Disney Artists circa 1959
The best advice I have ever given students who have studied under
me has been this: “Educate yourself, do not let me educate you—use
me, do not be used by me.”
— Robert Henri, The Art Spirit
The passage above from The Art Spirit, a wonderful book from legendary painter/teacher Robert Henri is quoted by Walt Disney in the opening moments of an interesting short film I came across yesterday morning. I was happy to hear Walt quote that passage since it is basically the same advice I have offer when I have spoken to students over the years. The idea being that you can learn technique but an individual style created by fostering and employing your own unique set of experiences and perceptions.
On yesterday’s blog, I had written about Eyvind Earle, a great painter who was also a scenic artist for many Disney animated films of the 50’s and was looking for a video on his work when I came across 4 Artists Paint 1 Tree: A Walt Disney “Adventure in Art.” It was made around 1959, the time in which Disney’s Sleeping Beauty was being made.
In order to show how diverse artists contribute their individual talents to a large project, Walt Disney had four of his main artists go out one day to be filmed painting their individual interpretations of a single subject. The subject was, as the title gives away, a tree.
I thought I would share the film here today. As you can see from the photo of the four artists at the top with their finished paintings, each artist has unique style and perception. It’s interesting to hear their thoughts on how they approach their subject and how they translate their vision into paint.
I was particularly interested in seeing Eyvind Earle’s technique and was pleased to hear him talk about initially painting the silhouette of the tree in black since I have always done that as well.
If you have about 15 minutes and are interested in the creative processes of four very accomplished artists, give a look at this film. Being a Disney film, it is well done.
Redtree Times 
Many many years ago at the very start of my career, we were doing a gig at the Design Center of Houston. It was something like an open house. And they brought in speakers to speak about design and other things. And sadly I don’t remember the name of the man they brought in that really impacted me.. but he was one of Disney’s “Imagineers”. And the talk he gave about how to raise a family in a creative environment has always stuck with me.
In this video brought home. How much that philosophy was instilled in everything that happened at Disney than those days.
Yes, Disney takes a lot of heat these days but to those of us who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s, they created a template for living that was sometimes missing in our everyday lives. They displayed the sometimes harsh reality of the natural world and showed us how to be empathetic, compassionate, and caring human beings. I feel fortunate to have had the Disney show and their films as a guiding light back then.
Oh, and after yesterday’s post I went Googling and came across this painting on ebay…
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/YwEAAOSwK6RlTAwJ/s-l1600.jpg
It could almost be the same tree from a different angle,
Yes, it has that look. Knowing now a little more about how Earle worked, he probably carried parts of that tree into his other works after that.