#encanto concept art book

[bogleech]

The current head of Pixar is apparently responding to the failure of Elemental by lamenting that it's difficult to sell original stories and characters anymore, but like, the Disney movies are still making money on things like encanto and a lot of kids watching all those superhero movies actually aren't already familiar with The Lore.

Pixar movies actually *aren't* boldly original and they never really were. They're very safe concepts, the writing and characters are never too radical or surprising and the art direction never stylish or challenging. Pixar films can be technically very good storytelling but they are soft rubbery baby toys next to their competition. Even if it wasn't about spiderman what kid wouldn't rather watch something that LOOKS like spiderverse than another of Pixar's nonthreatening slice of life social commentaries? Someone said most of the plot of elemental is about city ordinances. Kids can watch the dating life of talking water or they can watch a thousand spider men fighting bad guys in a giant moving neon comic book wtf do you think they're gonna pick bro

[gamerbearmira]

My Take On Wish

I liked it. Now, it’s not the best. But it’s still pretty good in hindsight. They had a good idea, but they executed it poorly.

I think a big reason is the movie had such high expectations. It was the movie for the 100th anniversary, which is huge. But they had no time and no money. The movie feels rushed, there's so much that happens too fast in such a short amount of time. That brings me to my next point.

Time. This movie should have been longer. Of the most recent movies, like Turning Red, Encanto, Luca and Elemental, they run for about 1 hr and 35-49 minutes. But they don't feel rushed. Everything us spaced out and works, at least for the most part. Every movie has it flaws in run time. Wish runs for the same amount of time as Encanto; but it feels so much more rush. The movie should have been longer, and I feel like people wouldn't have been too made at an extra 20 to 30 minutes. It would've given a lot more to world and established things, and answer questions that were left unanswered.

Characters. They weren't bad! They had some good characters, and the designs were...good. I like them, and I can see what they were doing. Like Magnifico and Amaya, I really like their designs! Same with the teens (save for a few things, mostly color, but I digress). Valentino is cute, but I don't like how they gave him a deep voice. Asha and Star? They're ok, at best. Looking at the concept art in the book, there was SO much potential that they didn't use.

Asha looks a lot like Isabela. It's a running joke. But the closer I look, she looks too much like her. Literally, if you look in the book, you can see that she actually had a floral dress that seemed a little too similar to Isabela's. The thing is, she had a lot of other really good designs, which I used in the redesign below, among other things. Star, he's cute but...it's sad. He was so obviously going to be a love interest. AND YES DISNEY. IT'S OK TO HAVE A HEROINE FALL IN LOVE. I took one of his designs that nearly stuck and tweaked it a little. He still has a star form, for other purposes.

The songs. They were ok, but I'm sort of understanding the joke if "They were written by ChatGPT". They sound so empty? But when you listen to the demos they sound better. That brings me to "At All Costs". I heard it in the movie. It's sung by Magnifico and Asha, when it was so obviously meant to be sung by Asha and her love interest, which would have been Starboy. And the demo is actually really good.

For my redesigns? I changed quite a but on Asha. Her friends are supposed to be like the seven dwarves. So why in the world didn't they utilize Snow White for Asha? I'm not saying she had to be a carbon copy, but jeez, it would've been nice. In my design, I gave her a mix of other dresses she had in the book, changing it a bit to look like snow white's but still being original. I changed the colors, toning them to be more similar to Wish's colors.

Valentino stayed entirely the same. I saw that he was originally he was going to be much larger, pretty much grown. So, I took that and gave him a sister. They aren't really "siblings, Valentina was born way before Valentino, but he's always following behind her, so Asha deemed them "honorary siblings". And I mostly wanted Asha to have more animals around her, like Snow White.

Star is still Star, but he also has a human form. In my opinion, it wouldn't be very present until later in the story. The more tine he spends around Asha, the more he feels more comfortable using it to help Asha. And also, he wants to be like Asha. He loves humans, and watches them from the sky all the time. He may or may not be the North Star. I'm still debating.

Maybe I'll do more with other characters.

Story. I want to try a rewrite. Not now, cause I still have a bunch of Encanto that I'd want to finish, but definitely in the future. I may do more Wish posts on my designs and what I'd worldbuild with some ideas were:

Asha is already Magnifico's apprentice.

