Brian Kesinger
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Brian Kesinger (born June 20, 1975 in
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,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
) is an American illustrator, author and animator who has worked at Walt Disney Studios for 20+ years. His works are steeped in Victorian steampunk art. Born into a family of musicians, he was the only one not able to play an instrument. His fondness for drawing was so apparent that his parents supported his artistic training throughout his school days. He started drawing steampunk art long before the term was coined. In 2000 he did the layout and background design for Walt Disney's film '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire''. It was during this period that he developed a fondness for drawing submarines, gears and similar gadgets. Following this he became involved with the film ''
Treasure Planet ''Treasure Planet'' is a 2002 American animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The 43rd Disney animated feature film, it is a science fiction adaptat ...
'' and grew to like tall ships and
sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
. Other films he has worked on include ''
Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'', ''
Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
'', ''
Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale ''Rapunzel'' in the collection of ...
'', ''
Chicken Little "Henny Penny", more commonly known in the United States as "Chicken Little" and sometimes as "Chicken Licken", is a European folk tale with a moral in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes that the world is coming to an end ...
'', ''
Home on the Range "Home on the Range" is a classic cowboy song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873 ...
'', '' Bolt'' and ''
Meet the Robinsons ''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 47th animated film produced by the studio, it is loosely based on t ...
''. Brian Kesinger was raised on a steady diet of Walt Disney creations by parents who felt it important for him to be exposed to art. He was accepted at the
Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
in Burbank, California, during his senior year at high school, becoming in 1996 at age 18 the youngest animator in the history of the company. He started as a layout artist on the film ''Tarzan'' and in his career with Disney Animation has filled many positions ranging from visual development to story artist. In 2011 he received the Annie Award for his story work on Disney's ''
Prep and Landing ''Prep & Landing'' is a computer animated television special, based on an idea by Chris Williams at Walt Disney Animation Studios and developed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton into a half-hour Christmas special. It first aired Decembe ...
'', with his most recent film at Disney being the
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-nominated ''
Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...
''. In ''Wreck-It Ralph'' Kesinger's voice is used for
Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...
from Midway Games's '' Mortal Kombat'' franchise. Away from his office he has created fantasy steampunk worlds peopled with memorable characters under the banner of "Tea Girls", illustrations using tea-stain washes and finished in ink and watercolours, including a portrait of steampunk chanteuse Veronique Chevalier. Two of his most popular characters are the unlikely duo of Victoria Prismall, an independent young lady, and Otto (Italian for 'eight'), her live-in octopus who is a friend, butler and pet. They have appeared in books, prints, T-shirts, and more. Kesinger has published his first illustrated book on the couple, ''Walking Your Octopus: A Guide to the Domesticated Cephalopod''. He describes it as "a satirical look at how we all can get a little carried away with how we raise our pets. It’s certainly inspired by my own dog Scout but also inspired by the ups and downs of raising two young children with my wife. My hope is that the book speaks to not only steampunk fans but pet owners and parents as well." Thirty full-page illustrations portray the couple at home and about, bathing, biking, dating, cooking, playing croquet, pumpkin carving, and other activities necessary for the spiritual well-being of an intelligent and worldly octopus. Kesinger finds it entertaining to draw the octopus and is constantly challenged by having to find things for each tentacle to do. In that sense an octopus is a natural at multi-tasking and has enthralled a great many people. Cephalopods generally have become a theme animal for steampunk, so that Kesinger found the choice of octopus as Victoria's soulmate an easy one to make. The popularity of Otto and Victoria, though, came as a surprise, as did the
fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers t ...
, tattoos and the appearance of girls cosplaying Victoria at conventions all over the country. He plans to produce a full-length film featuring Otto and Victoria’s adventures, purely to satisfy his own wish for a well-rendered steampunk animated film. Kesinger created a mashup of Kylo Ren and Darth Vader and the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes.'' It also stars Kylo's parents, Princess Leia and Han Solo.


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Storytelling with Brian KesingerBrian Kesinger on fanartBrian Kesinger's Tea GirlsOtto and Victoria galleryGallery of Brian Kesinger worksGalleryDeviant Art FacebookTwitterTumblr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesinger, Brian Steampunk American illustrators American male writers American animators Fictional octopuses Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Walt Disney Animation Studios people Living people