Revisiting the Disneyland Art Corner - Part Two

Editor's Note: Continuing our two-part series exploring animation art originally sold at the Disneyland Art Studio with guest contributor Rob Richards.

Special to 2719 Hyperion by Rob Richards

Continuing, here's an additional variety of Art Corner cels, as released with their original Art Corner backgrounds, then restored with digitally recreated key master backgrounds.

This original Mary Poppins cel was rather unremarkable by itself. But paired with a carefully digitized background adding the other musicians, it becomes a dazzler! As is often the case, the original paint adhered to the colored art board background. This particular cel (with ever-so careful prodding) was lifted without damage and all original paint intact!


This was a strange setup--the immediately recognizable penguins from Mary Poppins, a cel of Merlin’s carpetbag from The Sword in the Stone, and a background from 101 Dalmatians! The penguins, paired with a key frame digital background including Mary and Bert makes for a stunning Mary Poppins setup.


Coyotes Bent-Tail and Bent-Tail Jr. starred in theatrical shorts as well as TV specials. This Art Corner setup made its way to Australia and back to Southern CA. It shows two typical paint problems, cracking and bleeding (where the paint actually expands outside the ink lines, perhaps from cel shrinkage due to age). After a much-needed restoration, and a key digitized background from one of their few cartoons, it’s a fine setup of these genuinely rare characters.


The Chip and Dale setup features Captain Chip from Chips Ahoy (1956). The Dale cel has yet to be identified. Restored and placed on a Chips Ahoy digital master background it becomes a terrific piece.


The Donald and Pete setup is another unlikely pairing. Pete playing the trombone (from the "Donald's Award" TV show interstitials, which introduced the theatrical short Trombone Trouble) and Donald Duck from Donald in Mathmagicland. Restored, separated and with key backgrounds, each becomes a terrific piece. (Pete's new hand-painted background was created from looking at the original black and white footage, and re-imagining it in color!)


Imagine a Mickey Mouse cel for a dollar!!! This Art Corner Mickey played the piano for the Christmas TV special “From All of Us to All of You.” The new, custom hand-painted background beautifully showcases the original 1959 cel. A vast improvement over the original plain yellow art board!


Similarly, Mad Madam Mim transitions from a plain color background to a key digitized background from The Sword in the Stone.


The Jungle Book remains an all-time Disney classic. Two cels here, Shere Khan and “Flunky Monkey” needed and received restoration. With their added digital laser print key master backgrounds, they find themselves back in the jungle once again.


Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora are miniatures in this Sleeping Beauty cel. With figures just over an inch tall, the delicate hand inking is quite amazing to see. The full cel was heavily trimmed, but the tiny cel is still very spectacular when placed on the recreated key master background.

This is a tiny sample of the animation treasures that sold at the Disneyland Art Corner. Now, don’t you wish you had a time machine?


Visit Rob Richards at his website and also at his terrific blog Animation Backgrounds!

Animation art from the collection of Rob Richards.