Phyllis Craig; Animation Color Designer, Gallery Owner

Phyllis Craig, 68, animation color designer who created art galleries for her employers. Trained at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Craig began her career at Disney in 1952 as a painter on “Peter Pan.” She moved to the color key department for “Sleeping Beauty” and “101 Dalmatians.” After raising her three children, Craig returned to the animation industry, working successively at Hanna-Barbera, Marvel and since 1988 at Film Roman. There she headed the color key department for three Emmy-winning specials about “Garfield” the cartoon cat. At Film Roman, as well as in previous jobs, Craig organized fine art displays by film industry artists. Using the company’s hallways as hanging space, she staged monthly shows by her colleagues, inspiring them to paint. Eager to bring young people into the profession, Craig led school tours of her galleries and the animation studio and coordinated internships. During the mid-1980s, she had her own gallery, the Craig Gallery, in Burbank. On Sunday in Glendale of complications from surgery for a brain tumor.