Don Hahn produced some of the most successful animated films of all time, including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar®. Three of his films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. are now on the Library of Congress collection as culturally, historically and esthetically significant. Don’s films include Disney’s Maleficent, Frankenweenie, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis, and Emperor’s New Groove. He was a founder and executive producer of the acclaimed Disneynature Films, executive produced the PBS American Masters documentary Tyrus about Disney Legend Tyrus Wong, and has directed the acclaimed documentaries Waking Sleeping Beauty, and Howard featured on Disney+. He has authored many books on animation, guest lectures at Microsoft, Deloitte, Apple, and is on the advisory board of the Walt Disney Family Museum and a former trustee of PBS SoCal. He holds two Academy Award nominations, two Emmy nominations, two Golden Globes for Best Picture, two Honorary Doctorate degrees, and in 2022 he was named a Disney Legend for his extraordinary contributions to The Walt Disney Company.

Select Guide Rating

• VOLUME 1Foreword. Acknowledgements. Basics. 1. Enthusiasm. 2. Principles of Animation. 3. Consider Anatomy Alone. 4. Anatomy Continued. 5. Consider Weight. 6. Squash and Stretch — I. 7. Squash and Stretch — II. 8. Stretch and Squash — III. 9. Line and Silhouette. 10. Basic Shapes versus Details. 11. Using Basic Shapes as Aid in Difficult Drawings. 12. Simplify Where Possible. 13. Straights and Curves. 14. Overlap, Follow-through, and Drag. 15. Eyes. 16. Avoiding Tangent Lines. 17. Some Simple Rules of Perspective. 18. Some Ways to Create Space and Depth. 19. Some Principles of Drawing. 20. Great Performance or Just a Drawing? 21. Drawing Calories. 22. Sketching. 23. Animation and Sketching. 24. Simplicity for the Sake of Clarity. 25. Construction Observations Useful in Animation. 26. The Opposing Force. Gesture. 27. Anatomy vs. Gesture. 28. Mental and Physical Preparation. 29. Dividing the Body Into Units. 30. Dimensional Drawing. 31. The Value of an Action/Gesture Analysis Study. 32. Using a Simple (But Logical) Approach to Drapery. 33. Drapery — Its Role in Drawing. 34. The Seriousness of Head Sketching/A New Phrase: "Body Syntax". 35. The Head in Gesture. 36. From the Living Model to the Living Gesture. 37. A Little More on Heads. 38. Feeling the Pose. 39. The Pose Is an Extreme. 40. Pose and Mood. 41. Pose and Mood Plus Timing and Phrasing and Texture. 42. Symbols for Poses. 43. Positive and Negative. 44. Silhouette. 45. P.S. The Metaphysical Side. 46. Draw Verbs Not Nouns. 47. Osmosis. 48. Drawing and Caricature. Seeing. 49. What Not to See. 50. A Bit of Introspection. 51. It Ain’t Easy. 52. A Good First Impression. 53. Stick to the Theme. 54. Sometimes I Wonder Why I Spend the Lonely Hours… 55. Cleanup — General. 56. Cleanup. 57. Inbetweening. 58. Problems with Drawing in Line. 59. Superficial Appearance vs. Creative Portrayal. 60. Creative Energy. 61. More Meanderings. 62. Those Who Cannot Begin Do Not Finish. 63. Body Language. 64. Note Taking and Sketching. 65. Using the Rules of Perspective. 66. Applying the Rules of Perspective. 67. Copy the Model…Who Me? 68. Talk to Your Audience — Through Drawing. 69. Getting at the Root of the Problem. 70. Doodling vs. Drawing. 71. Purpose in Drawing. 72. When Acting (Drawing) is an Art. Analysis. 73. Action Analysis Class I. 74. Action Analysis Class II. 75. Using Cylinders. 76. Action Analysis — Hands and Feet. 77. Angles, Angles, Angles. 78. Using Angles. 79. Angles and Tension. 80. Applying Angles and Tension in Our Drawings. 81. Tennis, Angles, and Essences. 82. More on the Same. 83. More on "Essence" Drawing. 84. Driving Force Behind the Action. 85. A Drawing Style Appropriate for Animation. 86. A Drawing Style for Animation, Part II. 87. Learn to Cheat. 88. One Picture Worth A Thousand Words? 89. Double Vision. 90. Lazy Lines. 