Born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey, Clinton Hobart was inspired to become an artist as a child while watching Disney’s, “The Little Mermaid”. Recalling this time in his life, Clinton says: “I remember the specific scene where Ariel comes up out of the water, the wind catches her hair, and it sticks to her face. I remember thinking ‘I want to do that for a living.’”

Not long after, Clinton began receiving private drawing lessons from family friend Milt Neil, who worked on many Donald Duck cartoons. As Clinton’s skills progressed and his resolve to become a professional artist became evident, Milt advised him to focus on figure drawing, and suggested he attend the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC after finishing high school.

Taking his mentor’s advice, Clinton enrolled at SVA, where he spent most of his free time attending life-drawing sessions at Spring Studio in SoHo. Then in his junior year, Clinton was invited to participate in an internship with Walt Disney Feature Animation known as “Disney Boot Camp”, and he subsequently became an officially licensed Disney Artist.

Clinton says that he draws upon his experience with Disney in his approach to all of his art. Even with his still-life paintings, Clinton tries to give his subject matter a feeling of being alive, often imagining these objects as actors on a stage. He says: “The idea that a clock could talk, a mushroom could dance around, or just the feeling that the objects in a painting might get up and walk away at any second, all came from time spent with Disney.”

Clinton’s work is currently being shown in many private collections, both domestically and internationally. His collectors include CEOs, actors and actresses, several well-known artists, prominent businessmen and women, and government officials. Clinton teaches painting and drawing workshops across the world and was featured in the February 2009 issue of American Artist magazine.