starting in the mid-thirties the disney studio had a CHARACTER MODEL DEPARTMENT. JOE GRANT was in charge of it. some of the artists in that department were – ALBERT HURTER, JAMES BODRERO, MARTIN PROVENSEN, KAY NIELSEN and GUSTAF TENGGREN. most of them were internationally well known illustrators. nielsen and tenggren had illustrated numerous books.
joe grant and his ‘think tank’ developed new story ideas, character designs and possible looks for future films. SNOW WHITE AND THE 7 DWARFS as well as PINOCCHIO are stylewise based on gustaf tenggren’s illustrations. kay nielsen was involved in designs for FANTASIA, but did lots of sketches as well for planned projects – like RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES and THE LITTLE MERMAID.
tenggren and the other artists were influenced themselves by some european painters and illustrators like – GRANDVILLE, HEINRICH KLEY, T.S. SULLIVANT, ARTHUR RACKHAM, EDMUND DULAC, CARL SPITZWEG, JOHN BAUER, LUDWIG RICHTER, GUSTAVE DORE and BEATRIX POTTER.
© disney enterprises, inc
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 45 years I lived and worked in exciting places around the world. after 7 years of teaching in singapore I am back at my homebase in manila, working on a few more books.
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I’m glad you posted a painting of the great Carl Spitzweg. His atmospheres, themes and sense for storytelling make of him one of the most interesting artists of his time. In many ways he reminds me of Norman Rockwell.
I didn’t know T.S. Sullivant’s illustrations…
Wow!! He is great!
🙂