and other BG images, where color and picture quality are clearly very professional. But when it shows the character designs has been reduced to show much ink sketch and pencil work.

If I knew it would not pay above $ 30 for this book. Since the movie being a sign of quality that Disney could show at that time, the book is a sad shadow of its could have been.