DALLAS, TX.- The real-life origin story of the endlessly creative Tim Burton is that he got his start in the 1980s in Disney's animation department, and the department could not ‘Disneyfy' his wild aesthetic enough for its taste, so Burton eventually walked. He, of course, went on to become one of the most acclaimed feature film writer-directors of our time and a true stylist whose visual disposition is as distinctive as any output of any Disney era. The studio's loss of Burton as an animator turned out to be everyone's gain, including a future Disney, but Burton nonetheless left some marvelous work behind from his earliest days as a Disney artist, and some of that work as well as works from across Burton's explosive career are but one highlight of Heritage's sweeping, four-day auction extravaganza, The Art of All Things Disney and More! Signature® Auction. It takes place December 14-17 with more than 2000 lots, and it honors Disney's deep history and then some. (It is also Heritage's final big animation sale in a year that has seen major animation auction records broken one after another.)

"This sale boasts one of the single largest collections of artworks directly from the hand of Tim Burton," says Jim Lentz, Heritage Auctions' Vice President and Director of Animation & Anime Art. "It includes his original art from his first job at Disney — the Black Cauldron lots are simply amazing."

Some of these Burton Disney lots come from an extraordinary collection of one of the world's great animators, Andreas Deja. Early on, Burton's animation office mate was the young Deja, who went on to become the supervising animator for the most memorable villains from Disney's spectacular Renaissance, including Jafar from Aladdin, Scar from The Lion King and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. "After I passed the training program at Disney in 1980 I was asked to help out with character designs for the upcoming production of The Black Cauldron," writes Deja. "There was a need to come up with visuals for the next feature, and producer Joe Hale told me, ‘There is this other young guy who draws in his own unique style. Maybe the two of you can come up with a new look for Disney.'" Deja explains that he and Burton would make passes over each others' drawings. "Tim's stuff was amazing, and it seemed odd that I was asked to ‘Disneyfy' it. But I did try to go over his drawings, and each time I altered them to make them look closer to the Disney conventional style, I noticed that the essence of Tim's designs got lost. Tim went over some of my drawings as well, but the whole thing became somewhat frustrating. The two of us got along well, we just found ourselves in this strange predicament."

Burton's concept drawings for 1985's The Black Cauldron and other Disney projects practically buzz and chirp off of their pages with the artist's idiosyncratic, unmistakable style. This character design concept drawing of the ruthless Horned King and his minions could be by non other than Burton, so familiar is his burgeoning style; and this "scary good" character design concept drawing, says Lentz, "is full figure character rendered in mixed media where you can see Burton's developing aesthetic touchstones that would soon lead to The Nightmare Before Christmas, in the character's thin limbs, stitched body, and expressive linework."

Says Lentz, "This auction also boasts works from Burton from well beyond his time with Disney. We have great storyboards and concept art from his Nightmare Before Christmas, great lots of artwork from James and the Giant Peach, from Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, Tim Burton's Superman; from his fantastic early Frankenweenie, and even his "Family Dog" from Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories!"

In more recent years, the abovementioned Deja has been the supervising animator of Disney's original public face, Mickey Mouse, and he would surely appreciate another highlight section of this auction, which pays tribute to the artwork and animators of Mickey's earliest days. Works from the hand of legendary animator Ub Iwerks from Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy are included, as well as cels and drawings from Mickey's greatest outings like Mickey's Gala Premier, Society Dog Show, The Brave Little Tailor and Thru the Mirror. Here's Mickey in his most famous role, as The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the 1940 feature Fantasia. "But also in this sale is the Holy Grail of any animation art collection," says Lentz. "It is an exceptionally rare, hand-inked Mickey and Minnie Mouse black-and-white nitrate production cel from the 1933 theatrical short Puppy Love on a rare 1931 hand-painted black and white production background from The Picnic." As collectors know, those glorious early nitrate cels are nearly extinct, and this significant piece of Disney history is the work featured on the cover of the auction's juicy and collectible two-volume catalog.

While the auction covers all of Disney's years, some of its most notable lots come from the earlier years and artists of the studio, and this includes nearly 100 museum-worthy original drawings and cels from Disney's first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Two highlights are the original concept layout pan drawing of all seven dwarfs done for the famous Hi Ho! scene, as well as an extremely rare preliminary drawing, from the hand of Gustaf Tenggren, of the Evil Queen and her Magic Mirror.

To give one a sense of the scope and reach of this event, one of its featured gems is the actual broom from the 1971 Disney feature Bedknobs and Broomsticks. "You may now call yourself Apprentice Witch!" This original screen-used broom prop is for Miss Eglantine Price, played by legend Angela Lansbury; the broom first appears at 13:21 in the film when Miss Price sneaks downstairs and opens a package from The Emelius Browne Correspondence College of Witchcraft, revealing this rare hero prop.

In every Heritage Disney Animation Art auction one of the most anticipated sections covers the original artworks of legendary Disney artist Mary Blair, and one of many highlights is an immense Blair original painting that was commissioned by Walt Disney himself as a gift for Carmen Miranda. Blair's opening title pastel backgrounds from the 1945 animated feature The Three Caballeros are here, as well as a selection of her early concept work for Dumbo, Song of the South and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Her 1950s work is well represented with concept and key paintings from Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. A true diamond is a rare concept painting from the studio's early work on Winnie the Pooh — a lovely and lyrical depiction of Christopher Robin and his furry friends waiting out a rainy day. Her esteemed Disney concept-art colleague, the tremendous Eyvind Earle, is behind some of the most impressive lots in this sale. From the Homer Jonas Archive comes two rare Earle concept/color key paintings from Peter Pan. "These are two of the rarest Eyvind Earle Disney pieces we have come across," says Lentz. "We also have Earle concept pieces from Lady and the Tramp as well as ten original concept paintings from his work on 1959's Sleeping Beauty."

There's a good reason that the auction has the words "and More!" in its title. Heritage's relationship with animation has so exploded in recent years that even a ship the size of Disney can't hold it all. One solid example: This auction welcomes back the art of William Simpson, one of the artists behind the success of the television series Game of Thrones — his hand-drawn storyboards, character and concept artworks have been crucial building blocks of one of the most successful franchises in entertainment history. "Mr. Simpson's work on the show, as well as his entire career, is on offer in this event, and the lots include his gorgeously detailed paintings of the White Walker and the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones," says Lentz. Also from his career come his original comic and cover art for Transformers, Battle Tech, Magic the Gathering and others. "Heritage is proud and honored to once again have Mr. Simpson's brilliant career on display this auction," says Lentz.