Welcome to Greg and Tim Hildebrandt's website.My first reaction was "Wow!" I didn't know I had some neat original Hildebrandt artwork!
Greg and Tim Hildebrandt better known to the illustration world as "The Brothers Hildebrandt" began their careers 1959. The Brothers have worked on documentary films and thousands of illustrations for, text books, children's books, calendars, book covers, posters, comic books, advertisements, movie posters, production design for films, collectables and trading card games.
They became internationally known for the original Star Wars movie poster and the 1976, 1977, and 1978 JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings calendars. Over the last forty-two years Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt have received recognition from their fans in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, comic art, pinup art, western art, religious art, comic strip art, and sequential art. They are deeply grateful for all of their fans.
They have worked for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, almost every book publishing company, Franklin Mint, Batfilms and Lucas Films. They are currently working on the Collectable Card Games (CCG) for Magic the Gathering and Harry Potter published by Wizards of the Coast, as well as several personal projects including a series of 40's - 50's Pinups and a series of tribute paintings that will benefit the families of the fallen firefighters and EMS workers in New York. Many Hildebrandt products have been designated to raise money for the firefighters' 911 disaster relief fund. These can be seen at spiderwebart.com.
Oh, since I always look for that special "connection" when I buy items I should mention that my mom taught baton twirling for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, there was a steady stream of students finding their way to our basement or the backyard. I took lessons for a few years and tried the Drum Major bit, but just couldn't get into it (much to my mother's dismay). However, the experience will be with me forever and this Pluto toy seemed to take me back to those days gone by...
Here's the description from the Hake site:Two cards which were issued together as a set. First is 7x10" on nice quality cardstock with text on front "Season's Greetings." Card interior has tip-in sheet with choice "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs" art by Gustaf Tenggren that was also used for the one-sheet movie poster. Lightest trace of aging. Strip of aging to tip-in sheet where applied with glue. Still displays Exc. overall. Second card is 4.5x5" with text "And Greetings From Us Too!" featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto buried in the snow. Exc./N. Mint. Comes with postally issued Christmas-themed envelope with matching holly berry and leaf motif "Walt Disney - Burbank California" return address. Envelope has 1/8" hole punch at right and shows handling wear mostly from mailing. Fine. Scarce set.I really didn't have much about these individual items. A short time ago, I had sent some of the images around for comment and David Lesjak wrote back:
David Lesjak toonsatwar@yahoo.com That Snow White piece you sent - was that the insert for the 1938 corporate Christmas card - the Tenggren scene with all the characters.It is interesting how you can start to collect additional information from the auction sites that relate to the items you may own. Naturally, you have to use common sense in gauging the authenticity of items posted anywhere on the web...
In keeping with the general "look" of the cel, we decided to put the piece in a more non-traditional frame...
The problem I have found when framing high cel count images is that each cel layer tends to restrict some light and add additional reflections, which tend to result in an overall "dull" feeling. Why is this a problem in the home and not in the production? It's my understanding that in the production process, the images are lit from 45-degree angles to avoid direct reflection and the cel layers are compressed with a cover sheet of glass to avoid wrinkles. To address the problem when showing the images in a non-production environment, some collectors and dealers trim the cels and apply them to a single cel. It certainly does eliminate some of the problems, but I have always been reluctant to trim one of these classic images.
These two images are framed together and represent how a pencil sketch is rendered for the actual movie. While I wished they would have picked frames that had a more similar "look," it does help those unfamiliar with the animation process see the progression from sketch to final product.
This sheet was unusual in that it was in near-mint condition -- except for a slight rust mark from a paper clip, there are no folds, stains or other blemishes that are often found on any printed item from the early 1930's. AND (if you make a copy of the image on stiff paper) you can actually see the Mickey Mouse airplane fly!
The Sketch-Book series covered a number of films and were fantastic collections. We tended to buy two -- one to read and one "mint," unopened copy that went into the archives.
According to the seller, the background was painted by a Disney Studio artist. Not the best match (from a registration point of view), but it works with the images.
This is a mid-phase storyboard in that there are some well identified sequence numbers and demonstrates some camera movement. The early phase storyboard have much rougher drawings and the end-stage storyboard have more detailed character development.
To see another storyboard for "Peter Pan" check out this storyboard posted earlier.
