Showing posts with label pastel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pastel. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Artist Nate Dray presents: "Study of Mary Blair concept art for 'Two Silhouettes' from Disney's 'Make Mine Music'"

 "Study of Mary Blair concept art for 'Two Silhouettes' from Disney's 'Make Mine Music'" 

 

Mary Blair was a brilliant designer and colorist. She was a member of the California Watercolor School and had a huge influence on the look, feel and palette of peak Disney studio output.

In this little study I did I missed some of the subtleties of her colors and her loose designs, but she did these color roughs at breakneck speed while employed at Disney, sometimes cranking out dozens a day. This one looks to me to be primarily a pastel piece with maybe some gouache and that's what I used in my attempt at a sort of homage or reproduction.

Copying is one of the best ways an artist can sort of imbibe or enter into another artist's mindset and approach. It is an old and tested technique and one which I employ frequently, sometimes with less than satisfactory results, but it's never wasted effort, in my opinion.