Hazel Sewell

Hazel Mae Sewell (née Bounds; 1 May 1898 – 22 January 1975), later Cottrell, was an American animation artist and the first head of Walt Disney Studio's Ink and Paint Department. (It was earlier known as the Tracing & Opaquing Department.)

Born in Spalding, Idaho, she was hired shortly after her sister Lillian Bounds, also known as Lillian Disney, began working at the studio as an artist. Some of Sewell's primary responsibilities as the head of the Ink and Paint Department included: developing new techniques in the inking and painting processes, creating new divisions at the Walt Disney Studio, and overseeing the hiring and training of new artists. and the feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Before working for Walt Disney as a young adult, she married her husband Glenn O. Sewell, and they continued to reside in Lapwai. (Glenn Sewell was the brother of Blanche Sewell, a film editor in classic Hollywood.) After her husband found work in Los Angeles, the couple moved there with their only daughter Marjorie Sewell. As the head of the Ink and Paint Department, Sewell was responsible for establishing new techniques used in the process of creating animations. The trip had been ordered by the US government to improve the relationship between the United States and South American countries during the Second World War.

Filmography