How does Disney make DVD cover art?

[danfrandes]

How does Disney make DVD cover art?

[Disneykid]

That's a pretty broad question, but I'll do my best:

Disney hires an artist to create the cover. The artist will come up with a layout, and often will use old VHS clipart as placeholders to determine where characters should be placed. Disney used to release these rough work-in-progress covers, but they stopped doing it after Lady and the Tramp. Once a satisfying layout is chosen, the artist will create each character separately rather than paint the whole cover as one piece. This enables Disney to use the individual pieces of clipart on merchandise easily without having to digitally remove them from a large piece of artwork. The background is painted, and the characters are digitally placed on it. The colors and even small details may be tweaked digitally (like giving a character a different facial expression). Once Disney approves the cover, it goes on to be printed on both cardboard slipcovers and paper inserts for amaray cases.

That's about as much as I know. Perhaps someone else can give a more detailed, technical response if you're looking for one.

[271286]

Thanks!

It's cool that they draw each character seperately... This easily seen on the Bambi Platinum Edition release the R1 and the R2 cover is VERY diffirent allthoug they obviously consist of the same art pieces...

[blackcauldron85]

Disney used to release these rough work-in-progress covers, but they stopped doing it after Lady and the Tramp.

What do you mean?

[Dottie]

That's pretty cool!! Where did you get that information from?
If they put so much work in it, how come Cinderella III looks so awful?

[Disney Duster]

Disney used to release these rough work-in-progress covers, but they stopped doing it after Lady and the Tramp.

What do you mean?

Look at these examples:

The first cover is the original VHS artwork. The second cover shows how Disney takes that artwork and places it in different spots on a new background when they're deciding how the background should look, and these are the rough work-in-progress covers. Sometimes they release them early for stores to display. Then, they redraw the artwork to make it look new and better, and that's the final cover. This is only for Platinum Editions, that I know of.

I wonder, since Disney only does this for Platinum Editions, and Platinum Editions were the best-selling movies on VHS, does Disney think part of the reason they sold well was their cover, and that's why the re-use the old cover's art?!

[Simba3]

Oh that's cool! I'll be excited to see what they come up with for The Jungle Book. I wasn't too impressed with the cover art selected for Peter Pan.

[ToyStoryFan]

I'm not sure how they are made, but check this out. It is 5 early "Drafts" of the Cinderella DVD cover, including the one they actually used.







I have to say I like the fourth one the best. Wish it was used!

Thanks to http://www.mouseplanet.com/ for the images!!

[Dottie]

Wow, I like all of them except the one that was used.

[DisneyFreak5282]

I like #s 1, 2, and 5.

[Dottie]

I like the inclusion of Lucifer on the 4th one. But I really love the fifth one!!
She looks so good on that one. So much better than on the Cinderella III cover.

[Disneykid]

I remember those. Someone on this site posted them about a year before the Cinderella DVD came out saying they were in a marketing survey Disney was doing. The fifth one was always my favorite. Cinderella is very on-model on that one (though her hair needs recoloring, which I'm sure Disney would've done had it been approved). I never liked how they had Cinderella be second banana to Prince Charming on the cover when it's HER movie. The fifth one matches the other Platinums more, especially Snow White's.

[Simba3]

Great find! It's cool to look back and see some of the other options. I like the 4th one (but that could be just because Lucifer is on that one, and I love him). I also like the one where Cinderella is undergoing the transformation from the rags to the beautiful ballroom gown at the bottom. Very cool!

[DisneyFreak5282]

Can anyone else post alternative cover art for other Disney DVDs? That was cool to see the alternates for Cinderella!

[universALLove]

Don't get me wrong, I love all the covers that were posted but I think this should have been the cover art used:



I like it because it focuses on the slipper at the bottom, thus, drawing your attention to it. I think that's really important because it was Cinderella's destiny and if it wasn't for that slipper her Prince may never have found her.

[Dottie]

I liked that one, too. For the same reasons that you have stated. They really took the most boring one to make the final cover of.

[Simba3]

I agree as well, I think that would have been the best choice because it shows the Glass Slipper at the bottom and it looks beautiful. The slipper plays a very important part to the story, so I feel its presence on the cover is appropriate. Also, I love Lucifer so seeing him on the front makes me happy.

[Josh]

WOW! The alternate covers are incredible! I love #2 the most though, Cinderella's transformation scene was my favourite scene in that movie, even more so than when the glass slipper fits. I think they should've used #2 or the top half of #5 with the bottom half of #4, if you blur your eyes while looking at both of them, you can sort of see what it would look like.
As for the first one, it looks WAY too VHS-ish.

[Disneykid]

Here are some of the rough covers I previously mentioned paired up with their final versions (sorry the non-Lady and the Tramp ones are so small; I couldn't find the larger resolution ones):

[Big Disney Fan]

I like #s 1, 2, and 5.

Do you have covers of any others? The Cinderella ones were good.