Saturday, March 17, 2012

LAST CALL FOR DISNEYLAND PARIS BOOK PRE-ORDERS !

As they say at Main Street Station: Your attention please! The pre-order period of the Disneyland Paris "From Sketch to Reality" collector edition book will end this monday. After what you'll still be able to order the book but the price will be 20 euros higher as i've said before. So, if you intend to order a collector copy and save some money at the same time, please do it now!

Paypal payment or bank transfer are accepted and to know how to do you can either go to the presentation article HERE or send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com

The book is now printed and we expect a release late April when we will receive the bounded copies from the printer. I'm very happy with the printing which is excellent, and you can see pictures shot at the printer HERE.

Also below, a video which will show you the entire book! Thanks for your attention!




Friday, March 16, 2012

Finally, only one attraction is scheduled for DLP WDS !

Editor's Note: Guess what? Apparently the journalist who did the interview of DLP CEO Philippe Gas did a mistake in the transcript and in fact Gas never mentioned in the interview two new attractions for the Walt Disney Studios but only ONE...which of course will be the Ratatouille ride in 2014.

Captain EO will close forever at Disneyland Paris Discoveryland on April 2



Bad news for all Captain EO and Michael Jackson fans as Captain EO will close forever at Disneyland Paris Discoveryland on April 2. It won't be replace by a 3D movie as WDI is now keeping 3D effect for rides - Toy Story Mania or the awaited Ratatouille ride - instead than movies, which is understandable considering that 3D movies are released almost each week in normal theaters.

And, no, it won't be replace too be the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor as stand up comedy is a specialty more american than european. So, by what will it be replaced? Come back next week, and i'll tell you more in an upcoming article! In the meantime, to pay tribute to Captain EO i repost a previous article with the rare 3D comic book that was released a long time ago. So, it's time to pick up your 3D glasses as, yes, you'll be able to see Captain EO in 3D right now, on your computer screen!

Back in August 1987, almost 23 years ago, Eclipse Comics published an amazing Captain EO 3D comic book souvenir edition. As a matter of fact the comic book was published in two sizes, the normal comic book size and a big A3 size which is of course the most collectible one. In both cases the cover was Captain EO's famous artwork from Imagineer Tim Delaney. The story line is not only exactly the same than the attraction, but all text, dialogs, are the same one. All the 30 pages of drawings were done by comic book artist Tom Yeates and of course reproduce all the scenes of the 3D movie.





All what you need is a red and blue 3D glasses like the one below, whether the one you have are in cardboard or plastic. If you have some at your home, it's time to find them to enjoy the 3D article on your computer screen. And believe me, the 3D effect is great!If you want to make the reading even more enjoyable here is how to do: open a new window of your internet browser and go on Youtube to find a video of the movie. You have some good one, in two parts, HERE and HERE. Just launch part one, put the sound, and then come back to this window so when you will read the 3D comic book pages you will have the sound too! The two Youtube links are for the 3D video version but unfortunately, even with glasses, the 3D effect is not as good as in the attraction.

Okay, there we go, and below are all the 30 pages exactly as you can read them in the comic book. Click on each image to see it in big size and once on the picture page click again on it to have it even bigger. It's time to put on your 3D glasses, and enjoy!

































Pictures: copyright Eclipse Comics, Walt Disney Company 1987.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Goofy’s Paint ‘n’ Play House to open Aug 24 at Tokyo Disneyland Toon Town



Since yesterday we had a lot of news about upcoming attractions - see previous article below - and the latest one is about TDL as Tokyo Disney Resort announced that the new Goofy’s Paint ‘n’ Play House attraction will open at Tokyo Disneyland Toontown on Aug 24. It's definitely an attraction for young kids but, still, any new addition is always welcome.

According to the Disney Parks blog "this Toontown attraction will allow guests to help Goofy redecorate his room in a unique and colorful fashion. Groups of guests will work together to “paint” the room using special paint applicators called Toontone Splat Masters. Guests simply aim at the wall (or furniture) they want to color and activate the applicators. The attraction will feature beach, jungle and other themes, as well as different Toontone Splat Masters, so guests can vary their choices."

