Books &Disney &Illustration &Peet 11 Mar 2009 08:00 am
So Dear #4
- This is my fourth installment of Bill Peet‘s illustrations for the Little Golden Book adaptation of the Disney feature film, So Dear To My Heart. The book was written by Helen Palmer and is much longer than other Little Golden Books. It’s novella length and includes many short stories built on the film’s original story.
I believe it’s the first book Bill Peet illustrated, and it led the way to a very successful career after he left Disney’s in the 60s. In his autobiography, Peet doesn’t mention this book. He talks about writing Lambert, the Sheepish Lion as his first potential children’s book. Obviously, he sold that to Disney instead of selling it as a book.
All illustrations are drawn with ink and painted with watercolor. THe printing is done on cheap paper, and the inks have obviously saturated the paper.
(click any image to enlarge.)
There’s something iconic about this image which
strikes a chord with me.
There are two more chapters to go, so one more post. It’s certainly turned into much more work than I’d expected. It should be complete later this week.
on 11 Mar 2009 at 8:40 am 1.Tim Rauch said …
It’s worth the work, Michael, Peet’s drawings are deeeee-licious.
on 11 Mar 2009 at 9:28 am 2.Jerry Edwards said …
Hi Michael! I’ve enjoyed your postings of this wonderful Disney Bill Peet book so much that I searched for and found a copy of this book for sale. I should get it within the next few days. I love Bill Peet’s work and had recently watched So Dear To My Heart on DVD, so I’m enjoying your posts on this very much. Thanks for all the time and effort you’ve spent on posting this.