Magnifico used the book before he founded Rosa, and built Rosa to take people's wishes for his power under the guise of what he does in the movie currently. He keeps some wishes alive to grant them. No one knows, not even Amaya. Asha finds out. This means he's evil from the start and stays evil. No redemption. No return.

Wishes affect a person not just emotionally, but slightly mentally and sometimes physically. When ita given away, the person feel not just an emptiness, but also heaviness in their body physically.

Amaya is a bit more morally gray, being in Magnifico's side, and even helping him, but slowly shifting to Asha after seeing what he's doing.

Star plays a bigger role much earlier on. The Teens do as well. I feel like they had no character in the movie. Not even Dahila, who I do I love.

It's closer to Asha's birthday. So when she finds out about Magnifico, she's scared of losing her wish, and being unable to restore everyone else's that was already lost, like her Saba's.

Asha may or may not have a staff like Magnifico's. But like?? A training staff??

Magnifico may or may nit being trying to corrupt Asha with the book. She is subject to hus magic still, and sometimes it seeps into her mind, but Star is there to counter it.

Star is much stronger in terms of magic, enough to be on par, or almost on par with Magnifico.

TL;DR: I like Wish. But it has flaws. I wanna try my hand at a rewrite one if these days.

[lazytitans-world]

My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

[miracles-and-butterflies]

for the b99 au, (i got a few questions) did Camilo and Bruno have to go to Palm Springs? Did Luisa ever find a new partner, one that gets along with Mirabel better? I know that Holt has Wunch so who’s Bruno’s mortal enemy? Does Luisa love yogurt, suspenders, and a certain fantasy book series she somehow convinced Camilo to also read? (That ones for art-related purposes)

Been a while since I’ve answered on the good, old Nine Nine AU, so I’m excited about this!

Camilo and Bruno, yes, do ultimately go to Palm Springs. Though they both enjoy it slightly more than Jake and Holt did - simply because of their differing personalities and lives (outside of work) at the time. Don’t get me wrong, they’d both much rather be back with their partners and the 99, but they don’t quite fall that far into the slightly depressive route.

Luisa does also get a better partner, Tara*, further down the line. Her getting along with Mirabel wasn’t really the issue - Luisa’s ex was just possessive, never liked Luisa hanging out with anyone. The ex has had a go at several of Luisa’s coworkers at the 99 and other friends outside of work - though she quickly backed down against full grown cops - they received a lot more of the brunt of it than Mirabel ever did.

Kinda jumping off from that, Mirabel does move out of her shared accommodation with Luisa, which happens pre the new partner. To everyone’s surprise, Luisa was the one who struggled more with this.

Since Mirabel doesn’t need Luisa as a substitute parental figure/babysitter (when their parents were absent) anymore and is no longer living with her, she isn’t around enough to really be part of Luisa’s dating life - which Mira much prefers, having found it awkward.

Bruno’s mortal enemy is Leta (one of the deleted/concept characters for Encanto). All of the squad kinda adopts and/or supports his hatred of her. Well, all except Mirabel. Leta and Mirabel get along really well - there’s no particular reason behind it. This is why Mirabel is not high in favour with her captain 😂.

Does Luisa love yoghurt? Not as much as Terry, it’s coffee for her, specifically black. Suspenders? No, not really. It’s not her style. In this universe it’s not a book - it’s a TV series, but a famously shitty one: Riverdale but not set in high school. Camilo doesn’t get into it initially because it’s too nerdy but then immediately gets hooked because of the drama, relationships and lore. Isabela later gets tied in.

*As well as being pre the creation of Sera, this was also before Marta.

[hannahhook7744]

How did you come up with the names for your next gen/concept art characters in the Invisible Truth? Aside from Rick, Claudine, and Gigi, who already have names obviously lol.

I used some names from the Encanto Concept Art book as well as named from Concept Art/Characters from the various creators' twitter and Instagram.

I also tracked down the several 'almost' names for characters like Alma, Isabela, Mirabel, Camilo, and Bruno (as well as others).

And for the characters I didn't have names for, as well as the middle names and last names?

Well, I looked up Colombian and Hispanic names with this and that meaning based on the character and also looked up the actors/some of the over 800 people who worked on Encanto and picked the names I liked.

Picking similar names for some based on twins and some names I picked based on powers.

