Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse FanFav
Tenacious Tailor: an homage to Mickey Mouse as the Brave Little Tailor
Hello , thanks for watching along on Brush of Magic. My name is Ronn Stern and this painting is a fan favorite piece, created to celebrate the very best of Mickey Mouse’s courageous and selfless nature.
Our painting is based on the Walt Disney cartoon from 1938, which was inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. The cartoon features the voice of Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse and was nominated for an Academy Award. The animated classic features Mickey as a lowly tailor tasked by the king with defeating a giant who is terrorizing the kingdom. In the cartoon our hero gladly accepts his assignment from the king and then goes on his journey to face his colossal foe. Mickey is constantly in danger from the actions of the giant who is unaware of Mickey’s efforts for almost the whole cartoon. When the two do face off for battle, our hero springs into action and uses his small size and expert skills as a tailor to “tie up” the towering giant. After Mickey defeats the giant, the townsfolk find a way to harness his slumbering energy for the good of the kingdom, and Mickey ends up marrying the princess Minnie Mouse.
Mickey’s shape is comprised of circles and oblongs. A key to trying to make him believable and attractive as a character is to create the shapes with a slight hint of movement in them. The cartoon features exceptionally beautiful background plates, painted with a great attention to detail. I tried to carry on that sense of care when creating the scenes for this painting. I used digital painting techniques that are similar to traditional water color paints, to try and accomplish the gentle diffusion of colors present in the original cartoon.
I chose some of my favorite moments from the cartoon to depict in the painting. I loved the scene were Minnie and Mickey kiss and wanted to show that moment between them. The kiss takes place before the brave little tailor goes out on his mission and carries the promise of the reward for being successful. I also liked the moment when Mickey is hanging onto the bucket from the well, lowered into the belly of the giant, along with all the pumpkins the big beast had eaten as a snack. And of course, I wanted to depict Mickey’s bravery when facing the huge foe, and the result of Mickey’s victory when the kingdom was safe again.
The collage of scenes presented an interesting challenge for composition and for color. I tried to approach each with an open mind, experimenting with the painting to come up with a composition that told the story well. I also wanted to keep the color scheme true to the cartoon, while being able to present each scene in a visually appealing way.
The main image presents our beloved hero, smiling in an adorable stance. Similar to a knight leaning on his sword. Mickey’s bravery and his attitude of accepting the situation with good humor was important to represent in the painting. Those qualities are some of the ones we all love about him and why he is still a well-loved world-wide icon of goodness.
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