That said, you might be curious to know how this Goofy’s Paint ‘n’ Play House works, technically speaking? Well, from what i've been told by a friend, it works with colors video projections on objects which are in reality in white color. A little bit the same principle than projections on buildings ( like on Magic Kingdom castles ) but with a much more sophisticated technology as the projections must be perfectly adjust with the outlines of the objects which are in the room. Not to mention that the guests are extremely close to the items and that they will identify the trick instantly if the adjustment was not perfect. So, when TDL guest will click on "red" Goofy's armchair, for instance, will appear instantly red, etc... With the new HD video projectors which are much more luminous the final result should be much better than a previous version of the same technology which was used some years ago at Epcot. Goofy’s Paint ‘n’ Play House looks like a fun addition for TDL Toon Town!

Talking about Tokyo Disney Resort, if you have not download yet on iTunes my great TDS Wallpapers application for iPhone or iPad - see below - it's still time to do it! Click HERE for direct access to the TDS Wallpapers HD iTunes page or READ my article first HERE.






Artwork: copyright Disney

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

DLP CEO Philippe Gas announces TWO new attractions scheduled to open at WDS in 2014 ! Plus: Bob Iger confirms that Marvel rides are in the plans !

DLP CEO Philippe Gas announced in an interview in the french daily newspaper Le Figaro that TWO new attractions will open in 2014 at DLP Walt Disney Studios. In an answer at the question “What will you do to avoid the park reaching saturation?”, he said:

"Knowing that a customer is satisfied when they can see at least six attractions in a day, we estimate our maximum capacity to be 17 million visitors annually. So we still have room for improvement, but we must grow. In January, our banks have given us 150 million euros in new funding to build two new attractions, which should open in 2014 in our second park, Walt Disney Studios. In 2010, we also obtained the agreement of the State to build a third park. We are looking at it very seriously, even if the decision won’t be made until 2020. We will also build new hotels, restaurants and shops."

We already know that one of the two will be the awaited Ratatouille dark ride, but what is the second one? We might know more next friday as a ceremony for the WDS 10th anniversary will happen, with a promise of surprises. That said with, if i can say, "only" 150M euros we probably can't expect the second attraction to be another E-ticket as a big part of these 150M will go to the Ratatouille ride. As for the third park, as expected it is confirmed that no decision will be taken before 2020.

Edited: I've been told that we must not expect any announcement about these two WDS attractions during the WDS 10th Ann celebration which will happen tomorrow. Basically, tomorrow will be the usual DLP Ambassadors show and we might have to wait until DLP 20th press event on March 31st to know a bit more about all this.

Editor's Note: Guess what? Apparently the journalist who did the interview of DLP CEO Philippe Gas did a mistake in the transcript and in fact Gas never mentioned in the interview two new attractions for the Walt Disney Studios but only ONE...which of course will be the Ratatouille ride in 2014.

In the meantime, don't miss below my second part tribute to Jean Moebius Giraud with stunningly beautiful artwork.

Edited:
Bob Iger told shareholders today that “preliminary design work” is under way on adding Marvel to the parks: “We’re working on some concepts and it’s our hope that in a few places around the world, Marvel characters will appear either in attractions or lands or in some form to provide entertainment, like our Disney characters do.”

Of course, all the question is "where?" and i'm placing my bets on at least two locations: Shanghaî Disneyland and DLP third theme park although i won't be surprised to see some Marvel rides opening in others Disney theme parks. Note that Bob Iger also confirmed that the AVATAR land is still coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom, with a 2015 opening, ending recent speculations that the AVATAR land project was on the way to be cancelled.

Finally, talking about Disneyland Paris, I remind you that you just have four more days to order your collector copy of the Disneyland Paris book with the pre-order price and save 20% on the final price. All infos about how to order and proceed to the payment are HERE and you can see pictures of the printing which happened last week HERE. Paypal or bank wire transfer payments are welcome.


Jean "Moebius" Giraud Tribute - Part Two



Here is the part two of my tribute to Jean "Moebius" Giraud, exceptional visionary comic book artist, who did a big part of the design of the original TRON movie and who passed away last saturday. If you've not read the part one posted yesterday i suggest that you read it HERE first. As promised, in this second part i'll show you some of his "Moebius" work and all artworks below are in high-res so don't forget to double click on each to see or get them in larger scale.

