You may have seen today’s Google Doodle today, honoring one of my favorite illustrators, Mary Blair, who would have been 100 years old today.

Mary Blair was an amazing American artist who was both prominent and prolific in her work for Disney in the 1940’s and 1950’s. She drew concept art for Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Cinderella, as well as designs for Disney theme park attractions (most notably, Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World”.)

She also illustrated several children’s books, including I Can Fly by Ruth Krauss (a favorite Golden Book in our house!) and created stunning advertisements as a freelance designer for major brands including Nabisco, Maxwell House, Hanes and many others.

Mary Blair had an incredible sense of style, and was a major part of the Cartoon Modern movement that is STILL inspiring illustrators and animators 60 years later. Naturally, I’m extra inspired by her work since she was a woman, and there were not too many women working in animation at that time.

Interestingly, she married a fellow artist, Lee Blair, and her brother-in-law was Preston Blair, animator and author of what is essentially regarded as the quintessential “How to Draw” book by 2-D animators.

Here are just a few of my favorites from Mary Blair’s work, but seriously, just go do a Google Image search and drool over it. It’s ALL amazing and inspiring.

Images via: Google, Wikipedia, Magic of Mary Blair, & Cartoon Modern.