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Walt Disney's Atlantis creature design by Ricardo Delgado

Artist: Ricardo Delgado (Penciller)

16 Comments - 3,315 Views - 2 Likes

Walt Disney's Atlantis creature design by Ricardo Delgado Comic Art

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Atlantis The Lost Empire

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Artwork Details

Title:	Walt Disney's Atlantis creature design by Ricardo Delgado
Artist:	Ricardo Delgado (Penciller)
Media Type:	Pencil
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	3,315
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	16
Added to Site:	2/22/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

There�s just something about a great pencil piece. Whenever you see one, you almost can�t help but respect the seemingly limitless possibilities of the medium. On the surface, the concept appears fairly simple. An artist, a pencil, and a blank piece of paper. But everything depends upon the direct relationship these three things have with one another. And, of course, the artist�s ability to manipulate and control the application of that compressed graphite and clay. With one simple instrument, he might be required to convey tone, texture, light and shadow. To provide lines of appropriate boldness and/or delicacy. Whether it�s feathers or scales, stone or steel, leather, satin, fur, or just bare skin; it has to be done with the same hand and the same instrument. In that regard, what some artists are able to achieve with only a pencil, is nothing short of astonishing. And you really can�t help but respect the hell out of it.

After a string of blockbuster films that began with The Little Mermaid and peaked with the record setting Lion King, Disney decided to change their successful formula of animated musicals, for movies with no music or singing. As you might have guessed, it didn�t last very long (you probably missed it if you blinked). Among the non-musical releases was the movie, Atlantis The Lost Empire from 2001. Predictably, the box office earnings weren�t exactly Lion King numbers. But the film had a lot going for it and it�s one that I�ve always enjoyed. For one thing, it was helmed by the award-winning team of Producer Don Hahn, and Directors Kirk Wise & Gary Trousdale (who were all responsible for my all-time favorite Disney film, Beauty & The Beast). Secondly, one of the story writers was Joss Whedon (yes, THAT Joss Whedon). And last but not least, two of the design artists on the film were Ricardo Delgado and Mike Mignola. But yeah, I thought it was well animated, well written, and all the voice actors were well cast. Plus I thought it was both cool and weird how much the lead female character of Kida reminded me so much of Storm (tell me I�m wrong). LOL!

As for this piece, after I started buying art from Ricardo last year, I learned that he also did production art for films. Of course I had to ask if he did any work for Disney. The good news is that he actually worked in the art department for several Disney films (including Atlantis). When I asked if he had any design drawings for sale, he showed me a few concept pieces for set design and creature design. As soon as I saw this HUGE and beautifully penciled drawing of the Hunter Beast, I had to have it. It�s about a foot tall and a whopping 34 inches long. I can only hope the scan will do it justice, but you should still get a pretty good idea of just how amazing his pencil work is here. What is absolutely hilarious about this is that when I put the movie on to find where the creature appears, I was surprised at how brief an appearance it makes in the film (think B�omarr Monk in Return of the Jedi). The beast appears for a mere 3 seconds at the 27:59 mark. Hopefully Ricardo�s rates weren�t based on screen time. LOL! But thank goodness I have this beautiful pencil study to stare at for as long as I want.

Big thanks to Ricardo for digging this out of his personal archives for me. He could not have been more pleasant and easy to deal with. And as with all my over sized pieces, the usual thanks to my image doctor, Jonathan Mueller, for slapping the pieces of this almost 3-foot monster together

Shameless plug! Ricardo�s new novel will be published later this year. It�s called Dracula of Transylvania, and it�s available for pre-order on Amazon right now.

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About the Owner

	E DLS ( 3 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	March 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A E's Classifieds E's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF Read More About EDLS

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Comments on this Artwork

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Will K
Member Since 2006

Posted on 2/22/2021

Wow. Really detailed !! Sneak preview on Kickstarter... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpress/ricardo-delgados-dracula-of-transylvania

E DLS
Member Since 2005

Posted on 2/22/2021

Will K wrote:

Wow.� Really detailed !!� Sneak preview on Kickstarter... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpress/ricardo-delgados-dracula-of-transylvania

Got lucky and the scan actually turned out decent. Thanks for the comment and the Kickstarter link. Stay safe buddy!