The picture of Jean Giraud at the top was shot two years ago at the Cartier Foundation in Paris when a huge exhibit opened, showing the best selection of his artworks from the early years until now. The exhibit lasted six months and was a huge success. Below, one of his most famous painting of the "Starwatcher" series.



As anyone who was in his 20's during the 60's, Jean Giraud was influenced by the music of that time, and the two artworks below are in tribute to Jimi Hendrix.





And now, here is the rare artwork that i promised to you yesterday. The nine artwork below were in fact done for the Hermès famous brand, who was releasing a new perfume and asked him if he could do some artwork on the theme of "Hermès Voyages" or "The Travels of Hermès" - who as you know was an Olympian god in the Greek mythology. As usual, even working for a brand as famous as Hermès, Moebius did some "pure Moebius" illustrations, showing indeed someone traveling in different places but almost without any references to the brand products. And as usual, it's stunning beauty, and i hope you'll enjoy these rare artworks.



















It's impossible to have a mind as visionary as he had and flying as such "altitude" - not to mention his amazing sense of beauty - without having a tremendous "fire" inside. But if someone was asking me what was Moebius "secret", i think i would say that his genius partly came from his ability to keep his "fire" under control, and to redirect it in a creative way. Of course he had enough creative ambition and wanted to be the best, but his childhood which has been not really happy - parents divorced, raised by his grand parents, no sister or brother, etc... - might have been retrospectively a kind of luck. As any child he had to survive and he spent a lot of time drawing which later proved to be more important than anything. In two words, he found what he was born to do in his early years and that's one of the best luck that one can have - even if the price to pay for this was a not-so-happy childhood.

If you discover Moebius by reading these two articles and didn't knew him before, you're incredibly lucky! Why? Because you still have to discover his amazing work and it's just like discovering Venise ( Italy ) for the first time, i envy you, really . You'll find easily some of his books on Amazon and you can choose anyone you want as everything is good! Those who loved his work are generally more-than-super-fans and will miss him forever, but his production has been so phenomenal that i'm sure there is still plenty of dazzling books to discover, that we don't know yet.

Whatever parallel universe you are in now, Jean, i wish you a wonderful journey!

Artwork: copyright Jean Giraud, Humanoides Associés, Hermès

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Legendary Artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud, TRON Designer, Passed Away at 73



One of the most legendary and talented artist of the 20th century, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, passed away last saturday at 73. For his countless fans he was a true visionary genius and the beauty of his artwork and his incredible "line" will stay forever. But Disney fans may remind him as the one who designed a big part of the original TRON movie, and i have found for you some of his TRON original artwork.

I had the luck and i can say privilege to knew him and be a friend of him during almost 15 years - and even published a great portfolio from one of his famous work - so i'll tell you more about him in a few seconds. But first, a bit of biography: Jean Giraud was born in Nogent-sur-Marne, in the suburbs of Paris, on May 8, 1938.When he was three years old, his parents divorced and he was raised mainly by his grandparents. The rupture between mother and father, city and country, created a lasting trauma that he explained lay at the heart of his choice of separate pen names. In 1955 at age 16, he began his only technical training at the Arts Appliqués art school, where he started producing Western comics. He became close friends with another comic artist Jean-Claude Mézières. In 1956 he left art school to visit his mother in Mexico and he stayed there eight months, after which he returned to work full time as an artist. In 1962 Giraud and writer Jean-Michel Charlier started the western comic strip Fort Navajo for Pilote magazine, introducing the now famous Blueberry character.



The Moebius pseudonym, which Giraud came to use for his science fiction and fantasy work, was born in 1963. In a satire magazine called Hara-Kiri, Moebius did 21 strips in 1963–64 and then disappeared for almost a decade. In 1975 he revived the Moebius pseudonym, and with Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet, and Bernard Farkas, he became one of the founding members of the comics art group "Les Humanoides Associes". Together they started the magazine Métal Hurlant, the magazine known in the English speaking world as Heavy Metal. Moebius' famous serial The Airtight Garage and his groundbreaking Arzach both began in Métal Hurlant. In 1976 Metal Hurlant published The Long Tomorrow written by Dan O'Bannon.