But, for some like Dolores and Mariano's kids, I looked up Colombian Poets because I thought they would totally name their kids after poets.

As for the pets/animals in the family, I went off the names we already have and picked similar ones for some and when that didn't work for others, I also gave them names I and others thought they would go for.

I put in a lot of research because I got into a really intense encanto mood for like, a solid two weeks (which may stretch on to more considering encantober is next month) that I'm slowly slipping out of but am still pretty excited for.

You were also pretty helpful with your feedback, so I thank you for that!

Thanks for the ask!

[hellaverse-critical-confessions]

So I promised a background/minor character design appreciation post...

(Part one because this will likely get long)

Starting with the imps, due to the order in which characters of different species are presented on the wiki

Ah, Pringles. Of course. What a guy. He is very shaped. (Especially the hair and collar. I happen to be a sucker for male characters with that kinda "cat fluff" hairstyle.) Love the weird little cuff on his tail, it's so unnecessary but it fits. Dapper boy. Gotta love him

(As far as I can recall he gets bitches in Ozzie's, which, like, good for him!)

There's this kiddo from Loo Loo Land. I like her shapes as well, very exaggerated. As depicted here she kind of reminds me of some concept art girlies from the Art of Encanto book.

Actually, I think I have an image...

...I'm not the only one who sees it, right?

(Anyway, it's still available for free to view online. Very interesting stuff.)

Ahh... this guy. Or gal, actually. Turns out this is Skye Henwood's impsona, as well as my favorite character in Western Energy. Me and my friend were deadass ready to adopt her on sight. So tiny!! So shaped!! Look at that ridiculously huge bowtie. The littol suit. I want a pocket-sized imp now. Would carry them everywhere in my purse. Speaking of...

That's exactly what she did! Another crewsona (Sam Miller), and this design is incredibly slay. The feathers. The tail. Big, flowy, swooping shapes. (Not a big fan of the hands, though.) Very majestic creature overall.

Moving on to a few background Wrathians from Harvest Moon. She's a cutie. Not much else to be said. I like her outfit with the little boots and gloves as well as her pigtails.

I think these two could be related.

She looks so silly, I love her. Her hat and horns are disproportionately huge and it's precious.

Her name is Square, and she has major resting bitch face energy. I appreciate her instantly. (Long sleeved shirt + short shorts is a good combo.)

This guy from the Ozzie's elevator scene (Aspen) looks like he'd have quite the story to tell over a couple drinks of hard liquor. Slutty, but in a tired way. (A certain saxophonist cat from another piece of online media also fits that description.)

HER!! I love her so much. Everything about her honestly. The colors!! The legs!! The underbite!! She has no official name, but I call her Pomegranate. Or Pom for short. Got some of my own lore for her and everything.

Haven't watched Queen Bee, so I didn't get to see Dennis in action, but from this still alone I conclude that he's pretty cute. (However dude could use to pull up his pants.) Didn't really deserve to get yelled at, anyhow. Justice for Dennis!

Though I do have an old Dennis character, and he's a dick, so maybe Blitzo was on to something.

I like the girlie on the right too. Women with :3 smiles automatically win me over. The ripped pants and loose tank top go well together, and the splotch of magenta on the waist isn't obnoxious.

Mamma Mia, an imp with not purely and overwhelmingly red skin? What a spectacle. She looks way more like a black character than Velvette. And due to her subdued skin tone, the pink looks nice on her. (Which can't be said for Millie in one of the pieces of summer merch. Who thought pink on her was a good idea?!) Cool hair texture as well, feels very poofy.

Some bite-sized imp clowns from The Circus; their names are Eenie, Meenie, and Miney. How charming! Though, as I recall, doesn't that old children's rhyme go on to have four-

...Oh.

I think this might be Barbie Wire. We were never told explicitly, and she isn't even mentioned in the episode itself, but she looks closest to that design.

(Though I just noticed her horn stripes are too thick. Nevermind, then. Seems like she didn't even get that brief cameo in Blitzo's nearly episode-long childhood flashback despite being his twin sister, which should suggest that they were pretty close.)

I like this chick, though.

And that's it for now! Let me know if you'd like to see a part two though I might just go ahead and make it anyway

[heliphantie]

Commemorative pieces made for birthdays of two siblings of one set, both in 2022.

