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Walt Disney Animation Studios is paying tribute to female talent in art and animation at a one-of-a-kind exhibition during the Gran Canaria-based Animayo. From May 7-10, the exhibition Whimsy & Wonder will be exclusively on display during the fest.

Disney, an official sponsor this year, will celebrate the female artists who helped shape Disney’s visual storytelling for more than a hundred years. These include the trailblazing Mary Blair, who transformed the use of color in the 1950s, and the visionary women behind modern favorites like “Frozen,” “Encanto” and “Moana 2.” The exhibition is a homage to the women who have shaped the past—and are defining the future—of animation.

Art for ‘Encanto’ by Lorelay Bové

In the 1940s and ’50s, Blair, a celebrated color stylist and art director, brought a bold new vision to Disney animation. Her imaginative use of vibrant colors and whimsical shapes sparked a transformative shift...

While the Madrigal family is the heart of Disney’s “Encanto,” another key character in the film is Casa Madrigal, the family’s magical home and center of the narrative.

From the very beginning, co-writer and co-director Charise Castro Smith says the creative team knew that the house would be a reflection of the family and their magical powers, with a personality and a point of view.

“We knew it was going to be alive, magical and fun and a friend to the kids who lived in the house,” she says.

Each room in the house also had its own personality and early on, Castro Smith says the magic of technology allowed her to visualize the world of “Encanto” through VR.

“The visual design team modeled it in 3D, so we got to put a headset on and walk through the house.”

That process came in handy when she was...

Disney Animation’s newest feature, “Encanto,” centers on the extended Madrigal family, who possess magical powers and live in an enchanted house. Only teenager Mirabel, voiced by “In the Heights” actor Stephanie Beatriz, lacks the gift of incantation.

The movie, which debuts in theaters Nov. 24, is rooted in Colombian culture, so filmmakers Byron Howard and Jared Bush traveled to Cartagena and Bogotá to study the details that would capture the country’s essence. Howard says, “We visited Bogotá, Cartagena and small towns like Barichara, Salento and Palenque and stunning natural landmarks like the Cocora Valley, and spent some time with Colombian families.”

Howard and Bush also learned about secret forests and places of magic called ‘encantos’ which helped the storytellers including Charise Castro Smith bring the Latin experience to the feature and help firmly root the story in magical realism. Says Howard, “These are all over Latin America, usually in areas of natural wonder.

Big Hero 6, Disney’s all new animated film based off of the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, is set to release on November 7, 2014 but Wamg was lucky enough to get a sneak peek. A few weeks ago, I attended an early press day for the film where a small group of journalists were shown scenes from the film. While there, we also talked with Chris Williams (Director), Don Hall (Director), Jin Kim (Character Design Supervisor), Kyle Odermatt (Visual Effects Supervisor), Lorelay Bove (Visual Development Artist), Mark Henn (Lead 2D Animator), Michael Franceschi (Animation Supervisor), Michael Kaschalk (Head of Effects), Nathan Curtis (Effects Production Supervisor), Nathan Engelhardt (Animation Supervisor), Paul Briggs (Head of Story), Paul Felix (Production Designer), Robert L Baird (Screenplay By), Roy Conli (Producer), Shiyoon Kim (Lead Character Designer) and Zach Parrish (Head of Animation) about their role in bringing the story, characters and world of Big Hero 6 to life.

Walt Disney Records' newly created line of collectible CDs, Walt Disney Records The Legacy Collection, will celebrate the anniversaries of Disney's most cherished and classic properties that have been enchanting audiences for generations. Through 2015, Walt Disney Records will celebrate 12 anniversaries including "Pinocchio" (75th), "Fantasia" (75th), "Cinderella" (65th), "Lady and the Tramp" (60th), "Sleeping Beauty" (55th), "Mary Poppins" (50th), "The Lion King" (20th) and "Toy Story" (20th), among others. To honor these musical landmarks, Walt Disney Records The Legacy Collection will feature the beloved original soundtracks, plus valuable documentary content that tells the story behind the music. Each album will feature newly created artwork from Lorelay Bove, a visual...

With the release of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph on Blu-ray/DVD, the studio has shared some behind-the-scenes concept art that reveals a look into the visual development process. The images show early conceptual designs of the title character, Vanellope, the Sugar Rush racers and the virtual worlds of the various games. Rich Moore's Wreck-It Ralph features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk. Hit the jump to check out the concept art images. Check out the Wreck-It Ralph concept art below, followed by an in-depth look into the visual development process: [gallery link="file" order="Desc" columns="1"] The Artistry And Influence Of Visual Development Meet the visual development artists that helped conceptualize the video game worlds and gaming characters in Wreck-It Ralph. Learn about the research that went into creating the look of this film – from game playing to unexpected trips – and the unique ways these artists found to showcase their ideas.

