Renaissance-inspired Disney character portraits by former Walt Disney Imagineer Maggie Parr

The collection is a beautiful art series that honors characters in iconic paintings from a few of the world’s most famous and historic artists. 

Michelle: Maggie, your work continues to provide a sense of enchantment to our guests. Your ability to capture some of our most notable Disney characters in many film-related scenes and scenarios is just part of the charm and magic that makes them so special. Some of your most recognized pieces have actually had a type of “Renaissance” inspiration. What made you choose to depict the characters in that style?

Maggie: I originally got the idea when Imagineering hired me to paint Disney characters in famous artworks for Tokyo DisneySea. I really enjoyed imitating classic paintings, but it was also an interesting challenge to figure out subtleties of the characters: how they’d look in costumes, what expressions they’d have, how they’d look rendered in different mediums and techniques. I realized that Goofy, and all of the characters, have their own psychology. In fact, when I painted them they came alive on the canvas and I began to appreciate and understand the Disney characters in a whole new way while inserting lighthearted American humor into serious European history. Mickey and Minnie are beloved to the American imagination – so it made sense to paint them as “Queen Minnie” and “King Mickey” after famous royal portraits. It feels fun and irreverent to frame Goofy and Donald as English noblemen in the 1700s. And of course, portraying Minnie as the Mona Lisa is the ultimate parody.

New Xerographic Animation Presented In Walt Disney's "Dalmatians" Feature

 Click Here to read the previous post about the 101 Dalmatians: Painting of Spots Huge Job in Producing Disney's "Dalmatians"

03.31.11 - Xerography, a new word in animation and motion pictures, snaps up the action and personalities of the dogs and humans in Walt Disney's brilliantly conceived $4,000,000 cartoon comedy, "One Hundred and One Dalmatians."

Xerox, as the new process is called, has the effect of transferring every artistic touch laid down by the artists' pencils directly to the screen and thus enormously improving the entertainment values of the animation.

Previously the transfer from talented pencils to film — color by Technicolor, in this case — had been done by girls with pen and ink in hand. Although the girls were artists in their own right, the copying had a tendency to lose a little of the feeling originally imparted by the creators.

Now the ink and paint girls are on the crews of the Xerox cameras.

The Haloid Company of Rochester, New York, inventors of the process, describe it as "a clean, fast, dry direct positive, electrostatic copying process" which eliminates the need, as well, for a darkroom or an intermediate film negative.

For his Dalmatians feature, Disney has expanded the system and adapted it to his own artistry. Recently Ub Iwerks, the studio's director of technical research, received the Herbert T. Kalmus Gold Medal Award for achievements which included his further development of the Xerography process.

From the 101 Dalmatians original press materials. 

Click Here to read the previous post about the 101 Dalmatians: Painting of Spots Huge Job in Producing Disney's "Dalmatians"