You could sorta say it's been around for a while if you look back at earlier Disney films that tried a similar approach like Robin Hood, though at the time, it was more about caricature and retaining that approach to anthro design. An animator I know once did a little critique about that here...An early inspiration for that can also be traced to book from 1945, an adaptation of Reynard the Fox featuring illustrations by Keith Ward.Loftis' designs are certainly an evolution of what was done before obviously, but certain a step in the right direction.