Disney's Nils Holgersson, 1946

Back in 1946 the Walt Disney Studios probably got idea of doing something with Selma Lagerlöf Swedish best seller "Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige" (Nils Holgerssons wonderful journey through Sweden) from 1906-1907. So together with the magazine Filmjournalen and RKO they launched a competition in Sweden to find a good design for the lead character.
Maybe they had no intention of animating Nils Holgersson at all, but it was a good way to get some publicity here in Sweden after the war. And well known Swedish artist Einar Nerman was in the Swedish jury!
A colleauge, Björn Ihrstedt at Egmont in Stockholm, sent me copies of the article that announced the winners.


As you can see the winner was Barbro Isacson who went on to illustrate and write several childrens books. The latest was published in 2003! And two of the runners up are familar for Swedish comics fans: Rune Andréasson and Nils Egerbrandt.
But there's a mystery here too! The four drawings top right won third prize and were sent in by the signature "Östratorp". When the winners were announced the real name of the illustrator was still unknown.
I wonder if they were made by someone who already had a career as an illustrator or animator?
Anyone who recognize the style?
Or knows who the artist is?