The Walt Disney Family Museum is hosting a free virtual talk with the creators of Little Golden Book Disneyland is Your Land! next week. Illustrators Scott Tilley and Nick Balian will take participants on a behind-the-scenes look at the book’s creation.
Little Golden Book Disneyland is Your Land! Virtual Talk
Join us for a virtual exploration of Disneyland through the years with a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the new Little Golden Book, Disneyland is Your Land!, whose title is based on Walt Disney’s original message welcoming the world to his theme park. Creators Scott Tilley and Nick Balian will be on hand to embark on a deep dive into the festive and lush art throughout the title.
The event will be at 5:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, April 15. Registration is required and can be reserved for free on The Walt Disney Family Museum website. Though the page says sign-up closes on March 17, the event was rescheduled and registration is still available.
The webinar will be hosted through Zoom and participants must have a Zoom account. A link to the event and instructions for joining will be sent via email.
Questions can be submitted during the webinar through Zoom’s Q&A function. Due to anticipated demand and limited Q&A time, not all submitted questions will be answered.
About the Speakers
Scott Tilley is a Disney Publishing Art Director who oversees the development of the illustrations for their Pixar-branded titles. Starting with the company in 1994, Tilley has had the pleasure of illustrating and art-directing hundreds of Disney and Pixar children’s books over the last three decades. Many of those titles are from the Penguin Random House Little Golden Book imprint, and he is happy to have illustrated (and sometimes co-illustrated) several of those, including Finding Nemo, UP, Cars, WALL-E, and Ratatouille. The series of Little Golden Books based on the Disney theme parks has been particularly fun for him to work on, and he has collaborated with Imagineer Jason Grandt and his colleague Nick Balian to create The Orange Bird and FIGMENT titles. With Grandt residing in Orlando, Balian working from Emeryville, and Tilley in Tokyo, these park-based titles are truly a global effort and the very definition of “labors of love.” Their aim has been to bring the park experience and lasting memories right into the hands of readers everywhere with these Little Golden Books.
Nick Balian is a Disney Publishing artist and Senior Illustration Manager at Pixar Animation Studios, where he helps create children’s books based on Disney and Pixar’s films. He had the pleasure of illustrating the Little Golden Book for Disney/Pixar Onward (2020) and co-illustrating the Little Golden Book for Disney/Pixar Soul (2020). In addition to his work with Disney/Pixar titles, Balian also helps manage and create titles for the Disney Parks, especially their growing collection of Little Golden Books.
Balian wrote and illustrated Little Man of Disneyland: A Change of Luck (the sequel to the 1955 Little Golden Book classic, Little Man of Disneyland), and co-illustrated FIGMENT and the recently released Disneyland Is Your Land! Little Golden Book. As a beloved Disney Parks fan, these projects have been a dream come true for Balian to work and collaborate on.
When he’s away from the drawing board, Balian loves to watch and study films, write short stories, speak in puns, and spend time with friends and family, especially his nieces, who he loves to pieces!
Disneyland is Your Land!
Disneyland is Your Land! was released last summer to honor the 70th anniversary of Disneyland Park. Order it now.
It’s Disneyland’s 70th anniversary! Join Mickey Mouse and the gang to explore Disneyland through the years in this fun and sweet Little Golden Book. Perfect for kids ages 2 to 5, Disney fans, and Little Golden Book collectors of all ages.
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