My objective was to create a small scene featuring Steamboat Willie and Winnie The Pooh, leaving the protection of Disney copyright and patent and officially allowed to be used by everyone.
The inspiration for this artwork came from imagining Steamboat Willie and Winnie the Pooh walking out of Disney’s front gates. Officially ending their time with the company. Once I had this idea, I began by sketching the two main characters waving goodbye as they departed through the gates. After finalizing the sketches, I traced the characters and background in Illustrator before transferring them to Photoshop, where I used an airbrushing technique to add details. As I worked, I struggled to achieve enough contrast in the characters’ designs. The solution was zooming out and turning the background white - if the characters remained dark enough, I knew the contrast was sufficient. With the background and characters complete, I felt something was missing. Realizing the castle fading away would perfectly symbolize their departure from Disney, I added this final element to complete the piece.
