Category: Creativity

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The Sounds of Disneyland as a Writing Aid

Mickey Mouse on a Piano; music and animation compromise

As I wrote over the summer and through October, I would find Disney Park music on YouTube to listen to. Some of the videos contained ambient sounds hidden in the background to subvert the copyright bot. Others were straight from the park. Still others were clear and beautiful. Then YouTube decided to monetize smaller creators’ videos without sharing revenue. This is the same content they said wasn’t worth monetizing in 2018 because it was too small.

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Lifelong Learning Important for Personal and Business Development: A Lesson from the Disney Company

Mickey Mouse on a Piano; music and animation compromise

Walt Disney was continuously improving his art.  In fact, many people say he elevated the animated cartoon to an art. As shorts became less profitable, Walt knew he had to diversify. He began to train his staff to ready them for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” To do so, he brought experts into the studio to teach the animators how to draw better. Some of these lessons are now available in “Before Ever After” (affiliate link).

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‘Before Ever After’: First Look Book Review

Partners Statue at Disneyland

When Walt Disney decided that he wanted to keep improving animation and make an animated feature, he knew he would have to help his animators get better at more than just animating. They needed to learn about a variety of subjects so that they could harness their full potential. He decided to create a series of lecture classes that included bringing in some of the greatest people in their professions at the time, including Frank Lloyd Wright. Every time I read about these lectures in a Walt Disney biography, I wanted to find out what was in them. “Before Ever After” (affiliate link) gives me that opportunity.

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Disney’s Silly Symphonies and the Art of Compromise

Mickey Mouse on a Piano; music and animation compromise

Just as “Steamboat Willie” was gaining steam at the box office and launching Mickey Mouse to superstardom, Carl Stalling was scoring the first two Mickey Mouse cartoons: “Plane Crazy” and “Gallopin’ Gaucho.” After some correspondence with Walt Disney, Stalling ended up as the studios first musical director. Because it was complicated to synchronize sound with animations, Walt and Stalling had to work closely with one another to get the two disciplines to work together before they could begin production on the drawings. Walt and Stalling would often argue over what should take precedence in the animated film. Stalling wanted the music to be the first thing to considered; Disney wanted the action and gags to take precedence.

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Disney’s Wonderful World of Reading Year Book 2003 and Creativity

Disney books including cleaning the kingdom and the haunted mansion is creativity

Disney’s Wonderful World of Reading published the Year Book series, and it’s a treasure trove of information. Your expectations may be that there would be a lot of Disney stories inside and little else. I was certainly only expecting a little fluff reading before I went to bed. Instead, in the 2003 Year Book (affiliate link), I learned about the airplanes, butterflies, and birthstones. I still got a fix of fiction with stories from “Monsters Inc.,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and Mickey Mouse. More importantly, the Year Book has a few activities sprinkled in for people to do.

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‘Poster Art of Disney the Parks’: Informative and Beautiful

Poster Art of the Disney Parks

When Disneyland was built, it was done so in the style of a movie. The Mickey Mouse in front of the train station at the entrance to the park is the title card. The tunnel creates a dissolve as you enter a new immersive experience – Main Street, U.S.A. But where would you go, what would you do, and what would you see in this movie? Posters helped visitors understand what was offered in the park and what they could expect. “Poster Art of the Disney Parks” (affiliate link) shows the process of making posters with beautiful full color examples of what you would find in the Disney Parks.

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Free for Black Friday Angel Penguin Tree Topper

Penguins and Christmas tree

When I woke up this morning, I had 18 emails in my inbox all touting Black Friday Deals. Not a single email was a Happy Holidays or a personal note. I get it. Businesses (including my own) are facing a crisis, but there’s something more important than that – people are facing the same crisis.

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Creativity and Halloween, Facing Your Fears: 31 Days of Halloween

Happy Halloween to our PenguinatorsCalendar

Halloween gives you the opportunity to play as a monster or something scary and to celebrate that fear. By becoming what you fear, you’re able to take some of that feeling away and empower yourself to be less afraid. Fear can be healthy, but it can also prevent you from doing something amazing. In creativity, it’s fear that often stops people from coming up with new ideas. They are afraid of being wrong, ridiculed, and/or failing. Still, Halloween is a good time to practice your creativity and face your fears!

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My List for Inktober Drawing on YouTube

Create something today like this child's drawing

I did a quick sketch to get my bearings around where each of these should go for Inktober. (It’s on the video.) I tend to layer my drawings starting with what’s in the background and moving to the foreground. I may trace my first drawing and draw the second on the tracing, or I may cut out the second and attach it to the first. You don’t have to do either. This is all about exercising your ability to be creative and to draw. Your finished drawing(s) should look different from mine.

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Disney Paper Parks Online Magic for You to Color

Partners Statue at Disneyland

The Disney Parks Blog has been releasing Paper Parks during the quarantine. These templates are drawn by Disney artists. You can download them, print them, color them and then assemble them into your very own Disneyland. (Part 3 is Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland.) For Disney fans, this is an amazing opportunity to build their own parks in real life. (Disney Magic Kingdoms allows them to build one in virtual life.)

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