Eyvind Earle

 I wish there were more books of Evyind Earle's art out there- everything's out of print! 

He was the art director for Disney's Sleeping Beauty, but also an accomplished mid-century artist/ illustrator.

Here's an interesting article about his work at Disney- apparently he wasn't so liked by the 9 Old Men, but Disney had faith in Earle's unusual and striking production design.

Mary Blair

Of course, what self respecting animator-colorist can go without admiring the mad skills of the ever talented Mary Blair?

For those of you who don't know her, you should for many, many reasons. In a nutshell, she was a highly influential female artist who worked for Walt Disney on both legendary films and rides, as well as a prolific illustrator and artist of the mid 20th century.

These are just a small sampling of some of her pieces that I love. I really dig her color sense, the way she understands composition, and the way she handles simplifying shapes and forms.  I also love the rough texture that shows through the simple shapes via the tempura paint medium.

Images graciously from Cartoon Modern and a wonderful collection of her images over on Flickr. There are also two illustrated books over on Amazon of her concept art from Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.