91. Spot It for Yourself. 92. Do You Promise to Draw the Action, The Whole Action,and Nothing But the Action? 93. The Pose — A One-Drawing Story. 94. My Eye Is in Love. 95. Become the Director. 96. Hone Up or Bone Up. 97. The Illustrated Handout. Creativity. 98. Drawing on the Artist Within. 99. Fine Tuning the Gesture. 100. For a Better Gesture, Adverbs. 101. Omni — on Creativity. 102. Metamorphosis. 103. Mime. 104. True Gesture Drawing. 105. A Second Chance to Make a First Impression. 106. A Good Sketch Is Like a Good Joke. 107. Opposition. 108. Elastic Band Tension. 109. Get Out of the Way. 110. Play-Acting. 111. A Storytelling Drawing. 112. Drawing Techniques. 113. Step Into It. 114. It Could Be That… 115. A First Impression — Your Intended Goal. 116. Gallery of Class Drawings. 117. Think First… 118. Piles of Nuts. 119. A Meaningful Assembly. 120. The Time has Come, The Walrus Said… 121. Clarity. 122. Action or Reaction? Thinking. 123. Be Transformed. 124. Be Relentless. 125. Adjust Your Crystal. 126. A Love for Drawing. 127. A New Slant on Drawing. 128. Think Gesture. 129. Precious Instruments. 130. Gesture Drawing, Enthusiasm, and Stuff Like that. 131. Shape — A Multi-Form Drawing Tool. 132. Deciphering and Defining Gestures. 133. The Decisive Moment. 134. Relationship of Character to Prop. 135. Drawing. 136. Words That Help in Drawing. 137. A Simple Approach to Drawing. 138. Vocalizing. 139. Abstracting the Essence. 140. Common vs. Uncommon Gestures. 141. A Thinking Person’s Art. 142. Lines, Lines, Lines. 143. Feel, as Well as See, the Gesture. 144. Savvy Sayin’s. 145. The Inner Force. 146. The Power of "mmm". 147. Gestural Symbolism. 148. Some Left Over Thoughts. 149. The Right Way? Afterword/Bonus Material. Credits — Volume I. VOLUME 2Foreword. Acknowledgements. Innovation. 1. Review and New Approach. 2. Artist/Actor. 3. Don’t Be Ordinary. 4. Sketcher. 5. Plus or Minus. 6. Mood Symbols. 7. Breaking the Constraint Barrier. 8. The Agony and the Ecstasy. 9. Making All Parts Work Together to Shape a Gesture. 10. Forces (Energy, Animation, Power, Vim, Vigor, and Vitality). 11. Pure Performance. 12. Different Concepts. 13. A Time for This and a Time for That. 14. Look to This Day. 15. Entertainment. 16. Follow-Up Department. 17. Entertainment II. 18. Playing to the Balcony. Drawing. 19. A Sack of Flour. 20. Pantomime (Drawing) Preparation. 21. That Darned Neck. 22. Crayolas? 23. Hands (Those Darned?) 24. Plight of a Gesture. 25. Concepts for Drawing. 26. Drawing Appropriate Gestures for Your Characters. 27. Drawings Ain’t Just Drawing. 28. The Importance of Sketching. 29. Getting Emotionally Involved. 30. Gesture Further Pursued. 31. Caricature. 32. Perspective. 33. Have Something to Say and Keep It Simple. 34. Keeping Flexibility in Your Drawing. 35. Seeing and Drawing the Figure in Space. 36. Don’t Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Drawing. 37. Hey, Look at Me … Look at Me! 38. Learn From the Mistakes of Others. 39. Quest and Fulfillment. 40. Getting Adjusted to New Production. 41. More Animal Talk. 42. In Further Praise of Quick Sketching. 43. Impression – Expression = Depression. Expression. 44. Drawing a Clear Portrayal of Your Idea. 45. Think Caricature. 46. Going Into That World! 47. Understanding What You See. 48. An Inspirational Journey. 49. Comic Relief. 50. If It Needs to Lean, Then Lean It. 51. Don’t Tell, But Show! 52. Mainly Mental. 53. The Shape of a Gesture. 54. Dreams Impossible to Resist. 55. Short Book on Drawing. 56. Encompassing Reality with All Your Senses. 57. Gestures, Moons, and Tangents. 58. Include Your Audience. 59. The Wonders of the Right and Left Hemispheres. 60. Making the Rules of Perspective Come to Life. 61. In Further Praise of the Rules of Perspective. 62. There Is No End to Thinking Overlap. 63. Space Is Created. 64. Words and Experience. 65. Look, This Is What I Saw. 66. Breaking Away. 67. The Shape of the Gesture II. 68. A Tribute. Afterword/Bonus Material. Credits — Volume II.

