Walt Disney Animation Studios in partnership with UK-based digital publisher Touch Press have recently released a beautiful new tablet app called Disney Animated. Made exclusively for the Apple iPad and available for purchase in the iTunes App Store for $13.99, Disney Animated contains a treasure trove of art, history and magic from the animation studio that Walt built.
As stated on the iTunes App Store page:
“Dozens of top animators, artists, technicians, and designers contributed to making Disney Animated an unprecedented hands-on experience. Disney Animated gives you access to an astonishing amount of material from all eras of Walt Disney Animation Studios, beginning with ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937) and continuing through an exclusive first look at concept art, animation tests, and visual effects from the upcoming film ‘Frozen’.”
Taking advantage of the beautiful screen and interactive nature of the iPad, features of the app include:
- A complete historical timeline of every Walt Disney Animation Studios animated motion picture.
- The ability the zoom in on concept art, storyboards, backgrounds and other art used in the making of many of the animated motion pictures created by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- An incredibly cool thumbnail “color map” of every Disney animated feature film from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Wreck-It Ralph. According to the iTunes App Store description, “Never before has this complete catalog been browsable in this way.” (It really is cool.)
- Fun tools that let you animate Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph along with the Elsa’s “snow” from Frozen using a simulation of the high-tech tools currently in use by artists at the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- The “Principles of Animation” chapter from the definitive book about animating in the classic Disney style “The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation” by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. And as an added bonus in the app, the book’s illustrations are all animated.
The app is rather large (it requires at least 1.7GB to install it on your iPad), but that’s because it’s absolutely loaded with this huge amount of amazing art and cool features.
I’ve had a chance now to really go through most of the app. I’ve found it be a substantial, comprehensive and awe-inspiring look at the storied history of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the wonderful animated feature films created there. I highly recommend forking out the bucks for this app, particularly if you are a Disney animation scholar, admirer and/or fan.
Animation Fascination 