M Is for MONSTER

I've been busy editing a half-hour documentary for a client so my updates haven't been as frequent as I like, but hopefully I've got some neat things for readers in the next few days. In the meantime, because I'm a sucker for great illustrations, I thought I'd share this fun painting (an homage to one of my favorite filmmakers) from Monsters, Inc. M Is for MONSTER, a wonderful A to Z children's book featuring the Monsters, Inc. characters illustrated by Pixar artisan Ricky Nierva.

The book is dedicated to Maurice Noble, who trained the "Classic Style" to a whole new generation of Disney artists. It's certainly not a book that will hurt your wallet, and it's easily one of simplest, yet most beautiful children's books to be created.

A fun bit of related trivia for you: Like the creature Ray Harryhausen animated in It Came From Beneath The Sea, you'll notice that Pixar's octopus in both the Monsters, Inc. film and Ricky's illustration has only 6 arms. As any Harryhausen fan knows, the creature in It Came From Beneath The Sea featured only 6 appendages, not only to save on production costs, but also because there would be fewer of them for Ray to keep track of when animating. The viewer makes the assumption that the other two are underwater or behind structures. A clever film trick from a true master. It's great to see that Pixar not only honored Harryhausen, but the film character and technique as well.