Hiding in Plain Sight

Most animation art is unsigned, and that includes animation-related artwork generated within a studio. I get a lot of e-mails asking me if I can identify the specific artist who drew a given drawing. Sometimes, I can. Sometimes, I can't.

The above drawing of Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole was apparently done in the sixties for some kind of educational book or toy. It's up for sale on a site that sells animation art, and it was e-mailed to me by someone who wrote, "I've studied this drawing for an hour and I can't figure out which of the Hanna-Barbera artists drew it. Can you?"

Gee, I dunno. Something about it suggests that it might have been drawn by Willie Ito.