I am working on the chapter about Tom Oreb for the 4th volume of They Drew As They Pleased. Some of the great drawings I stumbled upon while researching his career at the Animation Research Library were some wonderful designs for characters of Paul Bunyan. Unfortunately, what I cannot tell is whether Oreb created those in 1946 when Paul Bunyan was viewed as one of the sequences of the planned American Folklore package feature (which was later abandoned) or whether he drew them ten years later when the project was revived as a short.

In any case, I thought you would enjoy this article from July 25, 1946 (not linked to Oreb) which discusses the "research" process.