Color design is my favorite part of Encanto visual language. Whole family’s color schemes make full color wheel together (you may notice Abuela and Bruno – purple and green – are on opposite ends of its radius, the conflict! – but also both are connecting “warm” and “cold” sides of spectrum), and each branch has their own primary color theme. I’ve tried to play with it in these pieces, and quite do like the results.

For the picture of Dolores, I was inspired by fan song “Turn It Down” and production art and line in the screenplay depicting her as “weird cousin”, which I feel wasn’t conveyed in the movie to full effect. When people make note she looks Tim Burton-esque, I’m glad I nailed it:) In sense of composition, it ended looking somewhat like pop-up book, and I find that effect interesting.

For Camilo, I used aforementioned concept of color spectrum and combined it with surrealistic representation of his gift. Speaking for myself, he doesn’t interest me as much as other characters do (gotta blame lack of relevance for the course of story), but has his potential and managed to give me an idea for the art nonetheless.

It’s interesting how Pepa’s children seemingly symbolize different kinds of perception or interactions with reality: Dolores representing sound/hearing, Camilo – sight, as his power creates visual illusion and based on his visual memory, and Antonio – speech/verbal communication. As two pieces turned out sort of complementary, I think, it makes sense to finish this impromptu series with Antonio. We’ll see!

[somecallmejohn]

Your Asha x Simon ship made me realize that we lack Disney couples with one partner who is plus size.

Flynn's early version called Bastian was the closest we got to a princess love interest who isn't generically fit til they redesigned him.

That's so true anon! Like the only examples of canon disney ships where at least one of them is plus sized I can think of at the top of my head are Anastasia and the Baker from Cinderella 2 (whom I've also seen being theorized as Simon's parents, which I could see), PJ and that Beret wearing girl from An extremely goofy movie and Chien Po and Su from Mulan 2 and both ships originate from straight to DVD sequels and arent even the main protagonists of the movie.

The most recent example I can also think of isn't even from a Disney movie but a Pixar one and that too is a sequel, Sadness and Embarassment in inside out 2 are pretty heavily implied to have a thing for each other, but even then they don't really become official although they're marketed together as a ship.

In another recent Pixar movie, Elemental, there's concept art featuring Wade chubbier than he looks in the movie and I do have to say that I was heartbroken to see that art cuz that design was so cute.

Overall it's kinda sad that there aren't many canon Disney ships where one or both of the characters are plus sized and are the focus of the story. Now I'm sure there are more examples I haven't brought up, but when talking about this subject, I do specifically mean ships that have a bit of a love story going on rather than already established couples as Jin and Ming from Turning Red also came to my mind, but they're already married and the story doesn't focus much on their relationship.

While realistically speaking, I doubt that there's gonna be any continuation of Wish considering that even Encanto, which was a huge success for disney, doesn't have anything announced (yet), I do hope they're gonna do something that could potentially give some romance between Asha and Simon, heck I wouldn't mind a book, I'd gladly read it if it meant we got canon sleepy rose.

[llycaons]

I've been revisiting youtubers recently. some I like under the cut

Folding Ideas: a marvelously well-spoken social and media critic, with commentary on symbolism in film. his breakdowns of the editing failures of films such as Suicide Squad and The Snowman are entertaining and informative, and he has mini-episodes on narrative concepts like Thermian arguments (the Watsonian of Watsonian vs. Doylist explanations) and ludonarrative dissonance. politically on top of it (mostly), extremely astute, and a pleasure to listen to. See Earthsea and Adaptation Sickness, End of Evangelion and the Audience Author Membrane, The Thermian Argument, The Art of Editing and Suicide Squad, Cinematic Trainwreck – The Snowman: A Vlog, Cooking Food On The Internet For Fun And Profit, Annihilation and Decoding Metaphor

Ariel Bissett: a delightful young Canadian book reviewer takes us on her journey of renovating her old house. mostly cosmetic changes rather than structural as she's essentially self-taught, but she's a charismatic and charming host with a unique eye for style and color. her design sense matches closely with my own (we're both Monet fans), so I find her videos very soothing and satisfying to watch. I haven't seen any of her book reviews, but she seems thoughtful and passionate. I like all her house videos, but particularly the three yearly house tours so far (intro video, one year in, two years in,), Building The Perfect Guest Room, Complete Office Renovation!, Living Room Renovation To Look Like Emma's House!, Building The Perfect Reading Nook, Transforming the Smallest Room In My House With Wallpaper, and honestly all the others. it's a real pleasure to see the changes she makes over the months. I can't wait for the kitchen redo!

