Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Thoroughly Modern Minnie

Following the previous post here's more of Minnie. This time not so murderous...

Yesterday I was looking through a set of Disney stats. What I saw was probably clip-art sent to various publishers from the Disney studio in the 70's and 80's. I thought most of it was stiff and boring until I saw the following artwork in the bottom of the pile.

I guess these drawings are from the mid 80's, and that this was an attempt to make a more modern and up to date Minnie. There are some great, great poses to be found among these sheets! So I've scanned some of the best for you to enjoy. I sure got inspired when I saw them and if you are an artist I hope you will be too. :)





[Edit: These are all drawn by Daan Jippes. See the comments for further info.]

8 comments:

Francoisw said...

Hey

It is an attempt in the late 1980s to revitalize Minnie. The comics are called "Totally Minnie", which you can find here:

http://coa.inducks.org/subseries.php?c=Totally+Minnie

Anonymous said...

Hello Joakim,
Daan Jippes here...
The art is /was mine, done while employed at the Studios in the Consumer Products Dept. during the Eighties.
Inks not by me.
Indeed, as clarified earlier by "FrancoisW", as part of a promotional program called Totally Minnie, a Madonna-inspired push to re-define and "update" her character.

Joakim Gunnarsson said...

Thanks for the info, Francois and Daan!
Those Minnie stories seems to have slipped under my radar. Most of them seems to only have been published in Germany.

Anonymous said...

I think there was similar move to modernize Daisy in 80's Brazilian mags.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember sweat shirts with some of that artwork in the late 1980s/ early 1990s.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the look might not have made much inroads in the weekly comics mags, but I think it was relatively common in advertising. I remember some stickers in glossy shining colors of Mickey and Minnie reclining at each other, or team poses of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald in similar "fresh" styles...

Stef Gaines said...

Oh! I got a towel with one of these, I've had it since I was really young. Apparently it worked, since I worshiped Minnie at that age(4) and wanted to be named Minnie.

Nowadays I hate her, but that's a different story.

Chris Sobieniak said...

Ironically, I have been volunteering at a Salvation Army Thrift Shop that has this ridiculous wallpaper thing on the wall near the ceiling down an aisle that has this "Totally Minnie" 80's thing going on with the characters all looking like they're stuck in 1987! Have to share a pic of that!