History of Animation: Frank Armitage

Frank Armitage was a prolific background artist at Walt Disney Production Studio who did a lot of backgrounds for Disney classics like Sleeping Beauty and Jungle Book. I really think his minimalist, but detailed background drawings comes together with the nuance of the elaborately animated Disney film. Elaborate movement of Disney characters is balanced out by the minimalism in the backgrounds so that they do not clashes. Disney's animation strive to create relatable characters with expressive personalities and attitude, which conveys realism, and with realistic and detailed background the Disney film would look like renaissance painting. Another reason why Disney prefers to employ illustrator like Frank Armitage is because they have decorative style of drawings which can be used as murals in the Disney theme parks around the world.

Frank Armitage Illustration