Accented Cinema: probably my favorite youtuber right now. he's a Chinese Canadian filmmaker with a focus on films and film-making processes, both his own and those from China (most often) and other non-American countries (occasionally). his videos have brought me to tears more than once. honestly I love too many to list all of them so I'll just list my top favorites but I highly recommend this channel. I loved Why China Cared About Kung Fu Panda, Shadow: Adapting Chinese Art, Who Killed Captain Alex: What Makes a Movie Good?, Chinese Animation: In Search of a Style (brief shot of mdzs donghua at the very end), Why Ghibli's First 3D Looks Soulless, East vs. West: Differences in Story Philosophy, Mahjong & Crazy Rich Asians, Why Are Kung Fu Movies So Patriotic, How I Made a Fake Video Essay

Local Script Man: a professional screenwriter whose advice and commentary on creating stories is really interesting and different than what you tend to see on tumblr. he tends to be kind of harsh but not in mean-spirited way, just in a way that makes it obvious that he knows what he's talking about. I like Oops No Plot, The Key to Writing Freakishly Good Dialogue, and both parts of 5 Essential Storytelling Rules I Just Made Up (part 1, part 2)

Schaffrillas Productions: a guy breaks down and ranks various animated films, often by studio. these videos are just a lot of fun. I liked his videos on the Shrek franchise (one, two, three, four, and the musical), and Raya vs. Encanto - How One Message Failed and Another Succeeded

Super Eyepatch Wolf: this man is, as we speak, convincing me to read Berserk. he has a slow, dramatic presentation of his arguments that draw you in and a great sense of humor. All of his "Why You Should Watch" videos are interesting even if you don't have any plans to watch the show he's describing, because they give an overview of the themes and strengths without spoiling it. he also presents a wealth of information on manga/anime history, and miscellaneous commentary on other media. I liked in particular The Fall of The Simpsons: How it Happened, "Non Battle" Battle Anime, What Makes A Fight Scene Interesting?, The Impact of Dragon Ball Z: The Series that Changed Everything, Why You Should Watch Yu Yu Hakusho, What Makes A Good Character Design?,

Cinema Therapy: these two guys are charming and sometimes funny. they can get annoying and their analyses tend to be very superficial, but I really like their videos tearing into bad romantic cliches. I like 10 TROPES We Hate About Rom Coms, 7 Tips from THE ADDAMS FAMILY to Keep Your Marriage Alive, TITANIC: Love Triangles and Compatibility, Therapist Reacts to THE KISSING BOOTH (Part 1, Part 2), Relationship Therapist Ranks Christmas Romances with guest Shona Kay

Sideways: a channel about music! knowing nothing about music at all, I find these videos really interesting and accessible. see Why the Music in Cats (2019) is Worse than you Thought, Why Pipe Organs Sound Scary, Decoding the Music of The Matrix, Why Avatar has the Most Ironic Soundtrack of All Time, Why the Soundtrack to Shrek is Actually Genius, Ear Training and Sight Singing: The Superpower you get from Music School, Why "Spoken Word" Makes me Nervous

Pop Culture Detective: I like this channel for the analyses of troubling tropes in media, especially the ones on misogyny. See Marvel Defenders of The Status Quo, The Ethics of Looking And The “Harmless” Peeping Tom, Born Sexy Yesterday, The Complicity of Geek Masculinity on the Big Bang Theory, Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs (Part one, Part two), Stranger Things, Belligerent Romance, and the Danger of Nostalgia

favorite misc videos here

[moveslikeanape]

hercules does have amazing lyrics, you're right! it's another one of my favorite disney movies and that's definitely one reason why. one last hope has so many clever lines! another disney song lyric that i've always really liked, from hunchback of notre dame, is in bells of notre dame: "they gazed up in fear and alarm, at a figure whose clutches were iron as much as the bells". and in the reprise: "whatever their pitch, you can feel them bewitch you, the rich and the ritual knells of the bells of notre dame". they're just such satisfying rhymes, and i feel like most of the songs in that movie have really nice lyrics.

