Mary Blair

Much has been written about Mary Blair and her work on Disney films as well as Disneyland attractions. There is a sophisticated simplicity going through her work that Walt Disney was attracted to, and so are we. This lady was a trendsetter, who helped define modern art and color in animation during the post war era and beyond. Here are a few candid photographs toward the end of her career at Disney, followed by Peter Pan development art.
Did you know that she sewed many of her own clothes?

Wondergirl

My friend Tom Bancroft has this thing for Wonder Woman and Captain America. He keeps a sketchbook handy and asks other artists to sketch their version of those characters. I did this drawing for him the other day.
I wonder what Stitch would look like as Captain America. That's a drawing for Alex Kupershmidt.

Check out Tom's blog:
http://tombancroft1.tumblr.com

To Kill a Mockingbird/ Busch 1962

Illustrations by Wilhelm M. Busch from the German 1962 edition of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Beautiful line drawings that define mood, depth of scenery and personality. I am eating this stuff up.

These compositions are rock solid and a delight to study. My film Mushka is somewhat influenced by Busch's style. As I mentioned before, it is fascinating to see what the artist puts down and what he leaves out!

Book illustrations at its finest. Damn!

Soft Hands

Milt Kahl animated this scene with Georges Hautecourt from The Aristocats. This close up is a great example of loose, moving flesh during a dialogue scene. Hautecourt thinks he is holding Madame Bonfamille's hand as he comments: "Ah....still the softest hands in all of Paris." Of course he has grabbed Duchess' tail instead. I love how far his face is sunken into the cat's tail, before he inhales to say the line.

For part of the scene his eyebrows are covering the eyes completely. An idea he probably got from Ronald Searle. I posted about this a while ago:

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/01/ronald-searle.html

I will be at CTN this weekend. Feel free to approach me anytime with your questions.
You will find me on the Beauty & the Beast panel, as well as the presentation about The Genius of Frank Thomas. And then there is this surprise I am going to unveil...

Mirko Hanak 1964

More of Mirko Hanak's beautiful children's book illustrations. These images are from an English edition, titled Sing a Song of Everything. What amazes me about his work is the endless variety of textures he is achieving with watercolor. I have quite a few of his books and will post more of Hanak's art once in a while.

More Hovarth Art

 A few more vintage pages with character designs by the great Ferdinand Hovarth, who worked at Disney from 1933 - 1937. He put his mark on many short films during that time as well as on the upcoming Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
More info on Hovarth here:

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Ferdinand_Hovarth

Images Heritage Auctions

Van Eaton Galleries

I have been purchasing animation art from Van Eaton Galleries here in LA for many years. Once in a while the owner Mike van Eaton comes across pieces that I want to own.  Sometimes I feel like I overpaid for certain artworks, other times I underpaid. But Mike always surprises me with Disney animation art that you'd think doesn't exist anymore. It has been an absolute pleasure to do business with him over the years. Just look at these recent offerings, amazing!

Here is the link to Van Eaton Galleries:

https://vegalleries.com