All About Jiminy Cricket: History and Disney Fan and Collector’s Guide

By Leslie Combemale | January 13, 2023

Since this is the first blog of the new year, I wanted to ring in 2023 with something interesting and fun, and really tried to think what connected with starting over, new beginnings, turning over a new leaf and all that. I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, although I respect them in other folks. …

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The Disney Fine Art Stardust Collection & Denyse Klette Interview

By Leslie Combemale | March 17, 2023

Disney Fine Art has just released a lovely new series by Canadian artist Denyse Klette called “The Stardust Collection”, and it felt worth a blog to me. I just added Denise’s work to the site, and I think it’s going to be very popular, especially to people who love stargazing! Denyse has always wanted to …

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The Artistry and Art of Beauty and the Beast

By Leslie Combemale | January 27, 2023

At ArtInsights, we have as many fans of Beauty and the Beast as we do for The Little Mermaid, and that’s saying something. Since we’re heading into Valentine’s season, the season of love, as it were, I thought I’d talk about the history, art, and fun facts about the tale as old as time. IT’S …

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Blog Archive

All about Snow White: From the Brothers Grimm to Disney Live Action

By Leslie Combemale | June 24, 2021

This week, Disney confirmed to CNN that Rachel Zegler is, indeed, the newest live action Disney princess. She’ll be starring in the upcoming live action remake of Disney’s first full length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937. Zegler will no doubt be a household name after Steven Spielberg’s West Side …

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Super Dads on Celluloid: Film Art for Father’s Day Gift Guide

By Leslie Combemale | June 8, 2021

With all the Father’s Day gift guides out there, I thought it was time to create a Father’s Day gift guide specific to animation and film. Dads love movies and cartoons, so we’ve curated a collection of fun images of superlative cartoon dads and great characters the whole family will love. You can see them …

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Memorial Day at the Movies: Memorial Day Cartoons Saluting the Military

By Leslie Combemale | May 20, 2021

Another Memorial Day is here, and it’s always a good time to celebrate our brothers and sisters, both veterans and those actively in the military with Memorial Day cartoons. At first I was going to write about the many really impressive propaganda cartoons of WW2, because I’ve always been fascinated by propaganda of all eras. …

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Free Dedicated Signed Drawings with Peanuts Art Purchases through May 12th

By Leslie Combemale | April 30, 2021

As part of our 40th anniversary show for It’s Magic, Charlie Brown, we are giving original drawings by Larry Leichliter that are hand-dedicated by the artist with purchases of any Peanuts art. Pick well.. it’s one drawing per family, not per piece of art purchased! Here is all the art available for order & purchase, …

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The Art and Career of Peanuts Animator Larry Leichliter

By Leslie Combemale | April 16, 2021

Emmy-award winning director and animator Larry Leichliter spends every morning hiking with his Australian shepherds for hours, in part to take in the beauty of nature that inspires him, in part to exercise and invigorate his all-too-smart canine best friends, Ben and Olive. He has always had dogs in his life. It’s no wonder, then, …

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It’s Magic Charlie Brown 40th Anniversary Show with Larry Leichliter!

By Leslie Combemale | April 15, 2021

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Peanuts animated special “It’s Magic, Charlie Brown“, which first aired on April 28th, 1981, ArtInsights is having a (virtual) special event! It will feature Peanuts cartoon animator and director Larry Leichliter. We will have exclusive original animation art from It’s Magic, Charlie Brown as well as rare …

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The Art of Andrea Alvin: Andrea Alvin art and exclusive interview

By Leslie Combemale | April 2, 2021

Andrea Alvin comes by her strong sense of nostalgia honestly. Born in 1947, she grew up in 50s Fresno, California, which she says was ‘always a little backward, always a little late in everything. If you wanted hip and new, you had to go to LA.” There was a candy store around the corner from …

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The Art of Pepe Le Pew and a Cartoon Cancel Culture

By Leslie Combemale | March 18, 2021

Today I’m going to discuss Pepé le Pew and the controversy around the classic cartoon character, who won an Academy Award for 1949’s For Scent-imental Reasons. a cartoon we’ll talk about in this blog. I’ll also drop the images of art available for sale representing the character, since purchases have gone through the roof, in …

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Jim Salvati: Disney Fine Artist, Film Concept Artist, Art Professor, Chill Surfer

By Leslie Combemale | March 5, 2021

Jim Salvati is doing the artist thing the right way.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the artists I know during this pandemic. Of course I’m thinking of artists of all kinds, including actors, musicians, and filmmakers, many of whom haven’t worked regularly in what is now over a year. There are also visual artists …

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A Walt Disney Winter: Top Ten Snow Scenes in Disney Animated Features

By Leslie Combemale | February 18, 2021

All across the country this February, we’ve been inundated with winter weather. At the time of this writing, Texas has been without power for way too long, due to a crushing storm, and that system has blown across to the Atlantic, dropping snow and ice as it has traveled. Perhaps, even with the few snow …

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Cartoon Love: Romance in Animation

By Leslie Combemale | February 4, 2021

For my first blog of 2021, I want to talk about cartoon love, love and romance in animation and animation art. Every February, as I look around the gallery, I consider just how much of animation and cartoon shorts are focused on love and romance. To be sure, it’s a strange year to celebrate Valentine’s …

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ArtInsights: How an art gallery is surviving and Adapting in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

By Leslie Combemale | January 3, 2021

Many of our great friends who also happen to be clients have been supporting ArtInsights gallery since last March when the Covid Pandemic effectively shut down the country (or it certainly should have..), and it’s not just heartwarming but an honor for that to be the case, but we’ve been asked many times by them, …

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We celebrate Beethoven’s 250th Birthday with exclusive Peanuts production art!

By Leslie Combemale | December 12, 2020

Beethoven turns 250 in December. We don’t actually know the date of his birth, but we do know he was a December baby. Since Schroeder has had a passion for the composer since he was able to put his fingers to a keyboard, we asked the folks at Sopwith if there was any special Peanuts …

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Disney and Star Wars Concept Artist Bill Silvers interview and art collection

By Leslie Combemale | November 27, 2020

Disney and Star Wars concept artist William Silvers, ‘Bill’ to his friends, has the sort of Olympic level of chill a traffic controller would envy. He looks like a surfer that just stepped out of a particularly bitchin’ wave. The only time he doesn’t have a mellow smile on his face is when he’s concentrating …

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ArtInsights Animation and Film Art 2020 Holiday Gift Guide

By Leslie Combemale | November 13, 2020

It’s the most wonderful time of the year? Ok, well in 2020, it stands to reason that the end is the most wonderful time, right? Still, even with the challenges and stress of a pandemic, an election, strife, and not nearly enough films watched in theaters to make up for it, we’re finding ways to …

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The Art of Willow and Willow movie poster art by John Alvin

By Leslie Combemale | October 29, 2020

With the exciting news that a Willow tv show is officially happening at the Disney+ streaming service, and starting production next year, I thought it might be a great time to look back on the beautiful illustration art created for the original John Alvin Willow posters. The art represents many different aspects of what made …

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