It's no secret that we loved Wreck-It Ralph (and it's definitely no secret that we loved Wreck-It Ralph more than Brave. So enjoy your Oscar, Brave, because Ralph won our hearts). To celebrate this week's DVD release, take a look at some of the awesome concept art created for the Disney film. We especially love the picture of all the Sugar Rush racers. And suddenly our sweet tooth is craving every single candy in the vending machine. Artist Lorelay Bove touched on the story behind the racers, explaining, "[Director] Rich Moore had the idea of using Japanese Harajuku girls as an inspiration because they are so unique. It worked really well, especially with the Japanese...

I really don't put much stock in the International Animated Film Society's 2013 Annie Awards, which is why I didn't rush to report on their results on Saturday. One year Disney and Pixar boycott the event, feeling there was an unfair advantage paid to larger contributing sponsors, DreamWorks being the primary example. So with such a nasty stench over the event what good does it do to pay it much mind? That said, I'll be brief in mentioning Wreck-It Ralph topped Saturday night's winners with five awards, including Best Animated Picture. The awards have something like a 75% streak when it comes to helping predict the eventual Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature and as the days have gone on, it's looking more and more like Ralph will be this year's winner (see my predictions here). Pixar's Brave, Laika's ParaNorman and DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians each took home two awards in lesser,...

Disney's "Wreck-It-Ralph" was the big winner at the 40th Annie Awards held Saturday taking home the Best Animated Feature award. It is now officially the Oscar frontrunner in the Best Animated Film category.

Here's the complete list of winners/nominees; for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies this season, click here:

Animated Feature

"Brave" . Pixar Animation Studios

"Frankenweenie" . Walt Disney Studios

"Hotel Transylvania" . Sony Pictures Animation

"ParaNorman" . Focus Features

"Rise of the Guardians" . DreamWorks Animation

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" . Aardman Animations

"The Rabbi.s Cat ". Gkids

Winner "Wreck-It Ralph" . Walt Disney Animation Studios

Animated Special Production

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1" . Warner Bros. Animation

"Before Orel" . Trust . Starburns Industries, Inc.

Winner "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" . Illumination Entertainment

"Disney Tron: Uprising . Beck.s Beginning" . Disney TV Animation

"Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" . DreamWorks Animation

"Justice League: Doom" . Warner Bros. Animation

Animated Short Subject

"Brad and Gary" . Illumination...

I love the art of animation, and it's amazing to see how far things have come and advanced over the years. The industry is changing in terms of technology, but what it all really comes down to is telling good stories. There's been a lot of great animated movies this year, and many of them are up for several awards at the 40th Annual Annie Awards.

Some of the movies nomainated include Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph. Out of those films my favorite is a toss up between Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman, those were two pretty incredible films. I think ParaNorman has the edge though.

Some of the other animated properties nominated are Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Disney Tron: Uprising, Justice League: Doom, Robot Chicken ‘DC Comics Special', South Park ‘Raising the Bar’, and several others.

The International Animated Film Society (Asifa-Hollywood) has announced the nominees for the 40th Annie Awards also known as Animation's Highest Honor. Disney/Pixar led the nominees with "Brave," "Frankenweenie," and "Wreck-It-Ralph" getting Best Picture nods. The 40th Annual Annie Awards will take place on February 2, 2013 at UCLA.s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, California.

And the nominees for the 40th Annual Annie Awards are:

Best Picture nominees:

Brave - Disney/Pixar)

Frankenweenie -The Walt Disney Studios

Hotel Transylvania - Sony Pictures Animation

ParaNorman - Focus Features

Rise of the Guardians - DreamWorks Animation

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Aardman Animations

The Rabbi.s Cat - Gkids

Wreck-It Ralph - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 . Warner Bros. Animation

Best General Audience Animated Television Production

Archer .Space Race, Part 1. . Weissman Markovitz Communications for FX

Bob.S Burgers .Earsy Rider...

Disney withdrew from the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood back in 2010 and even before then it was hard to put much stock in the Annie Awards. Now it's just sort of a blip on the overall award season radar that manages headlines twice a year, once for their nominees and again for their winners, which this year will be announced on Saturday, February 2, 2013. That said, the org announced their 2013 nominees this morning and their Best Feature Film list was made up of eight nominees (a large list considering the lack of quality animated films I've seen this year) including Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Rabbi's Cat and Wreck-It Ralph. It is nice not to see something like The Lorax among that list, but I still think this was a year in which the field could have easily been limited to five nominees.

I was surprised by this show. After Disney took Pooh into the wonderful world of computer generated pre-school shows that my baby sister has being raised on, I was relieved when we got this DVD. The moment it started, my sister was laughing hard. The narrator (John Cleese) was yelling at Pooh to wake up and was shaking the .book. Pooh was in until Pooh fell out of bed with even more laughs. Of course, Pooh is hungry so he starts singing the Tummy Song - resulting in more laughs and a dancing toddler blocking my view. This movie was a great HD experience, and the best I.ve seen on Blu-ray. The art team (Lorelay Bove,...