Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition Blu-ray - 2014

[Patrick]

I'm stoked to get Sleeping Beauty on blu.. I missed it the first time since I wasn't buying blu's at the time. Pinocchio, too. Cover looks great to me! (Sans title hahaha)

[Disney Duster]

Right, but since it was illustrated with the intentions of being a book illustration, rather than with the intentions of being used across all sorts of products, it was made with higher quality. I'd rather have a high quality illustration lifted from a book over a crappy, over-photoshopped, heavily airbrushed "original" image.

I love this Maleficent and Aurora back to back cover, but I must agree with unprincess that it is missing the professional-looking, polished shading and lighting they give to all other DAC covers.

[SWillie!]

AHHHH you guys are driving me crazy!!! Lol... These illustrations are obviously more "professional looking" when compared to the covers of, say, Little Mermaid or Cinderella. Just compare them to the artwork you see in any of the "art of" books. You will never see the "lighting and shading" found on earlier covers, which is simply an over-reliance on airbrushing to give things false form and to hide less than perfect drawings. Of course at the end of the day it all depends on what you prefer, but Sleeping Beauty shows a much better understanding of art for animation. It's much more mature and professional, and less showy.

[Musical Master]

I quite like the cover art, it's really nice looking and it's good to know that Aurora is portrayed as active instead of sleeping (which is funny considering that she sleeps through most of the last half of the movie).

[Old Fish Tale]

Right, but since it was illustrated with the intentions of being a book illustration, rather than with the intentions of being used across all sorts of products, it was made with higher quality. I'd rather have a high quality illustration lifted from a book over a crappy, over-photoshopped, heavily airbrushed "original" image.

I love this Maleficent and Aurora back to back cover, but I must agree with unprincess that it is missing the professional-looking, polished shading and lighting they give to all other DAC covers.

I've a feeling they'll be adding those and changing the background very soon.

[Atlantica]

It will be changed for sure, covers always are. I just want them to stay with this concept as I love it. Remember the initial Little Mermaid cover ? Ariel looked horrifying !

There is a part of me though that thinks Disney can't cope with showing a Princess in her 'daywear' clothing … has this ever happened before on a large scale Blu / DVD release before?

[unprincess]

Right, but since it was illustrated with the intentions of being a book illustration, rather than with the intentions of being used across all sorts of products, it was made with higher quality. I'd rather have a high quality illustration lifted from a book over a crappy, over-photoshopped, heavily airbrushed "original" image.

I love this Maleficent and Aurora back to back cover, but I must agree with unprincess that it is missing the professional-looking, polished shading and lighting they give to all other DAC covers.

yeah exactly, Im just used to seeing that style for the video/disc release covers. And when its done right its very nice art I think...just like the classic posters for the theatrical releases during the 80's & 90's. The problem though is that lately the covers havent been as good. I didnt like the covers to the blu rays/ dvds for Little Mermaid(giant whale tail!) & Cinderella (that ugly harsh purple pink background.) When theyre done bad they can look cheesy.

[Disney Duster]

Sorry we disagree SWillie!. :/ I like the "airbrushing" or whatever it is. Are there any Disney home video covers you have liked, that I guess aren't airbrushed?

And when you said:

Of course at the end of the day it all depends on what you prefer, but Sleeping Beauty shows a much better understanding of art for animation. It's much more mature and professional, and less showy.

Did you mean Sleeping Beauty's cover shows a better understanding of art for animation? And you meant this cover shows better art to use for animated movies?

[SWillie!]

I did mean that, yes. This cover uses drawings that lend themselves better to animation - to the design of the characters we see in the movie. The drawing of Aurora could have come straight from the movie. The drawing of Maleficent is actually Marc Davis's development drawing of her from the film's actual production (here), so of course it's 100% on model. Yes, they've taken the drawings and dressed them up a little bit for the cover, but they've kept it minimal. Because overdoing it makes it look muddled and messy. The drawings don't need to rely on shadows and highlights, because they're amazing drawings to start with. Unprincess is spot on that when done bad they can look cheesy. I think the majority of recent blu-ray covers suffer from this.

Some of my favorite illustrations used for covers are actually from the VHS era. Unfortunately, the drawings back then weren't always the best. Over time, the drawings have gotten better while the illustration has gotten worse and more "in your face". (Understand that "drawing" is just that - the pencil drawing, is it on model, while illustration is the painting, the color and shadows and highlights.) VHS was mostly before Photoshop, so many of the covers were actual physical illustrations. They focused on good illustration rather than bedazzling the thing up. A good example is Fantasia. Look at Mickey here and here. It's the same exact drawing, just illustrated differently. In my opinion, the newer one looks cheap, cheesy, childish.

To make it personal for you (hehe), compare this to this. The newer covers are just so sterile and lifeless to me. I'll admit, they do look impressive in person with an embossed, shiny slipcover. But I'd take a great looking flat illustration over "oooo look how shiny" any day.

So, I'm glad to see the new Sleeping Beauty cover is holding back on that. Basically what I'm getting at is that I think the cover should showcase what the movie actually looks like. I know it's likely to change some, but I hope it doesn't. Unless it's to put the damn title in the right place - if this cover put the title horizontally, it'd be my favorite cover from Disney in a good long time.

I should also mention that the CG films suffer from none of these issues. They don't have to worry about illustration, because it's a completely CG image - and so it mirrors what the film actually looks like perfectly. I pretty much consistently like every CG blu-ray cover. Which is a shame because for the most part I prefer the hand-drawn films.

[Marce82]

Hey SWillie!

