ABSTRACT
Didier Ghez runs the Disney History blog, the Disney Books Network website, and serves as managing editor of the Walt's People book series. Books include Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality, Disney's Grand Tour, and They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age. He lives in Florida. Walt Disney and his artists invented an art form. They were not the first ones to animate, of course, but the Studio was the first studio to create characters and animated cartoons that connected deeply and universally with the audience. Understanding what worked and did not work in the way Disney artists built stories, designed the characters, animated them and made them come to life is therefore critical to new generations of cartoon creators, to avoid making mistakes that could be avoided. The move from the old Hyperion Studio to the modern Burbank Studio in 1940 destroyed the team spirit that existed in the cramped quarters of Hyperion.
