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The Tarzan Chronicles
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Disney's animated film "Tarzan" chronicles the life and times of a young man raised by apes in the African jungle and discusses the actors lending their voices to the feature, the animation process, and the music by Phil Collins
- GenresArtReferenceNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published June 19, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 16, 2015
I took my sweet time on this book for whatever reason (probably Thanksgiving and an upswing in workload, which is always a good thing). This is one of the oversized Disney art books that I have had on the shelf for many years and never actually read until now, and it was pretty fantastic. Chronicling the creative process starting all the way back with the source material by Edgar Rice Burroughs and continuing on to layout, storyboarding, character design, animation, effects and music, this book is an in-depth look at the making and art of Disney's incredible take on Tarzan.
Like the great books that came before this one, The Tarzan Chronicles is bursting with incredible artwork exhibiting every stage of the process, from small graphics to collages to full-page color stills and two-page spreads. The rough animation sketches are inspirational and really give you an idea of how much effort and passion the animators put into these characters, and the finished production stills show you how far the process has to come to get from A to B. The work of many artists is featured in this book, but most notable, of course, are Glen Keane's fantastic Tarzan and Ken Duncan's wonderful Jane. The character animation in this film is just breathtaking, and you really get the idea that the animators cared about making them the best they could. There's a report on the key crew's research trip to Africa and its consequent effect on the tone and style and art of the film, and there are brief sections on each of the voice actors and the impact their performance had on the character design and acting. There's a little information on the Burroughs estate and their early involvement in the project, and it's interesting how much work went into making the Disney Tarzan unique from all the other cinematic incarnations, and it's amazing just how perfectly the story and character are suited to the medium of animation. (Apparently the children of E.R. Burroughs were thrilled to see the animated Tarzan come to life.) There's a lot of information on the innovative Deep Canvas technology utilized to give the jungle a deep but painterly feel, and there's some discussion at the end about Phil Collins and his work in writing the songs for the movie as well, and how very collaborative the entire process really was. There's a LOT of text in this book (and a few inexcusable typos...), more than it needed actually, but for the most part it provided insight and information about the making of this movie.
This is an excellent (if a little wordy) book on the making of Disney's masterpiece, Tarzan. It's one of my favorite Disney movies, and now it's probably one of my favorite of the Disney art books too. Some of that rough animation art of Tarzan is just stunning.
Like the great books that came before this one, The Tarzan Chronicles is bursting with incredible artwork exhibiting every stage of the process, from small graphics to collages to full-page color stills and two-page spreads. The rough animation sketches are inspirational and really give you an idea of how much effort and passion the animators put into these characters, and the finished production stills show you how far the process has to come to get from A to B. The work of many artists is featured in this book, but most notable, of course, are Glen Keane's fantastic Tarzan and Ken Duncan's wonderful Jane. The character animation in this film is just breathtaking, and you really get the idea that the animators cared about making them the best they could. There's a report on the key crew's research trip to Africa and its consequent effect on the tone and style and art of the film, and there are brief sections on each of the voice actors and the impact their performance had on the character design and acting. There's a little information on the Burroughs estate and their early involvement in the project, and it's interesting how much work went into making the Disney Tarzan unique from all the other cinematic incarnations, and it's amazing just how perfectly the story and character are suited to the medium of animation. (Apparently the children of E.R. Burroughs were thrilled to see the animated Tarzan come to life.) There's a lot of information on the innovative Deep Canvas technology utilized to give the jungle a deep but painterly feel, and there's some discussion at the end about Phil Collins and his work in writing the songs for the movie as well, and how very collaborative the entire process really was. There's a LOT of text in this book (and a few inexcusable typos...), more than it needed actually, but for the most part it provided insight and information about the making of this movie.
This is an excellent (if a little wordy) book on the making of Disney's masterpiece, Tarzan. It's one of my favorite Disney movies, and now it's probably one of my favorite of the Disney art books too. Some of that rough animation art of Tarzan is just stunning.
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March 30, 2024Beautiful text. Terrifically laid out. My favorite little tidbit is how Glen Keane sees the hand of God in how Burroughs characterizes Tarzan's ability to adapt. That's very of Burrough's era.
September 24, 2007
This has got to be one of my favourite books. An in-depth look at Disney's Tarzan, that's very hard to put down. Reading this gave me so much insight into the development of this wonderful film, as well as a greater appreciation for it.
A neat thing about this book is that it includes journal excerpts from various crew members (such as Kevin Lima, Phil Collins, and the ever amazing Glen Keane) that help give an idea of what it was like to actually work on the film. The book travels through story development, characters, backgrounds, songs, and everything in between. It explores the inspirations to the artists, as well as the various challenges that had to be over come (like animating the spots on Sabor).
And in addition to the behind the scenes narration it contains hundreds of pieces of artwork; everything from rough sketches to model sheets, story boards to production stills. There are even some cute gag sketches.
All in all, a very welcome addition to my bookshelf.
A neat thing about this book is that it includes journal excerpts from various crew members (such as Kevin Lima, Phil Collins, and the ever amazing Glen Keane) that help give an idea of what it was like to actually work on the film. The book travels through story development, characters, backgrounds, songs, and everything in between. It explores the inspirations to the artists, as well as the various challenges that had to be over come (like animating the spots on Sabor).
And in addition to the behind the scenes narration it contains hundreds of pieces of artwork; everything from rough sketches to model sheets, story boards to production stills. There are even some cute gag sketches.
All in all, a very welcome addition to my bookshelf.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews