Disney Press continues to shine a spotlight on the talented artists and magic makers who create wonderful animated films through the Walt Disney Animation Studios Artist Showcase. The latest artist to be featured is Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay, a Visual Development Artist who has leant her talents to Moana, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, and the upcoming Frozen II. Her entry in the series is called Blue Spot.
Daisy is a young cat who comes home with a blue spot on her dress. When her mother asks her how it happened, she manages to make a simple answer quite long, telling her all of the blue things she came in contact with that day. Each page becomes more wild and adventurous as she navigates a world of blue monsters, blue ice cream mountains, and a sea of blueberry pie filling.
Inspired by the author’s love of art, Daisy is herself an artist. She unravels a scroll in blue ink that documents all of the things she did that day while explaining her adventures to her mother. At the end of the book, Griselda explains that as a teenager from Indonesia, art became the easiest way for her to express herself after moving to the United States. It certainly paid off with her impressive role at Walt Disney Animation Studios. This is the second book that she’s illustrated as well. If you own the Little Golden Book of Moana, she provided all of the artwork for it.
Blue Spot inspires kids to unlock their imagination and find a way to share it through artistic expression. If your kids love Disney animated movies, books in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Artist Showcase series are a great way to teach them about the artists that make their favorite movies a reality. These books could in turn inspire them to pursue a career in animation and the arts. For Disney fans, these books allow us to connect and learn more about the hidden artists behind the modern animated features who don’t get as much exposure as artists from the hand-drawn era.