Last year i did a first article in tribute to Eric Heschong artwork. I love Eric's style and i think he is a fantastic painter, really. In this part two we will have a look to some of his work for Disney, beginning by these two paintings realised for the 1998 "New Tomorrowland" at Disneyland. Tony Baxter loved DLP Discoveryland style and this new DL Tomorrowland design was based on the retro-futurist concepts that Disneyland Paris's Discoveryland featured. As you remember, the entire new Tomorrowland was painted in bronzes, golds, and dark browns, with occasional green highlights and you'll find these colors in Eric's paintings above and below. Please note that these two artworks are new high-res "perfect" scans, so don't hesitate to click on them to watch them in larger scale.
Edited 9/21: After seeing my scans, Eric notified me that his original Tomorrowland overview artwork - the one you can see below - has been extensively reworked by an unkown artist. Eric's original artwork - without these additions - was printed up as a fine art print some years ago and if you own one of these prints please let me know as i am looking for a picture of Eric's "true original" painting. Thanks!
Among other works related to Disney theme parks that Eric did, there is this beautiful painting of the Mark Twain Riverboat. Actually, this one was not an order from WDI, Eric did this painting for himself!
D&M Asian readers, specially Tokyo Disneyland fans should be highly interested by the next artwork as it shows a TDL project that never was. This "Fantasia" art-deco style building looks gorgeous don't you think?
Edited: I succeeded to had more details about this "Fantasia" project, and it was a project from Imagineer Eddie Sotto. This Fantasia store was anchored by a huge animated sorcerers apprentice fountain inside, a miniature golf course on the roof and a restaurant! Unfortunately the project was shot down at the last minute and the "Bon Voyage" shop was built instead.
Although you can see in the background - on the bottom left - the silhouette of the TDS Columbia ship my feeling is that it was envisioned for the TDL shopping and entertainment area outside the parks. May be this Fantasia building would have been built where the "Bon Voyage" shop is now, but unfortunately i don't have a lot of infos about it. If someone knows what TDL guests would have found inside - whether it would have been a super store or a restaurant, or even both - thanks to let us know!
All pictures: copyright Disney - Eric Heschong