Bill J
Member Since 2009

Posted on 2/22/2021

Stunning pencil piece! But I don't think I'd want to run into it on a dark street at night...

kent mansley
Member Since 2015

Posted on 2/22/2021

Wow! That's really impressive! Huge congrats!

F M
Member Since 2005

Posted on 2/23/2021

Superb to be able to experience the pure pencils, thanks

Tommy Kohlmaier
Member Since 2008

Posted on 2/23/2021

Superb example by this great artist ! Love all his saurier stuff but this one is maybe even more amazingly detailed !

J H
Member Since 2019

Posted on 2/23/2021

That is gorgeous! Agreed, a special pencil piece just grabs you and doesn't let go. I love the detail on the shell. Great find! Congrats

E DLS
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 2/23/2021

J H wrote:

That is�gorgeous! Agreed, a special pencil piece just grabs you and doesn't let go. I love the detail on the shell. Great find! Congrats�

Thanks JH. I love how each section of the creature has a different set of legs. And I love the work he did on the creature's head. Again, so thrilled that the scan came out okay. I would have felt terrible if you all could not see this well enough. And I'm still laughing when I think that for all this incredible work, the creature was only on the screen for about 3 seconds. LOL

Rick W
Member Since 2017

Posted on 2/23/2021

Mr. Delgado certainly knows his way around a pencil. Creepy-cool piece of Disneyana!

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 2/23/2021

'thanks to my image doctor, Jonathan Mueller, for slapping the pieces of this almost 3-foot monster together ' That sounds jolly painful. Lol. Nice artwork.

David Askani�Son
Member Since 2012
Forum Moderator

Posted on 2/24/2021

I’m a hugeeee fan of pencil work as well. The details on this piece is superb, and love that it’s a big piece.

E DLS
Member Since 2005

Posted on 2/24/2021

David Askani�Son wrote:

I�m a hugeeee fan of pencil work as well. The details on this piece is superb, and love that it�s a big�piece.�

Thanks David, that really means a lot. I made SO MANY test scans to get to the right one. I really wanted to make sure I got all the texture, shading, and subtle details of the piece. So when I get a comment like yours, specifically complimenting the details, it makes me so happy. I actually even had a hard time deciding on the scan size. If too small, you might miss some of those details. But if too big, then you'd have to do all this scrolling to see everything. In the end, it came down to this one and another scan about 5% larger. The larger one extended too far beyond the screen, so I stuck with the smaller one. Appreciate the comment as always. Stay safe.

Johnny M
Member Since 2014
Forum Moderator

Posted on 2/27/2021

It's amazing what some can do with a tool I can barely write with. :) Incredible.

E DLS
Member Since 2005

Posted on 2/27/2021

Johnny M wrote:

It's amazing what some can do with a tool I can barely write with. :) Incredible.

Ha! In this age of computer keyboards, and thumb typing on our phones, I actually had to stop and ask myself if I even remember how to HOLD a pencil anymore! LOL! Thanks for the chuckle and please stay safe.

K Gearon
Member Since 2011

Posted on 3/8/2021

Man, this must be SIGHT in person! Some outstanding pencil rendering here. Whew. Really like seeing some of these less posted Disney related pieces on CAF. Congrats!

E DLS
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 3/8/2021

K Gearon wrote:

Man, this must be SIGHT in person!� Some outstanding pencil rendering here.� Whew.� Really like seeing some of these�less posted Disney related pieces on CAF.� Congrats!

The first thing that hits you is that it's just a massive piece. Even holding it at arms length seems almost too close. But once you get over the size, of course you have to get up close to really get into the crazy pencil work. Your eyes can't believe all the amazing tones and textures that they're seeing. For me, it really is another level of pencilling. Thanks for the comment buddy. You stay safe.

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