i agree with you about the quality of disney lately. i actually enjoyed encanto, but many of their other recent movies have been disappointing to me in one way or another, and it's especially frustrating that they couldn't do better with wish. people have been creating fan works based on the concept art that i think are so much better than the final film was. i also agree about mulan! i love that movie so much, and the music in it too--i especially love the extra lyrics to reflection, that unfortunately ended up getting cut to save time. but i agree that true to your heart should've been kept in the credits instead of in the movie itself.

i think that makes sense about phil collins! wish's songs sound a bit too much like what you'd hear on the radio now, to the point that whenever i hear the song "knowing what i know now" i just get this nagging feeling that i've basically heard the same song multiple times before. and, as i mentioned in a previous message, the song "at all costs" sounds incredibly out of place in the movie. i won't explain the context of that song just in case i'd be spoiling it, but i'll say that the lyrics make it sound like a romantic duet and it very much isn't. i was baffled when i found out what it was actually about. tarzan's songs, on the other hand, are perfectly crafted for the movie and for the feelings they're meant to convey.

this also reminds me that elton john had never written broadway-style music before working on the lion king, but it's mentioned in disney's art of animation that one reason he wanted to join the project was that he loved disney's romantic duets and wanted to write one! and from everything else i've read, it seems like he loved disney music in general and really wanted to be able to capture the same magic that the movies that came before TLK had. it also must've helped a lot that he was working alongside tim rice, who did have an established career in musical theatre.

i'd definitely recommend reading the art of animation book! i still haven't finished it as life got a bit hectic for me this past week, which is also why it took me a few days to send this. but this edition has a huge section dedicated to the making of hercules, which was actually the main reason i picked it up: when i read the actual art book for hercules, i felt that it had a lot of beautiful artwork but wasn't as detailed about the production as it could've been. so far, this book seems to have a lot more of the detail that i wanted.

maybe i'll give tarzan 2 and the tv series a watch at some point! it's interesting that the tv series had episodes based on the novels. although it's too bad the characters weren't very well written in it, especially jane. i've had a similar experience where a movie i loved got a tv series based on it, and although i enjoyed certain things about the series, the characters felt really off and i ended up having mixed feelings about it as a whole. it's always disappointing when things like that happen.

it's also really cool that one of tarzan 2's songs was reworked for the broadway show! that reminds me of how the same thing sort of happened in reverse with the lion king 2: the song "he lives in you" was first used in the broadway show, and then later included in the lion king 2.

(also, sorry if this appears in your ask box multiple times. i'm having a strange sort of issue while trying to send it and i'm not sure if it's my internet or the site itself causing it.) -🌟

OMG, I live for the Hunchback soundtrack!!! If I was forced to choose, I'd say Hunchback is my fav Disney movie after Tarzan. The songs and score are so gorgeous. And that line you chose, "whose clutches were iron", is a perfect example of brilliant lyrics. It defines Frollo's character perfectly and sticks to the subject of the song. And then there's Topsy Turvy… every line of that song is pure gold!

From what I've heard of the movie, and what I've heard about/seen of the concept art this is probably the first time where it's a disappointment seeing the concept art… getting to see what could have been and knowing we got so much less. They need to stop running the studio like a business and go back to Walt's ideals. "Quality will out". Let the artists to what they're best at, let them make the movie properly. They're going so far downhill they're almost at the point where they can't rely on people just buying it because it's Disney anymore.

I know that they need to "keep up" with modern tastes and style, but the songs should feel fresh. If they feel like you've heard them before, it should be because they feel like Disney songs, especially for something meant to celebrate Disney. And I don't think I've ever heard a Disney song that was as far off as you say "at all costs" is. If a song is done properly, you should know exactly what's going on without having context. Otherwise, the songs meaning is not getting through, a definite sign of poor writing.

That's a good point about Elton John and Tim Rice. Tim knew what he was doing, and Elton wanted to do that very thing. Obviously they needed to bring some of themselves into it, that's why they got hired in the first place, but it still needs to serve the movie. Kind of like the animators themselves… you have many people working on many characters, but they all have to feel like they fit in the world of the movie. The artists bring some of their own style, as you can see in concept art, but at the end of the day they have to serve the film and make it feel whole, not just a bunch of stuff thrown together. (I also love the trivia about Can You Feel the Love Tonight, that they wanted it to be completely sung by Timon and Pumbaa until Elton put his foot down. He'd written it in the tradition of the great Disney love songs, and didn't want a "big, stinky warthog" ruining it, lol)

Ya, that's one thing that's kind of disappointing about the "art of" books, they're more artwork and little notes than an actual in-depth making of… true there's only so much room and a true making of book would be huge, but still. Hope things slow down for you soon!!

