Go to the children's section of any used bookstore, and one will find a plethora of Disney Little Golden Books waiting to be taken home. These "little" gems can be cheaply obtained, but their value (if in good condition) is priceless. Like many creative processes, the behind the scenes work of these golden treasures is relatively unknown to its intended audience. Disney artist, Ron Dias, has shared his experiences with me on illustrating many of the Disney Little Golden classics of the 1980s and 1990s. In a package that he sent me not too long ago, he included some documents that revealed one aspect of this creative process. Much like the character development that goes into making an animated film, I was rather surprised to see the amount of work that goes into transferring the many Disney characters into storybook form. Part of the illustration process on Ron's part consisted of color-keying each character. He has emphasized to me on many occasions that the character depictions from his storybooks, and how they appeared in their respective films, should be seamless and true to their original form. Below are character-model sheets color-keyed for his Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo Little Golden Books.
