For years I've been a big fan of Heinrich Kley, who was a big influence on Disney stuff. I'm only now realizing how much stuff I think of as signature Kley is more graphical vernacular of "Jugend" (and "Simpl".) Those frogs from 1896. I would have said that was a Kley thing. 
Here's a useful timeline of his life and influence. I think maybe, as an experiment, I'll flip through all the pre-1910 "Jugend" numbers and see how much 'Kley-ishness' I can catch 'in the air', as it were. societyillustrators.org/heinrich-kley
"Simpl", too. But I have this sense that there may be more of the stuff in "Jugend". We'll see. I don't mean just anthropomorphized animals, although that's very interesting. It's in the line.
I should clarify I have no interest in debunking Kley's rightful claims to originality. He got famous after 1910 for a reason. But he didn't come out of a vacuum.
Heinrich Schlitt does a lot of gnomes and frogs. Usually they look less Kley-like, although nice in their own way.
