Noah signing villains

DIS News reports the artist Noah will be at Disneyland D-Street on October 12 to sign individual pieces from his villains collection. Noah is popular and so are villains.  The Chernabog VM should be interesting.

October 20, 2012

Popular artist Noah will be on hand to sign pieces from his new Villains collection at D Street in Downtown Disney from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.  The art featuring Chernabog, Scar, Malificent and The Evil Queen will appear on various items including giclees on canvas, apparel and skate decks.  A limited edition Chernabog Vinylmation is also part of the collection

Disney Wallpapers

Hey, in case you missed it, check out a bunch of amazing wallpapers that you can use for your computers/ipad/smartphones. I currently have the Hitchhiking Ghosts wallpaper on my iPad. Very cool and very Shag-like. They have added a nice retro wallpaper to commemorate Epcot's 30th anniversary that's coming up in a few days (Oct. 1st, 2012).

Zz.

Don 'Ducky' Williams Draws Goofy

He drew Donald a while back. Now he's drawing Goofy.



As much as it is fascinating to see an artist like this at work, I find his commentary as fascinating as his work.

Zz.

What Would Disney Princesses Look Like If They Were Real?

This is a rather fascinating concept. What would those animated Disney princesses look like if they were actually real people, or at least, drawn as if they were real people? That is the question explored by a graphic design student at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in the UK.

Väätäinen said his interpretations of eight Disney princesses and one villain were created by combining elements from different photos of women who resemble the characters. He then creates composite images through digital painting and then puts them together using Photoshop. The results are stunning and completely entertaining.

They certainly are stunning and entertaining, especially for Ursula! She could be a number of people that I've seen on TV, especially from What Not To Wear and Say Yes To The Dress! :) And Ariel looks way too much like a young Sally Field from The Flying Nun!

{I think I've just dated myself with that last one.}

Zz.

Tribute To Mary Blair

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will focus on the work of Mary Blair during the 17th Marc Davis Celebration of Animation lecture Thursday evening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Giamio said that Disney had incredible artists and amazing craftsman, "but where Mary Blair was unique was that the work that she did here at the studio was not only beautiful work, what she did went beyond the project into a pure art form. It became art. It became a statement unto itself."

Her work, he added, transports you to another world. "Her most distinctive factor is that she is kind of showing us her soul. It is not just slick commercial art, it is the combination of commercial and the personal in the artistic sense. She puts herself into her art work and it transcends the greatest of the Disney movies."

Most of us, I think, are familiar with her work due to the "It's A Small World" attraction. Her style is certainly distinct, and that what makes it so loved and so unique.

Zz.

Shag To Make 2 WDW Appearences

If you are a follower of artist Shag and his work for Disney, here's your chance to come see him in his two appearances at WDW.

Shag will be at Magic Kingdom's Main Street Gallery from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday (note that regular theme-park admission required for this one) and at the Art of Disney store at Downtown Disney from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Zz.

Don "Ducky" Williams Draws Donald Duck

Don "Ducky" Williams is an amazing artist. Here, you get to see him whip out a sketch of Donald Duck is no time at all! In the video, he talks about the sketches he has done throughout Walt Disney World, including what he did at Tony's Town Square restaurant.



Zz.

I Want This Donald Print

Of all the prints that I've seen, this is the one I want the most. It is displayed at the elevator well at Bay Lake Tower. I haven't noticed it anywhere else, and I don't know if it is on sale somewhere.

This will go very nicely in our house.

Zz.

The Single Greatest Disney Black and White Ink Drawing Ever Done?

This drawing has been called just that. It was done by a veteran of Disney Studio, Hank Porter, in the 1930s. It depicts Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Pluto, and Dopey singing Christmas carol, and all the creatures of the woods are gathered around listening to them.

It appears that it is up for action. It is an amazing drawing. I'm even amazed that there's a high resolution copy of the drawing that one can click on.

Zz.

Congratulations, Erica!

My friend Erica got great news today. A painting of the Fab Five by her was accepted for the D23 Expo and will be on display there! So congratulations, Erica! We all knew the painting you did was excellent!

If you recall, Erica also did the amazing frame of her Disney pins. So we all already know that she's no slouch in the artistic part.

Still, many of us are very proud of her for getting this honor! And yes, I have seen the submitted art, and it's outstanding. If they make prints out of it, I'm getting mine personally autographed!

Zz.

Disney Missing In World Of Art

This is a rather extensive article in the Washington Post on the omission of Walt Disney from Art museums. This is something I haven't thought about, and upon further consideration, it IS a serious omission that Walt and his work aren't considered as fine art and aren't displayed in art museums.

The writer certainly made 6 compelling reasons why Walt's work should be in museums. One would hope that someone would listen.

Zz.

Concept Art for Princess and the Frog

OK, so we've seen how visually gorgeous the hand-drawn Princess and the Frog is based on the first trailer that was released a few weeks ago. We now have concept art based on the movie that has been released. It is even more spectacular!

The world that the visual development team created is that of 1920's New Orleans. A lush, vibrant environment, with rich backgrounds and breathtaking scenery. The fresh, engaging look of the characters bring humor and warmth to this classic fairytale.

If the storyline is as spectacular as the visual part of it, things will bode very well for hand-drawn animation.

Zz.

Once Upon A Time Walt Disney : The Sources Of Inspiration For The Disney Studios

This is a review of an art book of that title, written by Bruno Girveau, Lella Smith and Pierre Lambert of the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. I like what the reviewer said at the end:

There are many books on Disney that examine his life, provide a critique of his influence or deplore his global domination, but few that celebrate the huge artistic impact of over a century’s triumph of film and animation that the Disney team achieved. This book illustrates how they did it, by acknowledging Walt Disney’s artistic curiosity in the wealth of cultural reference around him and the perfectionism to realise his vision with superbly talented teams who were also drawn from immigrant Europeans: technical masters in animation.

Zz.

Someday My Prints Will Come

I reported earlier about the recently-found Disney art work. However, I just had to point to this article on the same news because of its cute title. I can't believe I didn't think of it. This is very clever! :)

Zz.

Disney Art Returns

Wow! I find this rather hard to believe even after reading this. A bunch of precious Disney Art will be returned to the Walt Disney Company after they were discovered languishing in "... a janitor’s closet.."

A Japanese university plans to return about 250 pieces of original animation art to the Walt Disney Company that were mislaid in storage after traveling to Japan nearly five decades ago.

Disney said that the art — cels, backgrounds, preliminary paintings and storyboard sketches — was part of a collection that was handpicked by Walt Disney himself. It was sent to Japan in 1960 for a touring exhibition timed to the opening of the film “Sleeping Beauty.” The exhibition opened at Mitsukoshi Department Store in Tokyo in May of that year and traveled to 16 other stores throughout Japan.

I'm glad they are safe now. I hope they put this on display somewhere at the theme parks so that the rest of us can view them.

Zz.