100 books like Learn to Draw Your Favorite Disney/Pixar Characters

I've been cartooning, or "curtooning," my entire life. As a child, I drew cartoons of everything, from animals to dinosaurs, and was the cartoonist for my elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college newspapers. My cartooning style with big eyes and simple lines came from my favorite cartoonists and their cartoon strips that I read every day in the newspapers. However, my most significant influence was reading every cartoon in Mad Magazine, including comics from Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, and Al Jaffee. When cable came out with multiple channels in the 1980s, I felt there was not enough kid-friendly content, so I created my award-winning cable show titled It's Curtoon Time.

I've been cartooning, or "curtooning," my entire life. As a child, I drew cartoons of everything, from animals to dinosaurs, and was the cartoonist for my elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college newspapers. My cartooning style with big eyes and simple lines came from my favorite cartoonists and their cartoon strips that I read every day in the newspapers. However, my most significant influence was reading every cartoon in Mad Magazine, including comics from Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, and Al Jaffee. When cable came out with multiple channels in the 1980s, I felt there was not enough kid-friendly content, so I created my award-winning cable show titled It's Curtoon Time.

I've been cartooning, or "curtooning," my entire life. As a child, I drew cartoons of everything, from animals to dinosaurs, and was the cartoonist for my elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college newspapers. My cartooning style with big eyes and simple lines came from my favorite cartoonists and their cartoon strips that I read every day in the newspapers. However, my most significant influence was reading every cartoon in Mad Magazine, including comics from Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, and Al Jaffee. When cable came out with multiple channels in the 1980s, I felt there was not enough kid-friendly content, so I created my award-winning cable show titled It's Curtoon Time.

I've been cartooning, or "curtooning," my entire life. As a child, I drew cartoons of everything, from animals to dinosaurs, and was the cartoonist for my elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college newspapers. My cartooning style with big eyes and simple lines came from my favorite cartoonists and their cartoon strips that I read every day in the newspapers. However, my most significant influence was reading every cartoon in Mad Magazine, including comics from Don Martin, Sergio Aragonés, and Al Jaffee. When cable came out with multiple channels in the 1980s, I felt there was not enough kid-friendly content, so I created my award-winning cable show titled It's Curtoon Time.

Like so many others, I discovered Disney in childhood. When I was five years old my parents took me to see a Disney movie in a theater, and the experience was so overwhelming that I still recall it vividly. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for classic films, a passion that has led me to a career as a film historian. For me, writing a book about a film is mainly an excuse to do the research, to get inside a film and explore it, and find out what makes it tick. It’s invariably a fascinating journey, and if I can share that fascination with readers, I’m happy.

Although I write in many genres, fantasy was my first love in reading. I fell in love with the possibilities of a boundless world. And as the years went on, I realized that fantasy could be more than just dragons and sorcery. Fantasy was this big umbrella that housed all the impossible dreams. So, I gravitated toward the genre. I also have an affinity for fun things. I don’t like to be sad, so I prefer movies, music, games, and books that revolve around fun and humor.

Drawing and painting people has been my passion and my profession for a couple of decades now. Fine art, comic books, animation, illustration – as long as I'm drawing people, I'm happy. I love the challenge of trying to capture (or create) a living, breathing, thinking person on paper. And I love talking about art books with other artists. Which ones are great, which ones miss the mark, which ones have tiny hidden gems in them. This list is a mix of books I love, and books I heartily recommend.

I've been drawing for over 68 years and carrying a sketchbook for over 60 of those years. I've seen success as an author, I'm an award-winning illustrator of books and magazines and animated many classic Disney features. Am I an expert on sketching humans and animals? ...No. I'm constantly learning in my effort to capture humans and animals in action by following the basic principles of drawing as they apply to quick sketching. My learning is aided by these books as I prepare lesson plans or the encouragement and inspiration found within their pages. I'm married to LaVonne, my high school sweetheart of 50 years, and have three grown children and six grandchildren.

I grew up living above our family funeral home. My parents were exceptionally compassionate people. I learned through their kind upbringing that heaven was and is, here and now. Death was not only an inevitable part of life but a daily part. As an adult, I became a Yoga Teacher. Yoga means union. It's an exploration into the intimate balance between body and mind. One particular yoga pose essential to every single class – Savasana or Corpse Pose. A coincidence a young girl raised in a funeral home would end up teaching daily classes of corpse pose? I think not. And through it all bloomed Floretta. The story of life and death coming together into a magnificent circular experience. Bilingual yet parallel worlds amidst beautiful chakra colors.

Ever since my primary school teacher read out my essay about a friendly octopus to the whole class, I’ve known I was a storyteller. I went on to enjoy a long career as a journalist–first, writing stories about rock and pop groups for the music paper Sounds (where I coined the term ‘The New Romantics’), then as editor of the pop magazine Record Mirror, and subsequently as a writer/editor for national newspapers including The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph. After that, I became a coach, a public speaking trainer, and a book editor. However, my most enduring passion is helping people find and tell their most meaningful stories.