Tyrus Wong, the Chinese-American artist best known for his sketches that inspired the Walt Disney’s iconic animated character “Bambi”, passed away on Friday local time at the age of 106. His work was said to "not necessarily look like the forest - but rather, felt like the forest," according to the Disney museum

Born in China in 1910, Wong emigrated to the US at nine and landed a job at Walt Disney’s studio in 1938.

Inspired by the traditional landscape paintings of China’s Song dynasty, Wong has helped bring a poetic quality and also some alien artistic appeals to the sketches of Bambi as well as some other Disney animations.

"His (Wong’s) influence on the artistic composition of the animated feature Bambi cannot be overstated," said an official statement released by the Walt Disney Family Museum in mourning the artist, who was inducted into the “Disney Legend” hall of fame in 2001. “Tyrus' work still influences films today," the statement added.