The Art of Pocahontas [Hardcover]

Stephen Rebello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 1996

A beautiful miniature gift-book traces the creation of the beloved Disney animated film from conception to the completed movie, including wonderful reproductions of concept sketches, background paintings, storyboards, and interviews with the film's animators, scriptwriters, and musicians.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Disney animation juggernaut has high hopes that Pocahontas will equal or surpass in revenues last year's blockbuster, The Lion King. Whether it does or not, plenty of kids and adults will line up to see its romanticized, revisionist, politically correct take on the historical legend of the Indian princess Pocahontas and Capt. John Smith, and many will then want to look behind the scenes with this handsome coffee-table presentation that features 400 color and black-and-white illustrations, ranging from early conceptual drawings to production stills, and commentary by the movie's creators. The book downplays the film's message of multicultural harmony and its ecological import, instead stressing its compelling character designs, lavish backgrounds, and bold color schemes. Libraries in which the art book accompaniments for other recent Disney animated features have proved popular should add this one, too. Gordon Flagg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Disney Editions (November 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786862114
• ISBN-13: 978-0786862115
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 4.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,083 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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice writeup on character and story development, March 16, 2009

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Art of Pocahontas (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:26 Mins

The Art of Pocahontas is an oversized art book with huge image prints and large typesetting fonts.

The content is split into the following categories: Preproduction and Concept Art, Story, Charater Development and Animation, Layouts and Backgrounds, Effects and Colors.

Pocahontas is actually a Native American woman who married an Englishman John Rolfe way back in 1595. You can read more on the real Pocahontas on wikipedia.

Much of the challenge in making this movie is the balancing of the story, myth and legend. There's great writeup in this book on how scenes were adjusted to best convey themes while entertaining audiences.

There are over 400 colour and black-and-white illustrations in the book. Most of the scenes and characters are captioned by the story artists, examining the character motivations and story arcs. These are incredibly detailed and is what breathes life into the characters. Reading those captions is my favourite part of the book.

In the layout and background section, the descriptions explain how compositions work in the scenes to complement stories. It's educational, with timeless principles applied and explained.

This book really gives a good sense of the incredible amount of work done behind the scenes to create the animated movie. It's a very interesting as well as an enlightening read.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miniature Poachontas Book is Big on Color and Information, March 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Pocahontas (Hardcover)

Don't let the small size of "The Art of Pocahontas"fool you; the authors have crammed the 5.5" by 4.5" book with loads of colorful artwork and interesting insights into the recent Disney masterpiece. <P> "The Art of Pocahontas" traces the creation of the film from conception to completion, including wonderful reproductions of concept sketches, background paintings, layout drawings and final animation art. The 189 pages of this small volume contain over 400 color and black-and-white illustrations. <P> The text was written by Stephen Rebello, an editor of "Movieline" and author of "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of 'Psycho.'" He provides many insights into the collaborative and creative process behind the making of "Pocahontas." <P> Even though "The Art of Pocahontas" is an easy read--it takes less than an hour or two to read from cover to cover--the book provides plenty for fans of animation to contemplate. Much of the "behind the scene

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Hyperion Art of Disney animation title, March 26, 2011

By 

Stop Motion Maniac "Elroy Jetson" (Toonville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Pocahontas (Hardcover)

I can't add a lot to what others have said except that the size and paper quality on these early Hyperion titles are desirable in my opinion. I love looking at the imagery large and feeling the thick paper between my fingers (sorry I'm a bibliophile). These books are designed to last a lifetime.