Animation Brain Trust SDCC 2023: Animation’s Most Influential Authors Talk Cartoons

We’ve brought together five of the most prolific, passionate scholars, educators, and writers to discuss their insights and their vast repository of knowledge about animation. From Disney’s vast history of features to the best both beloved and forgotten shorts from Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera, from the unsung female artists in animation history to the nine old men of Disney, and from the most important How To’s to the most fascinating How They Did It’s, these panelists, who between them have authored over 50 books on animation, will touch on all that and more. Animation historian, author, and SDCC special guest Jerry Beck (The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons, Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel), Oscar nominated Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King producer an author Don Hahn (Animation Magic, Yesterday’s Tomorrow: Disney’s Magical Mid-Century), educator and expert on the history of women in animation Mindy Johnson (Ink & Paint, The Women of Walk Disney’s Animation, the upcoming The Only Woman Animator: Bessie Mae Kelley & Women at the Dawn of an Industry, Emmy-nominated story artist and author Jenny Lerew (The Art of Brave, the upcoming book on famed Disney animator Freddie Moore) and renowned critic and animation historian Leonard Maltin (Of Mice and Magic, The Disney Films) offer a lively discussion in which they lay some cartoon wisdom on all those in attendance. Moderated by Leslie Combemale (lead contributor, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, writer, Motion Picture Association’s The Credits).