I'm sorry that happened with the movie you mentioned, it's so disappointing when that happens… I get lower quality because of a smaller budget, but the characters should at least feel the same.

Tarzan 2 and the series are definitely worth at least one watch, if for nothing else than the new adventures. Tarzan 2 is seriously cute though. And although it's different actors playing Tarzan, Terk, and Tantor, Glenn Close and Lance Henriksen came back to voice Kala and Kerchak!

You're right about He Lives in You! Love how the broadway productions inspired by a movie can turn around and inspire the movie series.

(Ugh, that had to be frustrating! I only got the message once though. Hope it was just a one off problem!)

[gamerbearmira]

Coco...and Encanto...hmmmmm

Bro idek but y'all should've expected this 😛 I love both movies sm tbh, my faces next to Princess and the Frog and the Book of Life.

The Book of Life...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Tel teg ti

-----

Héctor had finally finished the last touches of paint on Miguel. He twisted his nose a bit, and Danté sniffed at the tin that Héctor had thrown aside, licking his nose before hacking and gagging. Mirabel giggled at the sight.

"Done! Now you both look like skeletons; well, as close as you can be," he shrugged, rolling his eyes.

"And you're sure no one will notice us?" Mirabel asked, putting on the poncho Héctor handed her. Thankfully Miguel was already wearing a jacket, so it was ok.

"Eh, it should. You'd be surprised how many folks don't really look close," Héctor shrugged. Miguel and Mirabel exchanged a look before Héctor shrugged, digging around in his ribcage and handing Miguel a photo. "Anyway, here's my photo!"

Miguel stared at the photo for a moment, Mirabel peeking over his shoulder. "This is you?"

"¿Muy guapo, eh?" Hector said and Miguel rolled his eyes and shoved the photo in his coat pocket while Mirabel snorted.

"So, if he takes your photo and puts it on his offrenda, you'll be able to cross over?" Mirabel asked, and both she and Miguel followed after Héctor who nodded.

"¡Sí! Once we find his great great grandpa," Héctor said and Miguel spoke up.

"And we have to find Mirabel's abuelo Pedro too!" He perked up and Héctor nodded, pointing a finger.

"That too. But your abuelo is pretty popular in both the Colombia and México districts," Héctor said. "With his sacrafice and all that; he's like a whole hero here. So if we get to that party, we'll probably be able to find both of them! Ernesto was all about inviting other famous folks, even in death."

Mirabel smiled excitedly and Miguel beamed as well. Héctor looked at the two who excitedly spoke about getting home. He couldn't help but think of his own little one, Coco. Though, she probably wasn't so little now.

"Well, come on! We got a contest to win!" Héctor called back after walking ahead of them. Mirabel grabbed Miguel's hand, rushing after Héctor with Miguel stumbling behind him.

-----

Guys they're literally the best adventure group like the best ever I'm not been joking dawg 🙏🙏

Héctor has to watch two kids now 👩‍🦲 also funny thing, I think how Pedro and Mirabel both have butterflies in their eyes, I think I'll make it so Héctor and Miguel had guitars in their eyes <333

BECAUSE I CAAANNNNN

Can you tell I cant draw Héctor to safe my life and put so little effort its not even funny

What's ironic is I have the concept art book for Coco 🌚

[prophetic-hijinks]

Hi @prophetic-hijinks !!! I need some tips about colombian fashion. You see I need a new design for Sonia's new dress & Need help choosing the right style of fashion during Encanto. Google & pintrest aren't really helping me. I've seen Elena's fashion & love it!!! May I get some tips?

Elena being a city girl means she can draw a lot of her designs From 1950s Hollywood. Some movies were coming translated to Colombian around that time. And if you look up nightlife Columbia 1950s you can see their fashion was not too out of kilter with the fashion of Americas. I purposely have Elena dressed in Garments that Rita Hayworth might have wore, because I modeled Elena after her. Also there seemed to be a large mercantile and fashion district in Bogota the capital city.

