10 Awesome Artists To Look For At Epcot's Festival of the Arts 2019

My favorite Epcot festival starts this weekend, gang, and runs through February 25th - so make your plans now! The Festival of the Arts features new food, musical acts, live demonstrations, exclusive merch - allll the things - but the standout for me is, of course, THE ART. 

Disney has been great about recruiting fresh new artists for their WonderGround Tent at the Festival, many of whom I've been following for years. It's such a thrill to watch long-time friends and favorites getting pulled into the Disney family, so let me brag on my personal Top Ten this year, k? 

- Ashley Taylor

 

Ashley is a friend-of-a-friend and an inspiration for artists everywhere. I've heard so many stories of how hard she worked, drawing in her free time after work every night, never giving up - and a few years later she was touring the world with Her Universe. Amazing. So it's kind of fitting that two of Ashley's new Festival pieces feature Cinderella!

 

My favorite, though, is her STUNNING World Showcase print:

Ashley licenses a lot of her art on clothing through Her Universe, so I can't help but hope this ends up on a skirt someday. 

Here's a closer look at one those Cinderella pieces, which has LITERAL foreshadowing, you guys:

Love it. Watch for these prints and more at the Festival, and be sure to follow Ashley on IG! (She's a beacon of positivity and encouragement online, btw. I love that about her.)

 
- Jason Ratner 

Jason is a new find for me this year, but I am OVER THE MOON for the Festival prints he's debuting:

::Swooooooon::

(Thanks to those of you who sent this my way; I love that y'all think of me when you see great Figment stuff. :D)

But wait, Jason has more:

I love these colors!

Aren't they stunning? Go follow Jason here on IG to see more of his work. 

Also, all of these artists have their Festival schedules posted on their accounts, in case you'd like to meet them in person.

- June Kim

This was all I needed to see of June's Festival prints - I'M SOLD - but she just posted this sweet Tiki one, too!

June also has lots - and LOTS - of original work online, like this:

I'm especially loving her wooden coasters:

You can follow Kim on IG here, and also browse the rest of her prints and goodies here on Etsy. (Keep in mind the Disney stuff is only available through Disney, though!)

- Caley Hicks

I first met Caley years ago at a con, and have been following her art ever since. She had two fantastic Small World prints at the Festival last year, and is knocking it outta the park (heh) again for 2019 with these beauties:

Orange Bird is my fav, of course, but dig that Mansion sweetness!

Caley's non-Disney work is mostly geared toward fabric goods, check these out:

I want them all. Go see the rest of her pillows and blankets and comforters (which are AMAZEBALLS) here on Society6. Caley's also on Spoonflower, so look out, sewists. For the rest of you, follow her on IG!

- Jasmine Becket-Griffith 

Jasmine is the first artist I ever followed online, going back over two decades, if you can believe it. (Egadz.) She and her hubby Matt are Good People, and my gosh, can she paint:

 These are the teasers she's been releasing on Instagram:

Those eyes.

Jasmine has soooo much original work in addition to her licensed work, so if you like her style be sure to follow her on IG and go browse her website! She has literally thousands of prints and merch to choose from, so best of luck picking your favorites.

- Dave Perillo

 

I can't tell you how many years ago I started following Dave's work, but I've been smitten with his style ever since. I also squealed very loudly the first time I spotted his prints at the Disney Co-Op. because I'm a total art nerd and - again - THRILLED to see artists I know signing on with the Mouse.

I don't know yet if Dave's debuting anything new at the Festival, but here are more of his WonderGround prints to look for while you're there:

I'll also throw in an example of Dave's non-Disney work, because FRAGGLES:

Most of Dave's stuff is licensed and/or limited edition, but he has an online store with a few prints here. You can also follow him on IG!

- Kristen Tercek 

Kristin is another of my long-time favorites, and I think the first artist I "knew" to get picked up for WonderGround back in 2012. (I remember having to call - on a PHONE, whaaaat - the California store to buy her Oswald the Lucky Rabbit print way back then. Now Orlando has it's own WonderGround Gallery, thank goodness.) 

 Here's some of Kristin's WonderGround work from over the years:

I own small version of Donald and Figment, of course.

And here's some of Kristin's original work, because I think you'll like that, too:

Go browse Kristin's web store for all her fabulous prints (this banana split is on the wall here in my office, I love it), and of course follow her on IG for more!

- Chris Uminga

I found Chris's work at a con some years back, and instantly loved his glowy-eye style. Since then he's gone on to do some phenomenal stuff. I especially love his latest batch of figures for DC:

 Those glowing pupil-less eyes are kind of his trademark, though Chris does plenty without them, too.

Anyway, for the Festival you can look for that Wreck It Ralph print and this Chewy goodness:

I'm not sure if Chris' Ewok will be available, but I hope so, because I love this so much:

Chris mostly has those DC figures in his web store right now, but there are a few prints, too, so go check it out. Then follow him on IG for more!

- Jerrod Maruyama

Ahh, the creator of Hipster Mickey himself, the King of Cute, Jerrod!

Jerrod has a new Small World blind box set that keeps selling out:

    Plus he says he'll have lots of new art, so I'm pumped.

 Last year Jerrod had the BEST Epcot icons print:

... and since he posted this recently, I'm hoping that means this year he'll have just these two fellas on their own print:

I know, I'm predictable in my love of DF & Figgie. I'm OK with that.

(If you're new here, here's my hubby John as Dreamfinder, with the life-sized Figment we made ourselves.)

And last but not least:

- Danny Haas

 Danny also hasn't released his new Festival print yet, but it's gonna be something STAR WARS (woot!), so these past ones of his should give us a good idea of what to expect:

Danny's also the only one on this list who won't be at the WonderGround tent; he'll be over in the Acme Archives booth. 

If you like these, be sure to follow Danny on IG for more!

I hope these made you smile, Dizgeeks, and get you a little more excited for Epcot's Festival of the Arts this year! Or. if you can't get there in time, then I hope this at least gave you some great new artists to follow.

 I don't believe any of the Festival exclusive art will be available online, but if I learn differently I'll update this post with the proper links.

Now, let's give away some free art! And just to make it EXTRA special, I'm giving away prints by 3 of this year's Festival artists, all of which I purchased at WonderGround Gallery:

   (The Tiki print is by Joey Chou, another of my favorite Disney artists - but I ran out of room in my Top Ten, ha. [Sorry, Joey!] Anyway, go follow Joey on IG, too, and watch for him at the Festival!)

If you'd like to win any of these 3 prints, then just tell me in the comments which is your favorite to enter. (It's OK to say all 3!) I'll ship anywhere, so internationals welcome. I'll announce my 3 randomly selected winners in my very next post, so be sure to check back! Unclaimed art will go to the fastest commenter on FB, so you might follow me there, too. 

Happy commenting!

UPDATE: The give-away has ended!

Now let's announce the art winners from my last post!

The winner of Micky & Minnie is Margaret Balch

The winner of the retro Space Mountain is Vikki

and the winner of the Tiki Birds is Samantha Ferrins!

Congrats, you three, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses!