Thomas Kinkade Studios at Epcot Festival of the Arts

DIRK WUNDERLICH

Dirk’s interest in drawing Disney characters came at an early age. He was eight years old when Disneyland opened in 1955. Dirk became inspired by the art and sent Walt Disney Studios what he thought were fabulous drawings of their characters.

In the early 80’s, Dirk began to design advertising layouts and catalogs for Disney’s non-theatrical film rental division. That opportunity would lead to work on the launch of The Disney Channel. There Dirk created an image of Mickey from ‘Fantasia’ that showed Mickey pointing up to the channel’s logo. This artwork would soon be used on posters, ads and brochures.

After freelancing for some time, Dirk met Thomas Kinkade who saw real talent and took him under his wing. Through several years of working under Thom’s direction, perfecting his techniques and styles, Dirk became a Thomas Kinkade Studios Legacy Artist.

One of Dirk’s most memorable moments with Thom was accompanying him and his wife at Disney World for its Thirty-Fifth Anniversary to unveil” A New Day at the Cinderella Castle”. As the three made their way down Main Street in a vintage car, they were greeted by hundreds of Disney collectors.

Join us on opening day, January 14th at 1 pm at the Thomas Kinkade Studios Booth in the Italy Pavilion to watch Dirk Wunderlich unveil our newest Disney paintings!

Monte Moore

Monte Moore has been a professional illustrator for nearly 30  years for dozens of top-tier companies and properties having worked on book covers, video games, movie posters, card games and comic books. Along with having 8 books published exclusively featuring his commercial artwork in the pop-culture industries Monte has won the World Fantasy Art show twice for Best Black and White work and has been a guest of honor artist at conventions and art shows around the world including Italy, Scotland, Belgium and Germany and 2001 Guest of Honor at the San Diego Comic-Con International.  

Monte’s list of clients that he has created licensed artwork for include: DC Comics, Marvel Entertainment, Image Comics, IDW, Wizards of the Coast,  Jose Cuervo, Lucasfilm Ltd., Hard Rock Cafe, The U.S. Marine Corps, Coors, Harley-Davidson, The Boy Scouts of America and many others.  Recent projects for Monte have included cover art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #100 and Transformers vs. The Terminator #1 and recently People’s Choice Award Winner in 2019 Western Art Rodeo Association World Finals. 

Jenna McMullins

Jenna McMullins began her art career in 2017 after graduating with a degree in Design and Illustration. She has designed work for small businesses all across the US, and just recently began making officially licensed prints for Lucasfilm in 2021. Her passion for Star Wars and Disney has driven her to grow as an artist, and has continued to inspire her work. Jenna was introduced to Thomas Kinkade’s work in college, and that became her new inspiration, and her dream company to create for. One of her favorite uses of her artistic abilities is to raise money for charities through the sales of her prints.