Don Hahn produced some of the most successful animated films of all time, including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar®. Three of his films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. are now on the Library of Congress collection as culturally, historically and esthetically significant. Don’s films include Disney’s Maleficent, Frankenweenie, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis, and Emperor’s New Groove. He was a founder and executive producer of the acclaimed Disneynature Films, executive produced the PBS American Masters documentary Tyrus about Disney Legend Tyrus Wong, and has directed the acclaimed documentaries Waking Sleeping Beauty, and Howard featured on Disney+. He has authored many books on animation, guest lectures at Microsoft, Deloitte, Apple, and is on the advisory board of the Walt Disney Family Museum and a former trustee of PBS SoCal. He holds two Academy Award nominations, two Emmy nominations, two Golden Globes for Best Picture, two Honorary Doctorate degrees, and in 2022 he was named a Disney Legend for his extraordinary contributions to The Walt Disney Company.

Select Guide Rating

• VOLUME 1Foreword. Acknowledgements. Basics. 1. Enthusiasm. 2. Principles of Animation. 3. Consider Anatomy Alone. 4. Anatomy Continued. 5. Consider Weight. 6. Squash and Stretch — I. 7. Squash and Stretch — II. 8. Stretch and Squash — III. 9. Line and Silhouette. 10. Basic Shapes versus Details. 11. Using Basic Shapes as Aid in Difficult Drawings. 12. Simplify Where Possible. 13. Straights and Curves. 14. Overlap, Follow-through, and Drag. 15. Eyes. 16. Avoiding Tangent Lines. 17. Some Simple Rules of Perspective. 18. Some Ways to Create Space and Depth. 19. Some Principles of Drawing. 20. Great Performance or Just a Drawing? 21. Drawing Calories. 22. Sketching. 23. Animation and Sketching. 24. Simplicity for the Sake of Clarity. 25. Construction Observations Useful in Animation. 26. The Opposing Force. Gesture. 27. Anatomy vs. Gesture. 28. Mental and Physical Preparation. 29. Dividing the Body Into Units. 30. Dimensional Drawing. 31. The Value of an Action/Gesture Analysis Study. 32. Using a Simple (But Logical) Approach to Drapery. 33. Drapery — Its Role in Drawing. 34. The Seriousness of Head Sketching/A New Phrase: "Body Syntax". 35. The Head in Gesture. 36. From the Living Model to the Living Gesture. 37. A Little More on Heads. 38. Feeling the Pose. 39. The Pose Is an Extreme. 40. Pose and Mood. 41. Pose and Mood Plus Timing and Phrasing and Texture. 42. Symbols for Poses. 43. Positive and Negative. 44. Silhouette. 45. P.S. The Metaphysical Side. 46. Draw Verbs Not Nouns. 47. Osmosis. 48. Drawing and Caricature. Seeing. 49. What Not to See. 50. A Bit of Introspection. 51. It Ain’t Easy. 52. A Good First Impression. 53. Stick to the Theme. 54. Sometimes I Wonder Why I Spend the Lonely Hours… 55. Cleanup — General. 56. Cleanup. 57. Inbetweening. 58. Problems with Drawing in Line. 59. Superficial Appearance vs. Creative Portrayal. 60. Creative Energy. 61. More Meanderings. 62. Those Who Cannot Begin Do Not Finish. 63. Body Language. 64. Note Taking and Sketching. 65. Using the Rules of Perspective. 66. Applying the Rules of Perspective. 67. Copy the Model…Who Me? 68. Talk to Your Audience — Through Drawing. 69. Getting at the Root of the Problem. 70. Doodling vs. Drawing. 71. Purpose in Drawing. 72. When Acting (Drawing) is an Art. Analysis. 73. Action Analysis Class I. 74. Action Analysis Class II. 75. Using Cylinders. 76. Action Analysis — Hands and Feet. 77. Angles, Angles, Angles. 78. Using Angles. 79. Angles and Tension. 80. Applying Angles and Tension in Our Drawings. 81. Tennis, Angles, and Essences. 82. More on the Same. 83. More on "Essence" Drawing. 84. Driving Force Behind the Action. 85. A Drawing Style Appropriate for Animation. 86. A Drawing Style for Animation, Part II. 87. Learn to Cheat. 88. One Picture Worth A Thousand Words? 89. Double Vision. 90. Lazy Lines. 