I mostly agree with your opinions on this. There are two issues that I disagree with:

1) I like the new SB cover, but it doesn't quite look like drawings from the movie, because there is almost no linework (specially on Aurora). It looks almost like flat shapes with no outline. And as we all know, SB was the last movie to be hand inked. Since you like so much the VHS covers (as do I!), look at the SB cover from the 80's. You can definitely see the linework.

2) Maleficent is NOT on model. Yes, this is based on Marc Davis' drawing. But its been traced and somewhat modified, and this is based on a DEVELOPMENT drawing, not the model sheet or a drawing straight out of the film. So Maleficent changed a bit between that drawing Marc Davis made and what ended up on screen.

I still think this cover is way nicer than the Cinderella or Little Mermaid ones...

[SWillie!]

You're right on both points, but I should have clarified regarding the first point - I meant the drawing of Aurora - as in, just the pencil drawing that came before the final cover, could have come from the film. Basically just saying it's very well drawn. I agree that it would probably look really nice if the line work was inked like in the movie. But I do like it as is.

As for Maleficent, I suppose you're right now I look more closely at the differences between Marc's drawing and the cover. Still though, it's a damn nice drawing. Picking our battles, both characters here are much more on model than I would have dared hope for.

[Marce82]

Oh, I agree!

I like this cover!!

Its not as good as the 80's VHS... but still (yes, im aware that Phillip's nostril in the 80's VHS is absurdly flared... and that her dress looks purple... but still)

[Disney Duster]

I see SWillie. The newer Mickey doesn't look as good. But I never really liked the way Cinderella and the Prince looked in that one cover though. But it is a better cover than the newer one in choice of images and composition. I still like the way today's covers look though. Like The Platinum Edition covers. So it seems we still disagree on some things. But thanks for explaining how you feel.

I can see though how actual illustrating is better than the Photoshopping.

I don't know what Marce is talking about with no linework though. I see all the lines.

[Jay]

I really like the cover. I like how Aurora is awake and in her Briar Rose outfit. I do agree that the way the title is positioned is weird. I think it'd be better if the put the title at the bottom and put something else in the middle Like maybe thorns on Maleficent's side and flowers or sparkles on Aurora's side.

[MeerkatKombat]

Oh, I agree!

I like this cover!!

Its not as good as the 80's VHS... but still (yes, im aware that Phillip's nostril in the 80's VHS is absurdly flared... and that her dress looks purple... but still)

This cover?

sleeping bea.png (229.78 KiB) Viewed 6706 times

I adored this cover. Spent many an hour trying to copy it. I still love the purple dress too.
I miss my old VHS covers. Just don't miss the VHSs and the fear every time I put them in the machine.

I think I may fashion myself a diamond slipcover for the platinum version so at least I kinda feel like I own it. I love the diamond artwork - but I agree, the title placement is very odd and would look better placed (horizontally) either top or bottom.

[Atlantica]

Wouldn't it just be awful if the Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition cover was an exact replica of the next Maleficent theatrical poster ?!

[MeerkatKombat]

Wouldn't it just be awful if the Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition cover was an exact replica of the next Maleficent theatrical poster ?!

Re-dubbed Eleanor Audley with Jolie? Make it more hip and provide continuation for the new generation.
I joke but I'm glad I'm not in a country where they do have to put up with a new dub every 10 years.

[Vlad]

Wouldn't it just be awful if the Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition cover was an exact replica of the next Maleficent theatrical poster ?!

Re-dubbed Eleanor Audley with Jolie? Make it more hip and provide continuation for the new generation.
I joke but I'm glad I'm not in a country where they do have to put up with a new dub every 10 years.

It would be kinda awesome if they did a bonus feature with Jolie recording some of Maleficent's lines in the original film. I would really like that. But only as a bonus feature, not a part of the final film.

With Maleficent on the spine, this will look great next to the Maleficent Blu-ray on the shelf.

[unprincess]

Oh, I agree!

I like this cover!!

Its not as good as the 80's VHS... but still (yes, im aware that Phillip's nostril in the 80's VHS is absurdly flared... and that her dress looks purple... but still)

This cover?

sleeping bea.png

I adored this cover. Spent many an hour trying to copy it. I still love the purple dress too.
I miss my old VHS covers. Just don't miss the VHSs and the fear every time I put them in the machine.

I love this cover! I still have some of my old Disney vhs tapes b/c i love the artwork on them. And I love that it has a detailed background not just a gradient field of color.

[Disney's Divinity]

I really love that side pov of her sleeping, because her hair always looked gorgeous that way. Am I wrong, but was she mostly seen from that pov on most all the VHS covers? Probably wrong.

Unless it's to put the damn title in the right place - if this cover put the title horizontally, it'd be my favorite cover from Disney in a good long time.

Even with the title like that, I think this is my favorite cover since back during the Platinum releases--and the Platinum covers weren't that great near the end of the line themselves. The only other Diamond cover I've even partially liked was the Peter Pan one with the focus on the clocktower (this is excluding the re-use of the old TLM poster on the 3D/Blu release, of course).

As an aside, you were joking in another thread about how they used a color nobody associates with Cinderella for the cover, but that coloring is probably my favorite part about that cover, actually. I know they always market Cinderella with blues, but that pink/purple is the color I most associate with the film from my memories. That's just me though, I know; I get your point that most people associate the film with blues because that's the way they've always seen the character/film marketed.

. I like how Aurora is awake and in her Briar Rose outfit. I do agree that the way the title is positioned is weird. I think it'd be better if the put the title at the bottom and put something else in the middle Like maybe thorns on Maleficent's side and flowers or sparkles on Aurora's side.

I agree with all this. Nice to see Briar Rose for once. And if they were going to make the title horizontal, it'd probably be better at the bottom, like you said.