Claire Keane is a third generation cartoonist, the daughter of Disney animator Glen Keane and the granddaughter of Family Circus cartoonist Bil Keane. She was at the Women in Animation panel at the Letterman Digital Arts Center and a signing at the
Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco's Presidio March 21, 2014. During the panel, Claire explained she attended a French art school and enjoyed doing research and creating new worlds, but didn't want to do character animation like her father. However, her father explained there was an entire department at Disney Animation Studio which only worked on visual development. At Disney, she worked on
Enchanted, Tangled, and
Frozen. Claire has left the studio to devote herself to doing children's books. For Disney Press, she illustrated the Kiki Thorpe story
Rapunzel's Amazing Hair in 2010. During her slideshow, Claire explained how she envisioned life for Rapunzel growing up isolated in her tower. The girl would be an admirer of birds, the only outside creatures she would encounter. Claire also showed some early designs of
Frozens Elsa as Bette Midler, Amy Winehouse, and Auntie Mame. The
Women in Animation San Francisco chapter posted this
Jenny Lerew Women in Animation commentary and this
WDFM Women in Animation panel coverage.
Since the talk was moved from the intimate Walt Disney Family Museum to the much larger Lucasfilm Premier Theatre, there were many more people attending the event and the signing line was the longest I've ever seen there. There were six people signing and no single project which includes all their work so I ended up juggling several different art books as I moved along the table from artist to artist. I think the
Art of Tangled includes more Claire Keane illustrations than any other so I presented it for her autograph. Despite the length of the line, Claire graciously drew this bird in my book. It was an unexpected delight of a great day.
Claire Keane Tangled wall mural
