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I can’t believe it has been almost a month since my visit down to San Francisco for the Disney Pixar Coco Event! I have been edger to share with you one of my bucket list experiences…. visiting The Walt Disney Family Museum. For the longest time, I had no idea this even existed but if you are a huge Disney fan, like myself, this is a must. The museum is plentiful with so many treasures and takes you on a full life journey of Mr Walt Disney.
If you are heading to San Francisco, you will certainly wan to make a pit stop, because from
now until October 9, the Walt Disney Family Museum has a special exhibit available called Deja View: The Art of Andreas Deja
this exhibit features art from The Lion King.
After Andreas Deja saw the the movie, The Jungle Book at the age of 13, he knew that he wanted to grow up and work at Disney as an animator. After reaching out, he recalled that the most important day of his life, was when he received a response back from Walt Disney productions at age 20.
Andreas created some of the best villains from my childhood…. like Scar from The Lion King and Jafar from Aladdin. He also worked on Gaston from Beauty and the beast. This was such a fascinating exhibit because it really did have so much to do with childhood and early teen years. I can still remember Christmas break and receiving Aladdin for Christmas (still in my top 3 favorites). We played that movie on loop… at least 25 times before school was back in session, I nearly had the whole script memorized. Jafar was just one of those character that you truly loved to hate!
I was truly fascinated by all the talent this man had, all the sketches had so much depth and detail. Like in this piece above, the motion is so fluid. You can already see such expression and influence… like the cape and horse mane flapping in the “wind”. They also displayed many clay sculptures and water colors, there was even a 3 denominational wire sculpture.
The whole movie The Lion King was just full of emotion… it is full of happy, sad, frustration, hope and a feeling of amazement. The colors and music, take you away to another place and Scar’s character draws you in wanting to know the whole back story. The mystery and darkness make him at the top for a true villain.
FUN FACT: Disney uses the color lime green to signify evil. If you think back to all the villains, including The Lion King they will all have moments of the color lime green to heed something evil is brewing.
Don’t you just love this sketch of Beauty and the Beast? The sketch is so rough, yet is just full of detail!
More about the exhibit from the website “Explore the dynamic work of one of the most accomplished and versatile character animators of our time: Andreas Deja. This unique exhibition showcases original works on paper and maquettes of Deja’s most iconic Disney characters, from menacing villains Scar and Jafar and larger-than-life muscle men Gaston and Hercules, to the much beloved Mama Odie and Lilo Pelekai. In addition to his work for The Walt Disney Animation Studios, Deja is known for independent projects, including his upcoming film Mushka. The film—featuring a young girl and her tiger in “a story of love and sacrifice set in Russia”—is animated in a colored pencil style. Deja View showcases Deja’s prolific and wide-ranging career, bridging the rich tradition of classic hand-drawn animation with animation’s innovative future.”
The Lion King is now available on digital, and Disney Movies Anywhere and will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on August 29!
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To learn more about The Walt Disney Family Museum and the Deja View: The Art of Andreas Deja exhibit head on over to their website
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