WDAC announces Fantasia 2000 Limited Edition cel set-up "A Less

Mickey Mouse learns his lesson in new Walt Disney Animation Art Release from Walt Disney's Upcoming Animated Film Fantasia / 2000

New Release in Fall 1999, Features Mickey and the Sorcerer Yen Sid and is Personally Hand-Signed by Original Fantasia Story Director Joe Grant

November 1, 1999 -- Walt Disney Animation Art, published by Walt Disney Art Classics, celebrates the January 1, 2000, release of Fantasia / 2000 with the debut of “A Lesson Learned,” an all-new hand-painted, limited-edition cel set-up from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment of Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940) and from Disney’s new feature animated film Fantasia / 2000. Published in an edition size of only 300, “A Lesson Learned” authentically recreates the segments memorable finale.

This new Walt Disney Animation Art hand-painted cel premieres in galleries worldwide in late November and has a framed (dimensions: 24 ½ x 20 ½), retail price of $2,500. As a finishing touch, Disney Legend Joe Grant has individually signed each cel overlay. Along with fellow story director Dick Huemer, Joe Grant accompanied Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski on a retreat to select the music for Fantasia and subsequently led the story development for the original film in 1940.

“A Lesson Learned” depicts Mickey Mouse in his most popular and memorable role. After causing an uncontrolled enchanted tempest, a contrite Mickey, apprentice to the mystical sorcerer Yen Sid, timidly returns the pilfered magic cap to his disapproving master. This artwork represents the first depiction of the Sorcerer Yen Sid in any release of Walt Disney Animation Art. The original Fantasia animators named the Sorcerer “Yen Sid” as an inside joke (Yen Sid is “Disney” spelled backwards).

Walt Disney Art Classics has published “A Lesson Learned” by using traditional animation techniques. The original animator’s drawings were adapted for this composition and transferred to acetate cels by using a special six-step xerographic process. Artists of The Walt Disney Studio Ink and Paint Department then enhanced the cels with 9 hand-inked lines and hand-painted each of the cels in the edition with 27 Disney approved acrylic colors, plus 3 air brush effects and 1 dry brush effect.

Disney artists have created the background scene accompanying this cel setup. Original layouts, sketches and frames from the film were used as reference. The resulting artwork has been lithographically printed on premium-quality acid-free paper. Conforming to the practice of fine art printing, the film used to create the background is destroyed when the edition is closed. The Disney Animation Research Library maintains the original animation drawings and reference material. Walt Disney Art Classics maintains the recreated background.

The story of Walt Disney's 1940 classic Fantasia is fairly well-known in the popular culture: A chance meeting between Walt Disney and famed conductor Leopold Stokowski resulted in a collaboration on an animated version of “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” which was then expanded into a complete "Concert Feature" which eventually developed into the feature-length animated masterpiece Fantasia.

Walt Disney’s original plan for Fantasia was to continue developing and changing the concert components of the film over the anticipated years of its release. Disney abandoned the plan when Fantasia proved unprofitable, but with its renewed success in the ensuing decades, and the resurgence of Walt Disney Feature Animation in the 1990s, Walt Disney Company Vice Chairman Roy E. Disney told Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner that he wanted to keep Walt's promise of a revived and continually renewed Fantasia.

The result is Fantasia / 2000, which builds upon Walt Disney’s original idea with the creation of a musical repertoire program that includes seven exciting new animated segments and one returning favorite (“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”). Using breakthrough animation technology along with time-honored traditions of Disney craftsmanship, the film showcases the talents of a new generation of animators and filmmakers as they push the boundaries of their imaginations and visually interpret the classical compositions of such music masters as Beethoven, Shostakovich, Respighi, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Gershwin and Stravinsky.

Adding to the fun and entertainment are celebrity hosts from the various performing arts that appear on screen to introduce each of the segments. Included in that prestigious group are Steven Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Bette Midler, Quincy Jones, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller and Angela Lansbury. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro James Levine provides the music for the film. Fantasia / 2000 (opens in select IMAX Theaters around the world on January 1, 2000).

“A Lesson Learned” is released as part of the portfolio of Walt Disney Animation Art, published by Walt Disney Art Classics (the art and collectibles division of The Walt Disney Company). The Walt Disney Animation Art portfolio includes one-of-a-kind original production art, hand-painted, limited-edition cels, limited-edition sericels, limited-edition prints and maquettes (character models).

Walt Disney Animation Art is available at independently owned Preferred Gallery retailers worldwide, The Disney Store, The Walt Disney Gallery and the Disney Theme Parks. Walt Disney Animation Art - - which captures the timeless images of Disney’s classic animated films in beautiful two-dimensional gallery artwork - - has charmed serious art collectors and Disney enthusiasts alike for nearly six decades since its debut back in the late 1930s.

For more information on Walt Disney Art Classics Fantasia 2000, click here to visit their official website.