On July 15, 2017, in Anaheim, CA, the U.S. Postal Service issued the Disney Villains stamps (Forever priced at 49 cents), in ten designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps.

This issuance celebrates the rich legacy of the Walt Disney Studios Ink & Paint Department with a pane of 20 stamps showcasing 10 classic Disney villains: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Honest John (Pinocchio), Cruella De Vil (One Hundred and One Dalmatians), Captain Hook (Peter Pan), the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), Ursula (The Little Mermaid), the Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), and Scar (The Lion King). The selvedge area features the Queen from Snow White standing in front of an ornate background. The reverse side of the pane includes drawings of the 10 characters and a quote from each one. Art Director Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, working closely with Disney Creative Director David Pacheco and the team at the Walt Disney Studios Ink & Paint Department, designed these stamps using new art created for the issuance.

Beginning in 1923, Disney’s Ink & Paint Department helped create classic animated films. Its artists brought life to countless memorable characters, including many iconic Disney villains.

One of the first groups of its kind, Disney’s Ink & Paint Department was yet another stop on the road to creating an animated film. After the animators’ pencil drawings were finished, they went to Ink and Paint. There, highly specialized artists meticulously recreated each pencil line in ink, capturing every nuanced movement and expression. At first, artists used black and white, and later shades of gray to “color” each celluloid or cel. Finally, in the early 1930s, artists began using rich colors on animation cels.

The last full-length animated Disney film to use the hand-painted cel process was The Little Mermaid (1989). Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994) were hands drawn. The original pencil drawings for those films were then scanned and painted digitally. For these stamps, the characters Gaston (Beauty and the Beast) and Scar (The Lion King) have been recreated using traditional ink and paint techniques.

Art director, Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, designed the issuance.