Art of Coloring: Disney 100 Years of Wonder: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity

by Staff of the Walt Disney Archives

Overview

The Walt Disney Company honors its 100th anniversary in 2023. As part of the festivities, this must-have adult coloring book offers a fun and familiar look at everything Disney—past, present, and future.

Part of the Art of Coloring series, which has sold over 2 million copies across the U.S.

On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded what we now know to be The Walt Disney Company. Walt’s passion and vision continues to inspire creative development across the company. As a result, Disney characters—and their stories—have touched the lives of generations of fans. This stunning collection of illustrations features memorable characters, favorite icons, and visual surprises at each page turn. Thoughtfully curated by the staff of Walt Disney Archives, these images are ideal for taking pencil to paper and adding your own brand of color and style. Disney theme park concept art, posters, and maps join with Disney movie art and playful vintage coloring book pieces to draw out the inner artist in every Disney fan, cultivating relaxation and focus.

Includes:

• a convenient "lay flat" paperback book
• 100 images to inspire creativity and relaxation . . . and wonder

Collect the entire Art of Coloring series!

• Art of Coloring: Schoolhouse Rocks
• Art of Coloring: Walt Disney World
• Art of Coloring: Hocus Pocus
• Art of Coloring: Disney Villains, Second Edition
• Art of Coloring: Mickey & Minnie
• Art of Coloring: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Art of Coloring: Golden Girls
• Art of Coloring: Muppets
• Art of Coloring: Beauty and the Beast
• Art of Coloring: Disney Animals
• Art of Coloring: Disney Princess
• Art of Coloring: Disney Frozen
• Art of Coloring: Star Wars
• Art of Coloring: Descendants 2 A Wickedly Cool Coloring Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368083706
Publisher:	Random House Worlds
Publication date:	03/07/2023
Series:	Art of Coloring
Edition description:	Media Tie-in
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

THE WALT DISNEY ARCHIVES was established by Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's brother and Chairman of Board, who determined that significant assets and documents relating to the history of The Walt Disney Company should be gathered and preserved, and that the recollections of key employees should be documented. Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith was officially hired for this purpose on June 22, 1970, and since then, the Walt Disney Archives has curated millions of historic items, including books, art, awards, photographs, merchandise, props, costumes, and much more. The Archives team has assisted in research and review of hundreds of scholarly and documentary works in varied media and produced numerous exhibits for the presentation of the The Walt Disney Company's respected and beloved history to the public.

Read an Excerpt

PREFACE
 
ON OCTOBER 16, 1923, A YOUNG MAN FROM the American Midwest signed a contract at his uncle’s modest Hollywood home. That contract launched the immediate production of a silent film cartoon series—and a new animation studio. More importantly, it became the foundation of one of the world’s most beloved companies—an entertainment powerhouse that has produced incomparable tales of adventure and discovery, magic, music, and the wonders of history and nature all over the globe. It was the beginning of what we know today as The Walt Disney Company.
 
Walt Disney’s passion and vision continue to inspire creativity across the company and for generations of fans. The very concept of what “creativity” is—or what it can be—amounts to a great many things to each of us. Colors. Patterns. Mediums. Each is a tool at the behest of the artist within, ready to help employ perhaps the most precious of humanity’s gifts—imagination. When confronted with a blank canvas, sheet of paper, sidewalk, bedroom wall—or any surface, really—one thing unites us in our artistic journey: the decision to adventure forward and make our first mark.
 
Many of us at the Walt Disney Archives came to work for The Walt Disney Company because its stories, characters, and magical realms have been inspirational sources in each of our own lives. They have helped us make sense of the world around us. And they have driven us to be creative in ways professional and personal.
 
In honor of the company’s first one hundred years, we are thrilled to share a unique look at our history and Walt Disney’s legacy, whether it be through Disney100: The Exhibition or a variety of commemorative books, including this one. In pulling these coloring pages together, we looked at thousands of historical sources, such as vintage press kits, posters, and coloring publications that many of us remember from our own childhoods. We quickly realized that a purely chronological history just would not explain the magic that is “Disney.” We felt the best way to approach this book was to share why Walt did what he did. What his own philosophies were and how they inspired him to create such wondrous entertainment.
 
The line art in this book is organized to support the simple philosophies that Walt shared during his amazing career: the importance of storytelling, the addition of personality to beloved characters, the spirit of adventure and discovery, the wonders of the world around us, the magic in beautiful music, and the excitement of experimentation and innovation. These concepts are what made Walt’s creations so very unique and special, and they are still the heart and soul of the stories and experiences that The Walt Disney Company produces today.
 
We hope this collection inspires you to expand your own creative limits and propels you forward on many artistic adventures. Use pencils, crayons, paint; you name it. Make the following pages yours. There’s nothing holding you back from covering them with the wildest and most remarkable creations yet as we all celebrate a hundred years of wonder with the company that has been—and will forever be—our favorite wishing star.
 
—The Staff of the Walt Disney Archives
February 2023
 
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
 
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
—Walt Disney
 
The creations of Walt Disney—entrepreneur, innovator, and visionary futurist—would impact the ensuing generations of American popular culture in ways he likely never would have predicted. Several of his key creative philosophies—including the importance of storytelling, creating believable characters, appreciating, and reflecting on the world around us, and constant reinvention—would become touchstones throughout his life’s work, generating a creative model that Disney still draws from today. Imagination, invention, inspiration—tenets all that help to understand and describe the drive and growth of Walt’s impressive journey from his early life to the establishment of The Walt Disney Company and beyond. From his earliest silent films—including the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts—to the origin of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and their pals, the elevation and innovation of cartoons as an art form rests not only at the foundation of the entire Disney enterprise, but as benchmarks across an impressive hundred-year journey.
 
WHERE DO THE STORIES COME FROM?
 
“Sheer animated fantasy is still my first and deepest production impulse. The fable is the best storytelling device ever conceived, and the screen is its best medium.”
—Walt Disney
 
“Once upon a time . . .”—these magical words have enthralled listeners for centuries, whether sung by traveling bards or said to children at bedtime. Since Walt’s time, creative teams at The Walt Disney Company have taken inspiration from tales both imagined and real from around the world to create completely new characters and experiences that forge emotional connections with audiences of almost every age. Building upon an ongoing legacy of advancing the art of storytelling through believable characters and novel visual worlds, artists create lush environments where the stories come to life. Over the decades, the company has explored numerous sources for its storytelling, from myths, fairy tales, fables, and legends to literary classics and even the much-loved graphic literature of today: comic books. There’s almost always a new page to turn, setting our course for the next great adventure.
 
THE ILLUSION OF LIFE
 
“Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon’s unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals.”
—Walt Disney
 
Through all Disney stories and experiences, whether in animation, live-action, or theme park attractions, it is the characters who capture our hearts. While a story is a journey, the characters who inhabit that story are what we as the audience care most about. We relate to these characters; we laugh and cry and love with them. They become as real to us as the people in our lives. From their designs by Disney artists to how Disney storytellers explore and develop aspects of their personalities—strengths and weaknesses, hopes and dreams—they are fine-tuned so we the viewers can understand exactly how they think, and why they behave as they do. This magical alchemy is no trick; it’s artistry that simulates the very illusion of life.

Editorial Reviews

One of "34 Disney-Inspired Games And Activities That Will Make Any Disney Fan's Heart Sing . . . An adult coloring book starring Disney animals filled with intricate designs, so you can relax and listen to your favorite Disney songs while coloring in pages inspired by Disney's 100-year history."
—Heather Braga, BuzzFeed

From the Publisher