  jiÅÃ­ trnka (; 24 february 1912 &ndash; 30 december 1969) was a czech puppet-maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. in addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is best known for his work in animation with puppets, which began in 1946. most of his movies were intended for adults and many were adaptations of literary works. because of his influence in animation, he was called "the walt disney of eastern europe", despite the great differences between their works. he received the international hans christian andersen medal for illustrators in 1968, recognizing his career contribution to children's literature. ==biography== ===formative years=== jiÅÃ­ trnka was born in pilsen, in western bohemia, where the family lived as middle class citizens. although his father was a plumber and his mother a dressmaker, both remained very close to their peasant origins. as a child, young jiÅÃ­ enjoyed sculpting puppets made of wood and put on small shows for friends. he later attended classes at a vocational school in his hometown, where he met his teacher josef skupa, who eventually would become a leading public figure in the world of czech puppeteers. skupa was his mentor, entrusted trnka with certain responsibilities, and managed to convince his family, who were initially reluctant, to allow him to enroll at the prestigious school of applied arts in prague (today the academy of architecture, art and design), where he completed his apprenticeship between 1929 and 1935. ==career as illustrator== with the training received in the school of arts and his experience working in a printmaking workshop, trnka soon began a successful career as an illustrator. he was hired by the prague publishing house melantrich, and his first illustrated work was mr. boska the tiger of vÃ­tezslaw Å mejc, published in 1937. since then, trnka illustrated numerous children's books. throughout his life, he illustrated 130 works of literature, most of them for children. especially famous are his illustrations for the tales of the brothers grimm, as well as collections of folktales from czech authors such as jirÃ­ horÃ¡k and jan pÃ¡lenÃ­cek. also related to his native folklore are his illustrations for bajaja by vladimÃ­r holan, published in 1955, which would also be the starting point for his future in animation. in addition to the above, trnka illustrated the tales of andersen and perrault, the fables of la fontaine, the thousand and one nights, several works of shakespeare and lewis carroll's alice in wonderland. in some cases, his job as an illustrator gave him ideas for making animated films, as happened with bajaja and [[a midsummer nigh
1912_births 1969_deaths Animated_film_directors Czech_animators Czech_film_directors Czech_illustrators Czech_puppeteers Hans_Christian_Andersen_Award_for_Illustration_winners People_from_PlzeA Puppet_designers Stop_motion_animators