Pindal and friends vol.1 - Zack Schwartz

Zach Schwartz is one of the most important figures of animation history. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of UPA (Along with Dave Hilberman) and for art-directing "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment in Disney's "Fantasia".


Kaj had invited Zack Schawrtz to teach at Sheridan College, and Zack became one of the most popular instructors of the 80s and early 90s. At the time , Zack had written a wonderful book called "And Then What Happened? A Story-teller's Handbook for Animators" elegantly explaining the mechanics of story-telling with examples from many great cartoons. In his book, Zack makes the important distinction between story and plot, and stresses the importance of Character.

This book is in the process of being converted to PDF format, and we hope to later provide it on this blog.

Last summer, Kaj asked me to carry a gift to Zack's widow, Drora, who lives in Ramat-Aviv, Israel. I was astonished by Drora's generosity in sharing wonderful stories as well as artwork from Zack's collection. She graciously allowed me to make high resolution scans of these precious works, which are now documented in the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Here are a few formatted favorites to share with our readers:

Perhaps the first-ever concept painting of the famous Sorcerer's Apprentice broom!

Original artwork from "Bambi"