Biography

While to most, Disney animation is nothing more than moving cartoons, it's a different story for illustrator Rohan Newton. Newton was introduced to Disney at the age of five when she first saw "The Little Mermaid." She fell in love with the story and would draw countless interpretations of the mermaid every day at home. She dragged her father to the theater four times and once the movie came out on video, she would then drag him to the rental store every weekend. Finally, on her sixth birthday she received her very own copy. It was then she decided to start her own collection of Disney classics. Her family helped out on Christmas and birthdays, each time adding another to her collection. By the time she was 12, her collection was almost complete, save one movie. "Sleeping Beauty."

Newton wrote to Disney almost everyday asking when they would rerelease this last film. Finally on her 13th birthday the Disney studios did just that and her collection was complete. She popped in the video cassette and was blown away. "Sleeping Beauty" was something quite extraordinary. The animation was not your typical Disney animation. Here they chose to pay incredible detail to the artistic style of the time, referencing the famous tapestries. This style caught Newton's eye from the start and she fell in love with everything in the movie. She started to find out everything she could about the movies production. While doing this she came across information on the movies concept artist and background painter Eyvind Earle. A very successful artist in his own right, Earle had come to the studio in the 1950's. It was with "Sleeping beauty" that they wanted to incorporate the essence of his art into the overall style of the production. His paintings were very sculptural and detailed while still relaying a grand sense of gestural form. This hit a chord with Newton. She became incredibly inspired by Earle and his work and was determined to continue her art past the hobby stage.

By high school Newton was engrossed in her drawings. Her parents enrolled her in art classes and she took every available art class in her high school. Her senior year she applied to The Academy of Art and was accepted. This started a brand new chapter in her life. At the Academy, Newton was free to learn everything she could and incorporate that into any medium. She had always known that being an illustrator was what she wanted to do. The only question was how to go about this. After taking several sculpture courses she found herself thinking about her drawing and painting differently. She thought back to the sculptural quality of Earle's style and realized what she needed to do. She decided to take up Sculpture full time. Her new knowledge of the three dimensional form proved incredibly useful in creating her paintings.

Through her college experience, she never lost sight of her inspiration from Earle and Disney, constantly referencing their incredible story telling, applications of color, and attention to every detail. The future holds nothing different. While her lifelong ambition is to follow in Earle's footsteps and to one day work for Disney as a concept artist, Newton is now quite content painting for herself and others. Combining printmaking, papermaking, oil painting, and digital painting, Newton's work centers on gestural and sculptural form incorporating small details to tell a story. To give a character life and meaning.

And still, after all this time, she can still look back and appreciate what started it all. A love of Disney has never embarrassed her. It is the foundation for her art, the inspiration for doing what she does. While many people point out that it may be just for little kids, Walt Disney famously pointed out that adults are only kids grown up. And Newton will continue living in this world of make believe and magic and reap the benefits it has given her since she first heard a mermaid sing.

Skills

Figure Painting (Oil, Acrylic, and Watercolor), Still Life Painting, Ink Drawing, Figure Drawing, Papermaking, Printmaking, Ceramics, Figure Sculpture, Mold Making, Small Metal Arts and Jewelry, Welding and Fabrication, Amateur Photography, Forging, Stone Carving, Photoshop CS2, Corel Painter X.