Three Women Who Made History in Animation

Today marks the last day of Women’s History month and I'm here to talk about three women who made their mark in animation.

1) Mary Blair 

If you’re a huge fan of Disney chances are that name sounds familiar. Mary Blair is well known for her work with Walt Disney Animation. She worked as a concept artist, art supervisor, and color stylist. Her most notable works are her concept art from Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and  Peter Pan (1953). Soon after Peter Pan, she resigned from the Disney Studios and pursued her career as a freelance illustrator. As Walt Disney went on to make amusement parks based on his work, he looked to Mary Blair once more to design parts of the parks from the murals around the parks to attractions like “It’s a Small World”. Her work continues to inspire animators to this day.

2) Rebecca Sugar

She’s currently one of the most influential artists around Tumblr for various reasons, one being that she was the first woman to solely create her own show for Cartoon Network Studios. Her program is currently on air, Steven Universe which first aired back in 2013. Before making history, Sugar previously worked on Adventure Time as a storyboard artist until season five when she left to give her complete focus on what is now the most viewed show on Cartoon Network. Not only is she the creator, she also does many things on the show such as music, writing, storyboarding, and is the executive producer. 

3) Jennifer Yuh Nelson 

She worked as a storyboard artist for DreamWorks Animation on movies like Madagascar. Due to her interest in martial arts films, she was promoted as the head of the story for Kung Fu Panda. For the first Kung Fu Panda she directed the hand drawn sequences that is seen throughout the movie. She was then offered to direct the sequel for Kung Fu Panda, making her the first woman to solely direct a full-length animated feature in Hollywood and the first female director to have the highest-grossing animated film after it made over $600 million worldwide.