The large size that the coffee-table book format allows works wonderfully with the fact that many of these sketches are messy by nature, allowing for them to remain unpolished while also being clear enough to appear recognizable and easily readable. Many of the pieces are delightfully messy and experimental while others are beautiful renderings of the characters we know and love–the interplay between the two perhaps being the most interesting element of the whole collection. I love having a collection of rough sketches, especially one that includes some concept art in addition to final character models.

Why would you reference Milt Kahl's sketches of Madame Medusa and then not show them?Īll of that being said, however, the content included in this book is wonderful. Additionally, the choice to reference works in the introduction that don't get included in the actual selection of sketches (namely One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Rescuers) makes the book's construction appear messy and poorly done. I'm sorry, but a chronicle of Disney artwork is not complete without Dumbo, Robin Hood, and Tarzan. It shows Disney's biggest hits very well, with some lesser known pieces also represented, but it almost completely ignores large swaths of Disney's history, most notably the early 2000s (aside from Lilo and Stitch).

For this book to hold completely true to its promise of being a sketchbook passed from animator to animator over the decades it should at least represent every hand-drawn animated feature, which it simply doesn't do. Maybe that's just my personal problem, but I'm willing to bet it's one that many other devoted Disney fans can relate to.

As always seems to happen with Disney retrospectives, however, I'm left wishing that it were a bit more complete and comprehensive. This is such a beautiful and well crafted collection.

A Disney Sketchbook by Ken Shue