One thing I try to keep in mind with the 1950s fashion when I do borrow it is they're not appropriate in the Encanto. So Elena does adjust her fashion depending where she is. This is due to being a Catholic modest society so no slinky dresses outside of the city, or their bedroom. She will wear her pants in the Encanto, which is fairly risque.

Another details the fabrics. Within the Encanto you're going to have cotton, or wool like fabrics. A bit heavier with stronger folds and embroidery details. Which kind of gives it a structured look and if. This is because they're making fabrics from hand woven techniques. Pepa's dress is like a cotton, while julieta's appears to be maybe wool, but not woven. Looks almost Wool felted, but I am open to correction.

But Elena has the benefit of access to new textile technology of elastics, mix fabrics like polyester's. That gives her a little bit more of a stretch to her fabric, so they could be a bit more curve hugging. Unless you have a very structured look like, say Alma's dressed where you can see the lines as it goes around each part of the body.

For your redesign, it comes down to whether or not you're Encanto is open to the world. And how much money you have. Isabella's dress those are hand embroidered details and handmade flowers that is insanely expensive. And not so easily purchased. This expense is why we may see Pepa's wedding dress dyed to be colorful (or it's too save on models, but that was by no means an uncommon practice)

But Augustin proves that different people from different regions of Colombia have put their mark on the town. Perhaps Sonia has some luck and comes across some very nice silk kind of fabric.

The art of Encanto goes into more detail of where the Encanto draws their inspiration from (I believe the Andean coffee region) but there are details from all over Colombia. They also have a concept where Mirabel went to the city, so you can see the artists interpretation of city fashion of the era.

https://disney-studios-awards.s3.amazonaws.com/encanto/books/flipJSi56TV4ke/index.html

In the end I am not much a historian, but I tried my best to learn. But I have made Elena a bit of a fashion forward, Hollywood cinema nerd.

[toaverse]

I really like your blog because it one of the few places where I can discuss my problems with the Encanto movie. 

I thought the movie was dull and boring. I enjoyed the songs and animation. The concepts from the art book had good ideas too, but the final product left me disappointed. 

How the characters treated Bruno and Mirabel was just wrong on so many levels. Not to mention, the magic in the movie was not utilized to its full potential. I thought the magical gifts were bland(except for Julieta, hers was creative)

Im glad to hear that, Anon😊

And yeah, most of the gifts (except Julieta’s and maybe Bruno’s) weren’t that unique, some even being done to death…

[nonnymousehouse]

peachhoneii

Tbh I was expecting A LOT more concept art from this. Sorta like the other artbooks you get from film artbooks like Encanto and Turning Red and Coco.

Agreed, although this book was likely made as the show was wrapping up, so my guess is they didn’t hang onto stuff made early in development like Pixar would. Or maybe DTVA is strict about what can and can’t be published.

I’m reading through the Deluxe scans now and I’m more shocked at how some of the art and interviews are straight-up reprinted from the Standard edition. I get that some episodes would have more interesting bonus information than others, but why not put that all in the Standard edition and call it a day? It reads like Ken Plume had to pad things out. 

[sleazyjanet]

these VERY old concepts from the Encanto Art Book featuring Pepa and Leta (apparently twins with opposing powers, one to make people think happy thoughts, one to think unhappy ones, that argued and therefore ruined their relationship at age 15 — and given that Leta from Latin Letitia means “glad, happy”, i’m incline to believe pepa could have been the unhappy twin UNLESS their names were jabs at each other) are just so… fascinating to me. also because one of them clearly is, in some way, OUR pepa (or she’s a mix of both), married to félix. our Pepa, however, is also quite similar to the concept art of Fuega, whose fire power was controlled by her emotions (also given that in some original concepts, Pepa was immune to fire)

so yeah, just these thoughts

[honeybeebytheseaa]

Sorry coming back to this but rereading the art book (yes I reread it already I’m working on something) it’s crazy how in the end, the Encanto team managed to make all of their characters so likable. The passages I was reading about the characters hints at some scrapped character concepts that were really harsh on Mirabel. Especially whatever they had Camilo on dude was EVIL.

Got my hands on the Encanto art book and it is so crazy to me that originally Casita disliked Mirabel. Didn’t hate her, but would go out of its way to be a jerk towards her. It’s something I’m glad was removed because it def would’ve made it hard to sympathize with Casita once it fell apart 💀