I can never thank God enough for giving me the opportunity to illustrate the life of Walt Disney in the recent book, “Walt’s Imagination”. It is the latest installment in a book series called “Big Words” by author Doreen Rappaport. She has written books about the lives of many well known historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King, all written for the 3-8 year old audience. I was originally contacted back in 2012 by Disney Hyperion after my dear friend and colleague, Glen Keane, recommended me for the job. As some of you might know, I love to paint in oils, mostly illustrations of historic events and subjects. Being the passionate painter and fan of Walt Disney that I am, I jumped at the opportunity to illustrate this book.
It was not until a year and half after I signed the initial contract to do the illustrations that I finally received a copy of the approved text. Interestingly enough, the process of working on this project proceeded in much the same way that an animated film is made. It started with gathering a tremendous amount of photo reference and conducting tons of in-depth research. Then, I began the process of selecting the main parts of Walt’s life, storyboarding them, and then moving on to pencil layouts and color comps of the illustrations before finally arriving at full size final artwork. I put the finishing touches on my last illustration, shown below, in April of 2017, depicting Walt with arms folded as he admires his Sleeping Beauty’s castle under construction.
What an honor. Please head to your local bookstore and take a look. You can also find a link below to where you can purchase the book online as well as a link to where you can purchase a SIGNED copy signed by me, John Pomeroy, on my website!
SIGNED COPIES:
https://www.johnpomeroy.com/shop-down/btwdobc5s0m4elg7ffpjw91juf90ht
Regular Copies:
https://www.amazon.com/Walts-Imagination-Life-Disney-Words/dp/142318470X
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