Arzach, first published in Metal hurlant is a wordless comic, created in a conscious attempt to breathe new life into the comic genre which at the time was dominated by American superhero comics. It tracks the journey of the title character flying on the back of his pterodactyl through a fantastic world mixing medieval fantasy with futurism. Unlike most science fiction comics it has no captions, no speech ballons and no written sound effects. It has been argued that the wordlessness provides the strip with a sense of timelessness, setting up Arzach's journey as a quest for eternal, universal truths. In 1981 he started his famous L'Incal series in collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky.



Moebius contributed to storyboards and concept designs to numerous science fiction films, including Alien by Ridley Scott, Tron by Disney, The Fifth Element by Luc Besson - artwork below - and for Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, which was however abandoned in pre-production.



But his influence on others films on which he didn't contributed has been phenomenal, beginning by Star Wars, according to Georges Lucas himself who by the way agreed back in 1984 to write the foreword for the Moebius portfolio i was publishing.



So, TRON. You'll see below some of Moebius artwork that he did at that time. Moebius was not the only designer who had worked on the original TRON, others talented artists also contributed but for those who knew his style what was inspired in TRON by his artwork was instantly recognizable. Below, some of his concept-arts for the TRON characters.

















The next artwork are for the famous TRON solar ship.





The next artwork below was not done for the original movie but many years after its release and is obviously inspired by TRON - a TRON monster taking revenge on his creator?



Amazingly, and although different projects were on track but never finalized, no one of Moebius stories have been adapted for movies, which is incredible as the world of Moebius is so rich that it could make gorgeous movies, including animated one. Same for a theme park ride, although a great concept was developed by Bill Gorgensen, the WDI Imagineer who created the DLP version of Pirates of Caribbean, but the project didn't became reality.

As i told you, i knew him personally for many years, and the first thing which come back to my memory is what an incredible worker he was.The production of Moebius is just phenomenal and he left to us literally thousand and thousand of artworks, and if we except his early work, all of them are stunning. I remember one day i had an appointment with him at his home and when i arrived he was finishing a drawing. He didn't stopped to draw and i spent the next hours with him still finishing the artwork, putting the colors, etc... nothing would stop him and the incredible creative "fire" inside him! He was indeed an incredible visionary and i remind having long talks with him about the famous Carlos Castaneda books. He knew pretty well the world of native americans sorcery as he was initiated back in the 1950's in Mexico by Indians and hallucinogen mushrooms - he used to say that what happened in his mind at that time had an influence on the next 40 years of his life and work. By the way, it's funny to see how he look on the picture at the top, shot a few years ago, like an old native american sorcerer!







Fascinated by parallels worlds he created visions of amazing beauty, but for all others artists it's the beauty of his line and the incredible easiness with which he was drawing who makes him a real "master"...also admired by others masters like famous Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki with whom he was good friend.



Another friend of mine, also coming book artist in France, told me that he saw Moebius one day at Venise doing a drawing for a young fan. He was standing, and did the drawing of a female character seen tilt up - so, seen from below, just like if the character was floating in the air - and he draw the whole character with ONE line which, if you ask any artist, is amazingly difficult to do. And it was perfect. Incredible.



Was he kind? Yes, he was, but the truth is that he was totally in his creation and that nothing could stop him, which is okay for me, i perfectly understand how important it is for an artist to be totally concentrated on his work. I think i can say that he has been one of my "spiritual fathers" and he helped me in my discovery of what is called the "energetic world" , something who at 30 changed my vision of the world forever.

I also remind asking him, while i was in the preparation of the Disneyland Paris book, what he thought of the book project. I knew that Moebius didn't like that much the WDC as a corporation but i also knew that WDI Imagineers had met him and that, as he told me, he was amazed by their "artistic purity". Moebius was definitely not the kind of person to spend his afternoons at Disneyland but his answer to my question was incredibly visionary, as always: "You should do it, and if you do it well, the Imagineers who created the park may become friends of you". And you know what? This is exactly what happened!

You will find below some video interviews of Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and the second part of my tribute to him is now online HERE and include rare and stunningly beautiful artwork from Moebius, so don't miss it!








On the next one, Jean "Moebius" Giraud is speaking about out of body experiences and mushrooms' visions for a documentary about the healing herb ayahuasca.




In the next video Moebius is with Hayao Miyazaki, both were filmed when opened the Miyazaki-Moebius exhibit in Paris some years ago,




Artwork: copyright Jean Giraud, Dargaud, Humanoides Associés, Disney