Jerry Beck

Celebrate 30 years of DreamWorks Animation’s visually rich worlds with this luxurious edition of the studio’s artistic achievements in both film and television Brimming with rare concept art, preproduction designs, and character sketches, this comprehensive gift-ready collection offers behind-the-scenes access to the DreamWorks archives. Over the past 30 years, this premier studio has produced some of the most groundbreaking and illustrious animated movies of all time, such as Shrek, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, The Bad Guys, Madagascar, and the newest addition, The Wild Robot, as well as acclaimed TV shows, such as Gabby’s Dollhouse, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Trollhunters, and Spirit Riding Free—among many others. Featuring a foreword from Cameron Diaz, along with insider anecdotes and perspectives from actors, directors, producers, and artists, The Art of DreamWorks Animation celebrates the studio’s enduring legacy of delivering fully immersive worlds, compelling characters, and great stories that inspire endless possibilities. DreamWorks Animation’s teams of artists, writers, directors, producers, engineers, and innovators are renowned for their excellence, telling stories about dreams and the journeys their unconventional heroes take to make them come true.

In a world of rascally rabbits, megalomaniacal ducks, and stuttering pigs, what defines greatness? This question was posed to thousands of cartoon fans, historians, and animators to create The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons, the definitive Looney Tunes collection. Jerry Beck and the Cartoon Brew team of animation experts reveal the amusing anecdotes and secret origins behind such classics as “What’s Opera, Doc?,” “One Froggy Evening,” and “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.” Featuring more than 300 pieces of original art from private collectors and the Warner Bros. archives, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons settles the debate on the best of the best, and poses a new question: Is your favorite one of the greatest?

The Animated Administration of James Norcross a.k.a. Super President takes a humorous but historical look at DePatie-Freleng's 1967-68 TV cartoon series Super President. Along with guest commentary by animation historian Jerry Beck, and series designer Art Leonardi, the book presents a complete episode guide, index of villains, and never-before-seen original art, model sheets and series documents. Who was President James Norcross and his confidant Jerry Sales? Who was Spy Shadow? A bipartisan investigation into one of the strangest cartoons in U. S. history.

"Here we come. Walking down the street. We get the funniest looks from everyone we meet. Hey, hey, we're The Monkees "The idea of creating a tv series about a wacky rock group similar to The Beatles had been unsuccessfully kicked around Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures since 1962, but by 1965, The Beatles were on their second tour, and their Help album, single, and tour created a popularity wave called Beatlemania. The enormous success of their A Hard Day's Night album and single convinced Screen Gems to green light the tv series idea, and The Monkees were born.A fake band seemed odd in the real world still reeling from race riots, John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the Vietnam War, but delightful Davy Jones, peppy Peter Tork, madcap Micky Dolenz, and comparatively serious Michael Nesmith were too busy singing to bring anybody down. Fake became steak by late 1966, and with help from super musicians Tommy Boyce, Bobby Bart, Neil Diamond, Chip Douglas, Carole King, John Stewart, and others, the series skyrocketed to hit status along with #1 music albums and hit singles, such as "The Last Train to Clarksville," "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone," and "I'm a Believer."Authors Michael A. Ventrella and Mark Arnold now analyze all The Monkee's songs and albums produced over 50 years. Discover the band's detailed history, a listing of all live performances and TV appearances, and a listing of all of their singles and albums that made the Billboard charts.Come and watch them sing and play. Discover the secrets of their recordings: which of The Monkees played what instruments on each song, when it was recorded, how well that song did on the charts, whether there were any interesting cover versions of the song done, and when it first appeared on a record.Profusely illustrated with album covers, single covers, live performance pictures, and trivia pictures. Index.About author Mark Arnold: a well-known historian of pop culture, he is also author of The Best of the Harveyville Fun Times ; Created and Produced by Total TeleVision productions; Mark Arnold Picks on The Beatles; Frozen in Ice: The Story of Walt Disney Productions; Think Pink: The Story of DePatie-Freleng; Pocket Full of Dennis the Menace About author Michael A. Ventrella: a musician, who was tremendously inspired by The Monkees, has published or edited Arch Enemies; The Axes of Evil; Bloodsuckers: A Vampire Runs for President; and the Tales of Fortannis series.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman is DreamWorks Animation's new comedy about a dog and his boy. Mr. Peabody invents the WABAC, a time-travelling machine that he and his adopted boy Sherman use to explore history. The concept art, character backgrounds, design inspiration, and behind-the-scenes information in this book perfectly capture the rich storyline, vibrant characters and locations.

Martha Sigall worked with all the classic cartoon characters-Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom & Jerry, Droopy Dawg, Beany & Cecil, Tweety, and Porky Pig-and the madcap artists who created them-Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, Friz Freleng, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Bill Melendez, and Ben (Bugs) Hardaway. As a teenager Sigall became an apprentice painter working in the Golden Age of Hollywood at the Leon Schlesinger studio, making $12.75 per week coloring animation cels that would introduce Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd to the world. She recounts her wild and wonderful experiences with the Warner Bros. cartoon crew, working and laughing all day with the animators, partying all night with the Looney Tunes gang on the bowling and baseball teams, and participating in weekend scavenger hunts. She was president of the in-house ""Looney Tunes Club,"" co-wrote the company gossip column, and performed in the company's theatrical troupe. After World War II, Martha joined MGM Animation (Tom & Jerry, Tex Avery) in Culver City as an assistant in the camera room and later freelanced her ink and paint services, creating art for many classic features, shorts, commercials, and TV series-including Garfield, Peanuts, and The Pink Panther. Written with warmth, humor, and a touch of nostalgia, this is a rarely told story of what it was like to be a part of a team of artists who were creating masterpieces of animation. Martha recalls her lifelong friendships with writer Michael Maltese, animators Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Herman Cohen, Paul Smith, Bob Matz, and many others. She writes of her experiences of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, particularly during the war years when she was one of the first women camera operators in the industry.

The rantings and ravings of two enthusiastic young fans who, in an era before fanzines and web pages, wrote about the cartoons they loved in the spirit of their humor.