Customer Reviews

Walt Disney's Little Mermaid: The Sketchbooks Series

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This fine addition to the Disney Sketchbook series has many of the wonderful sketches done by Disney's animation department for The Little Mermaid, including many pieces from the storyboards, and several sketches of scenes that never made it into the final film.

Artists that would like to study the Disney style of drawing and animation should find this volume a terrific addition to their collection despite its rather high price. As a student of art, and a fan of the Disney style, I highly recommend any of these books for your library.

This is my first Disney sketchbook series, and I except nothing from the book (rarely anybody owns one). This book is more of a character drawing and sketches book, there is hardly any concept art, background design, color test, or development art. I myself as an animation student personally thinks this is a lovely book to have, but I wouldn't be able to use it for reference or inspiration. It is more of a collectionable item for Disney and animation fans. I strongly suggest you check it out before paying the big buck for it.

I have to say, this sketchbook is pretty cool; but nowadays, it's almost impossible to find, unless you are willing to pay a LOT for it. If you're a collector, then go for it, otherwise, it'll probably leave you unsatisfied, as it is a cool book, but it has too little content (for the price). On the other hand, this is one of the few books out there that has concepts/sketches (or any sort of rough artwork) from The Little Mermaid.

I love the book, but I'm hoping that someday they release a full "Art of The Little Mermaid" (there's one miniature book that is a complete joke).

Anyway, if you have money to spend, and you are a collector (of artbooks or Disney stuff), then go for it.

As the title suggests, we are meant to see the "Hand Behind the Magic" and yet we do not see enough artwork to visualize anything; in fact most of the pages are almost blank. Content on Ariel is appalingly short, considering that she is the main character. There are no preconsception sketches that show the develoment of the character, absolutely nothing that answers "How do they do it?" question suggested by the title. Colour plates are nice, but far inbetween. Anyone, who is looking for inspiration will be severly disappointed.

You cannot compare the sketches with the film, I think, these pencildrawings are an artform on itsself.