Disney Limited Edition: I'm A Boy

DISNEY LIMITED EDITION: I'M A BOY

Jim Salvati

MEDIUM: Hand-Embellished Giclée Print on Canvas
SIZE: 16" x 20"
EDITION SIZE: 195
ARTIST: Jim Salvati
SIGNED: Hand-Signed by Artist
SKU: DFA-LE-IMABOY

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Inspired by Walt Disney’s Pinocchio, featuring Pinocchio as he heads off to school. 

ABOUT THE MEDIUM:  Limited edition prints are reproductions of an original piece of art work. The giclée prints on canvas are museum quality prints that last the upwards of 100 years. Giclée printing is a process that uses fade-resistant, archival inks and archival substrates to print on large format printers. The run of prints are capped at a specific number. Limited edition prints can be more valuable to art collectors than prints without a restricted number of copies because of the rarity of the prints. Each piece is hand-numbered and embellished by the artist.  Each piece also includes a Certificate of Authenticity.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:  "I'm a very regular guy; there's nothing fancy about me," says Jim, who grew up surfing the beaches of Southern California and went on to graduate from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in 1982.   "I tell my students that you don't have to be extremely talented to make it. You can make it in life on passion and determination."

Jim has plenty of those two attributes, and he most certainly has "made it" in the art world. He's been a prolific artist for movie studios and theaters, with a client list that includes Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Radio City Music Hall. He was the master illustrator and conceptual artist behind many of the memorable images and finished paintings associated with the "Harry Potter" films.

He describes his style as "painterly realism", and his favorite subjects are people. Ask him about a painting, and he will tell you the subject's personal story.  Salvati sees his paintings as his portal into various cultures and different areas of society. "I like the connection between people and their culture," he says. "The different emotions, gestures, moods, environments, and style of people in my life and those that I cross paths with, all become part of my storytelling".

"Even with my Disney art, I think it's important to show who a person or character is and what is the most interesting part of their life—the part that is bold and has guts."  Character and boldness can be observed in the scenes that Salvati chooses to depict. They are often not only a defining moment of a film, but usually the most emotionally charged and sometimes heartbreaking. Bambi alone in the woods, the Huntsman with Snow White, and Scar leaving Simba in the canyon, are all turning points in the story, and when the main character had to show their "guts" or courage.

Working in oil paint, Salvati uses panel and sometimes mounted paper preferring the option of layering paint to create a lot of texture, as he feels that an uneven surface adds to the emotion of the story. "My paintings are extremely thick and layered and oil allows me the time I need to play with the color," he says.

For the past 22 years, he's been teaching at Art Center himself, a gig he's found just as rewarding and inspiring as painting. "I love teaching, and students respond to my style because I'm so down to earth," he says. A byproduct of his years as an instructor is his strong connection to artistic diversity as well as a careful observation of the changing world of art and how art interrelates with technology. His experience and knowledge cross many boundaries into Print, Film, Animation, and the fine arts.

ABOUT THE FILM: Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1883 Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.

The plot involves an old woodcarver named Geppetto who carves a wooden puppet named Pinocchio. The puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy, who informs him that he can become a real boy if he proves himself to be "brave, truthful, and unselfish". Pinocchio's efforts to become a real boy involve encounters with a host of unsavory characters. The key character of Jiminy Cricket does not appear in the original book, though a 100-year "wise, old" cricket does. The cricket warns Pinocchio of his impudence when they meet only to be killed in return shortly after.

Pinocchio was a groundbreaking achievement in effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles, machinery and natural elements such as rain, lightning, smoke, shadows and water.

It became the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award — winning two for Best Music, Original Score and for Best Music, Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star". The film and characters are still prevalent in popular culture, featuring at various Disney parks and is often impulsive and mischievous. When he tells a lie, his nose grows longer, and when he tells the truth, his nose resumes its normal size.