Oo-de-lally! What a set of Disney inspired goodies up for grabs in Graeme Neil Reid’s May Art Raffle

By John Freeman on May 29, 2018

Not only will one person walk away with an original landscape scene based on a classic Disney animated film but a second winner will receive a watercolour original of that wicked evil fairy Maleficent in artist Graeme Neil Reid’s monthly raffle. That’s right two winners this month and the second prize will go to one of Graeme’s supporters who hasn’t previously won so even better odds of grabbing a painting.

Graeme is a Scottish artist who now works primarily in traditional mediums of watercolour and acrylic. His work has graced many different areas including books (The Dangerous Book of Heroes), television (World’s Strongest Man), gaming (Need for Speed), magazines (Radio Times), comics (2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine), online and apps (Doctor Who).

For the first prize winner they have a choice of two paintings to pick from:

Close-ups of the landscape “Robin Hood” art created by Graeme Neil Reid

‘We never rob! We just – sort of borrow a bit from those who can afford it.‘ Robin Hood and Little John do a lot running through the forest in the 1973 animated film which rightly has its fans and critics alike. The film features all the trademark highlights of a Disney animated film including wonderful character design, great songs, comedy and background art but is singled out for criticism for its reuse of animated sequences that the failing budget forced upon it. Still there is a lot to love from the feature and one is surely the attractive background art of Sherwood Forest.

Sleeping Beauty - Close Up - art by by Graeme Neil Reid

Close-ups of the landscape “Sleeping Beauty” art created by Graeme Neil Reid

‘Now, shall you deal with ME, O Prince – and all the powers of HELL!’ Stylistically speaking the 1959 production of Sleeping Beauty broke the mould for Disney and set a bench mark in animation. Eight years in production the design heralded a new style for Disney that became closely associated with American illustration and animation throughout the 1960s.

Surely one of the most impressive scenes from the film is the transformation of the evil Maleficent into a dragon and her combat with Prince Phillip at the climax of the feature.

Both paintings were painted on Dalek Rowney ’Langton’ watercolour board at 27cm x 9cm size.

The second prize winner will be sent this Artist Card (9cm x 6.5cm) sized original painting:

‘You poor, simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me.’ Here is Maleficent with her familiar pet Diablo the Raven. She has had a bit of a remake in recent years with Angelina Jolie playing her in a live action version of Sleeping Beauty in 2014 but I think the classic design of the character is amazing, she could stop you dead in your tracks with a glance of her cold penetrating gaze.

Entering couldn’t be easier, by pledging just $1 a month on Graeme’s Patreon site you get entered into the Art Raffle plus rewards including Work in Progress posts, Art Club with first chance to buy his art, postcards, stickers, PDF books to download and a range of discounts at his Etsy Store.

You can read more information about the raffle and see all the previous winners and prizes over at his blog.

The competition will run until midnight (GMT) of 31st May 2018, and the winners will be notified shortly afterwards.

The first prize winner will get to choose one of the two paintings as their prize and the other painting will be available to buy, first to Graeme’s Patreon supporters with an added discount and then at his Esty shop.

• More about artist Graeme Neil Reid online at www.gnreid.co.uk | Facebook | YouTube | Patreon | Buy his art on Etsy

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.