Sprinkled throughout the volumes are photographs of three-dimensional maquettes (sculpted models of characters). Seeing Ursula from The Little Mermaid as a clay statue before she becomes ink helps artists understand volume and lighting.
This collection of books is not merely a set of coffee table volumes; it is a deconstruction of the Disney vault. Published by Chronicle Books in collaboration with WDAS, the series offers an unprecedented, museum-quality look at the raw ingredients of cinematic magic. The Archive Series was born out of a practical problem: accessibility. The ARL houses over 65 million pieces of art, from story sketches by Bill Peet to background paintings by Eyvind Earle. For decades, only animators and historians could request access.
For nearly a century, Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) has been the benchmark for artistic excellence in hand-drawn and computer-generated animation. While millions have seen the final frames of Snow White , Pinocchio , or The Little Mermaid , a hidden world of preliminary sketches, color theory experiments, and sculpted maquettes has remained locked in the Animation Research Library (ARL) in Burbank, California.
In the early 2010s, Disney decided to digitize and curate these assets into a physical anthology. The goal was twofold: to preserve the legacy of the "Nine Old Men" and to educate a new generation of artists on the process of animation—not just the product.
: Check local used bookstores, Chronicle Books’ website for digital editions, or specialty art libraries. If you ever see a copy of Layout & Background in the wild, do not hesitate. That is the vault calling. End of Article
That is, until the launch of .
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