Gallery: The Amazing Character Designs of Ferdinand Horvath

Let us celebrate the final day of 2012 with inspiring visuals in the form of character designs and studies by animation legend Ferdinand Horvath (1891-1973). Horvath was a European émigré who moved to the United States in 1921 after spending much of World War I in Russian prison camps. He worked for six years at Paul Terry’s Aesop’s Fables studio before moving to Los Angeles. On the West Coast, Horvath worked at Disney where he contributed character designs, backgrounds, story ideas and gags to over sixty shorts including Father Noah’s Ark, Mickey’s Circus, The Band Concert, The Old Mill, Woodland Cafe, and The Cookie Carnival. He also made important contributions to the studio’s first feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Later, Horvath worked at Columbia’s Screen Gems studio and George Pal’s Puppetoons studio.