History Literature / TheIllusionOfLife

Makes a great companion to ''[[TheAnimatorsSurvivalKit The Animator's Survival Kit]]'' and ''Preston Blair Animation 1''.

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' [[note]]Originally titled "Disney Animation: The Illusion Of Life" prior to reprints [[/note]] is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, [[AuthorExistenceFailure Clark died in 1979]] while doing preliminary research for the book. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

-->''"The old-timers were [[CantCatchUp hard pressed to keep up with the demands of the new type of animation]]. More than one man counseled the beginners, "You should learn to draw as well as possible before starting to animate." GrimNatwick, whose animation career started in New York in 1924, pointed out, "The better you can draw, the easier it'll be for you. You'll have to draw the character in all positions and from every angle; and if you can't do it, and have to stage it from some other angle, it's very restrictive and takes longer." [[DisneysNineOldMen Marc Davis]] was more philosophic a few years later; "Drawing is giving a performance; an artist is an actor who is not limited by his body, only by his ability and, perhaps, experience." Too many of the men, old and new, were full of tricks and techniques that had looked great in cartooning school [[SoLastSeason but did nothing for them at the Disney studio]]. The little shadows under the toes of the shows, the slick line, the flashy verve of clothing reacting to violent exertion--all these devices that had impressed us in high school were of little use anymore."''

* ArtEvolution: Given it's a history book about Disney animation, it inevitably contrasts the older stick figure and rubberhose drawing styles with the more naturalistic drawing style Disney developed and refined from the mid 1930's and onward. It particularly highlights Fred Moore's redesign of MickeyMouse in PlutosJudgementDay as a big step forward, by changing Mickey's design from a stiff dumbbell to a flexible, spongy pear shape.

[[NotWhatItSoundsLike Has nothing to do with]] existential crises.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: As mentioned above, Les Clark was to be the original author, but died while doing early research for it.

* MilhollandRelationshipMoment: On the section on exaggeration, animator Dave Hand recalls how he had to do a scene six times with Walt telling him each time that it wasn't funny enough. Finally, Dave has enough and makes the action so exaggerated he was sure it would get him fired. He ran the scene for Walt, who then turns around and says, "There, Dave, that's just what I wanted." When Dave became a director, he would tell his animators to "make it so extreme that you make me mad".

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' [[note]]Originally titled "Disney Animation: The Illusion Of Life" [[/note]] is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, [[AuthorExistenceFailure Clark died in 1979]] while doing preliminary research for the book. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The {{Goofy}} character analysis near the end of the book is a condensed version that censors the original 1934 version, which made an unfortunate comparison of Goofy to a "Coloured Boy". The unabridged analysis was posted on [[http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2418 Michael Sporn's Splog.]]

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, [[AuthorExistenceFailure Clark died in 1979]] while doing preliminary research for the book. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The {{Goofy}} character analysis near the end of the book is a condensed version that censors the original 1934 version, which make an unfortunate comparison of Goofy to a "Coloured Boy". The unabridged analysis was posted on [[http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2418 Michael Sporn's Splog.]]

* AuthorExistenceFailure: As mentioned above, Les Clark was to be the original author, but died while doing early research for it.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The book highlights the SillySymphonies short "Who Killed Cock Robin" for it's caricature of iconic actress MaeWest, which so effectively caricatured her beyond the level of a ShallowParody, [[ApprovalOfGod that Mae herself lauded it!]]

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, [[AuthorExistenceFailure Clark died in 1979]] while doing preliminary research for the book. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

-->--''"The old-timers were [[CantCatchUp hard pressed to keep up with the demands of the new type of animation]]. More than one man counseled the beginners, "You should learn to draw as well as possible before starting to animate." GrimNatwick, whose animation career started in New York in 1924, pointed out, "The better you can draw, the easier it'll be for you. You'll have to draw the character in all positions and from every angle; and if you can't do it, and have to stage it from some other angle, it's very restrictive and takes longer." [[DisneysNineOldMen Marc Davis]] was more philosophic a few years later; "Drawing is giving a performance; an artist is an actor who is not limited by his body, only by his ability and, perhaps, experience." Too many of the men, old and new, were full of tricks and techniques that had looked great in cartooning school [[SoLastSeason but did nothing for them at the Disney studio]]. The little shadows under the toes of the shows, the slick line, the flashy verve of clothing reacting to violent exertion--all these devices that had impressed us in high school were of little use anymore."''

* HistoryOfAnimation: Goes into some detail about what was going on at Disney during their [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age,]] and several works from TheSilentAgeOfAnimation are occasionally brought up.

* AuthorExistenseFailure: As mentioned above, Les Clark was to be the original author, but died while doing early research for it.

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, Clark died in 1979 while doing preliminary research for the book. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

* HistoryOfAnimation: Goes into some detail about what was going on at Disney during their [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age.]]

* [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Successors]]: ''Too Funny For Words'' and ''The Disney Villain''.

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death. However, Clark died in 1979. An attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaboration project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

''The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'' is a Non-Fiction instructional/historical book that was commissioned by WaltDisney himself prior to his death to be made by Les Clark, who was with Disney all the way from OswaldTheLuckyRabbit up to Walt's death, but when Les died, an attempt to complete the book was made in the 1980's in a large collaberation project with many surviving [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation Dark Age]] Disney veterans, the project being spearheaded by two of DisneysNineOldMen: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.