CE -- A lifetime of collecting comic related material :: Earle, Eyvind

Sleeping Beauty Forest Background

Artist: Eyvind Earle (Painter)

1 Comment - 2,536 Views - 1 Like

Sleeping Beauty Forest Background Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Sleeping Beauty Forest Background
Artist:	Eyvind Earle (Painter)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Animation
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	2,536
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	1
Added to Site:	5/12/2013
Comic Art Archive:

Description

The colors in the original of this wonderful original background by Eyvind Earle are actually as vivid and striking as they appear in this photograph. The background appeared in the movie, Sleeping Beauty, in the scene where Briar Rose is picking berries, soon after she is sent out of the cottage by her guardians, the three Good Fairies, so that they can begin preparations for a surprise 16th birthday party for her.

During the 1950s, the Walt Disney Studio had a department which would prepare art from the studio that would be given away or, after DIsneyland opened, be sold at the park's Art Corner store in Tomorrowland. The art ranged from simple cels inside standardized mats to important pieces such as this, which were given away personally by Walt DIsney to only the most important recipients. With these pieces, cels were chosen to be applied to original background paintings, based on who well a cel worked with the background, i.e., the cel had to be the right size, could not have incomplete areas due to registration with another background, and had to be seen in the correct perspective to work with the perspective of the background. More often than not the cels chosen for any particular background were not the cels which were filmed on that background, since those making the selection were looking for ideal images of the main characters to be presented on some of the nicest background paintings. The cels were then trimmed to the outline of the figures, with the excess celluloid being discarded. This was important because even a single sheet of celluloid causes the intensity of the background colors to be dimmed considerably; several cel layers would result in marked dimming of the background which was only overcome in filming by high intensity lighting. After trimming the cel figures were sprayed with a substance that resulted in a mat finish, so that the once shiny cels would blend in with the mat surface of the background painting. The coated cels were then glued down to the background, and highlights were added with an airbrush. The cel and background combination was then matted in a standard Disney mat, with the name of the film usually being inscribed on the mat, right below the mat's opening. A very few of these specially prepared pieces of art were sold at the Art Corner. More were given away to studio guests. But, when Walt himself, was meeting with a guest or dignitary, he would personally inscribe the mat to the recipient and sign the piece.

As is well know, Walt's own signature was not very close to the "official" Walt Disney signature which was is known so well to the public -- that perfect signature was done by studio employees only. Walt's actual signature was not nearly so neat or perfectly formed. This background by Eyvind Earle from Sleeping Beauty with cels from the same forest sequence was inscribed by Walt Disney to Michael McMillan. It bears Walt's own signature, which means that Michael must have been a person of some importance. Due to the fact that I obtained the art from a friend who is a dealer in English watercolors from London and that he had obtained it from someone who just walked in trying to sell it, i.e., most likely someone who lived in England, I suspect that Michael McMillan might have been the son of Harold McMillan, the Prime Minister of England in the late 1950s. The spelling of the last name supports that conjecture.

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	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Klaus Toozee Edge
Member Since 2013

Posted on 5/12/2013

Magnifique!

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