91. Spot It for Yourself. 92. Do You Promise to Draw the Action, The Whole Action,and Nothing But the Action? 93. The Pose — A One-Drawing Story. 94. My Eye Is in Love. 95. Become the Director. 96. Hone Up or Bone Up. 97. The Illustrated Handout. Creativity. 98. Drawing on the Artist Within. 99. Fine Tuning the Gesture. 100. For a Better Gesture, Adverbs. 101. Omni — on Creativity. 102. Metamorphosis. 103. Mime. 104. True Gesture Drawing. 105. A Second Chance to Make a First Impression. 106. A Good Sketch Is Like a Good Joke. 107. Opposition. 108. Elastic Band Tension. 109. Get Out of the Way. 110. Play-Acting. 111. A Storytelling Drawing. 112. Drawing Techniques. 113. Step Into It. 114. It Could Be That… 115. A First Impression — Your Intended Goal. 116. Gallery of Class Drawings. 117. Think First… 118. Piles of Nuts. 119. A Meaningful Assembly. 120. The Time has Come, The Walrus Said… 121. Clarity. 122. Action or Reaction? Thinking. 123. Be Transformed. 124. Be Relentless. 125. Adjust Your Crystal. 126. A Love for Drawing. 127. A New Slant on Drawing. 128. Think Gesture. 129. Precious Instruments. 130. Gesture Drawing, Enthusiasm, and Stuff Like that. 131. Shape — A Multi-Form Drawing Tool. 132. Deciphering and Defining Gestures. 133. The Decisive Moment. 134. Relationship of Character to Prop. 135. Drawing. 136. Words That Help in Drawing. 137. A Simple Approach to Drawing. 138. Vocalizing. 139. Abstracting the Essence. 140. Common vs. Uncommon Gestures. 141. A Thinking Person’s Art. 142. Lines, Lines, Lines. 143. Feel, as Well as See, the Gesture. 144. Savvy Sayin’s. 145. The Inner Force. 146. The Power of "mmm". 147. Gestural Symbolism. 148. Some Left Over Thoughts. 149. The Right Way? Afterword/Bonus Material. Credits — Volume I. VOLUME 2Foreword. Acknowledgements. Innovation. 1. Review and New Approach. 2. Artist/Actor. 3. Don’t Be Ordinary. 4. Sketcher. 5. Plus or Minus. 6. Mood Symbols. 7. Breaking the Constraint Barrier. 8. The Agony and the Ecstasy. 9. Making All Parts Work Together to Shape a Gesture. 10. Forces (Energy, Animation, Power, Vim, Vigor, and Vitality). 11. Pure Performance. 12. Different Concepts. 13. A Time for This and a Time for That. 14. Look to This Day. 15. Entertainment. 16. Follow-Up Department. 17. Entertainment II. 18. Playing to the Balcony. Drawing. 19. A Sack of Flour. 20. Pantomime (Drawing) Preparation. 21. That Darned Neck. 22. Crayolas? 23. Hands (Those Darned?) 24. Plight of a Gesture. 25. Concepts for Drawing. 26. Drawing Appropriate Gestures for Your Characters. 27. Drawings Ain’t Just Drawing. 28. The Importance of Sketching. 29. Getting Emotionally Involved. 30. Gesture Further Pursued. 31. Caricature. 32. Perspective. 33. Have Something to Say and Keep It Simple. 34. Keeping Flexibility in Your Drawing. 35. Seeing and Drawing the Figure in Space. 36. Don’t Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Drawing. 37. Hey, Look at Me … Look at Me! 38. Learn From the Mistakes of Others. 39. Quest and Fulfillment. 40. Getting Adjusted to New Production. 41. More Animal Talk. 42. In Further Praise of Quick Sketching. 43. Impression – Expression = Depression. Expression. 44. Drawing a Clear Portrayal of Your Idea. 45. Think Caricature. 46. Going Into That World! 47. Understanding What You See. 48. An Inspirational Journey. 49. Comic Relief. 50. If It Needs to Lean, Then Lean It. 51. Don’t Tell, But Show! 52. Mainly Mental. 53. The Shape of a Gesture. 54. Dreams Impossible to Resist. 55. Short Book on Drawing. 56. Encompassing Reality with All Your Senses. 57. Gestures, Moons, and Tangents. 58. Include Your Audience. 59. The Wonders of the Right and Left Hemispheres. 60. Making the Rules of Perspective Come to Life. 61. In Further Praise of the Rules of Perspective. 62. There Is No End to Thinking Overlap. 63. Space Is Created. 64. Words and Experience. 65. Look, This Is What I Saw. 66. Breaking Away. 67. The Shape of the Gesture II. 68. A Tribute. Afterword/Bonus Material. Credits — Volume II.