Walt Disney Feature Animation
I've been working at Disney feature animation since 1989. I was lucky enough to land an internship when Disney started recruiting from my college( The Columbus College of Art and Design), among others, in hopes of staffing the animation facility at the new Disney/MGM studios theme park in Orlando. I had never considered animation as a career option and was not a big Disney guy, I was more of the Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Thundercats, kind of guy. Illustration was my main career goal, Hallmark cards and Mattel toys were the top on my wish list at the time. Fortunately, also at the time, a film Called WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT was released and my thinking changed, dramatically. My efforts suddenly shifted to more figure drawing, more gesture classes, less technique-more focus on loose, less focus on tight. Most animation types of people will understand what I'm talking about. I left for Orlando in May of 1989 where I went through a 5 month internship focusing on figure drawing, animation, film study, lectures, etc. It was an interesting experience and animation definitley seemed the thing for me. The studio was working it's first solo project at the time, an short called "Roller Coaster Rabbit" featuring of course Roger Rabbit, and as interns part of our training involved helping the clean up department. This is when I found my niche, the thing I felt most comfortable with, something that combined my animation experience and my illustration training. Taking loose or ruff drawings and adding to what the animator has given you, and it is the clean up drawings that make it to the screen, not the animators. It is kind of a thankless job in many ways, I hate explaining it to people unfamiliar with animation. "So you're in clean up, does that mean you sweep the floors? Huh, huh" Ooh, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that. I've been asked why I don't animate and my answer is that my comfort level is much higher in clean up. Everybody and their brother wants to be an animator. The market is flooded with animators. and to be honest, its a tough game. Many animators in the market today aren't very strong and I didn't want to fall through the cracks. I chose to accentuate the positive and improve on my strength as a clean up artist instead. It proven to be the wiser choice in the long run, and I get to work with the best animators in the business and some really nice people in general. I moved to Los Angeles in 1995 where I now reside in my humble Glendale cottage. The animation industry has proven to be a wild ride in the last ten years , as I'm sure the next ten will be.
credits
2007 THE SIMPSONS MOVIE - Key assistant animator (uncredited)
2004 FAT ALBERT - Key Assistant animator - all characters
2003 LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION - Key assistant animator - Daffy Duck
2002 TREASURE PLANET - supervising clean up lead - Dr. Delbert Doppler
2001 ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE - supervising clean up lead - Commander Rourke
1999 TARZAN - supervising clean up lead - Kerchak, Alice Greystoke (uncredited)
1998 MULAN - key assistant animator - Shan Yu
1997 HERCULES - key assistant animator
1996 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME - supervising clean up lead - Gypsies
1995 TRAIL MIX UP(short) - key assistant animator
1995 POCAHONTAS - supervising clean up lead - Powhatan
1994 THE LION KING - supervising character lead - young Nala
1992 ALADDIN - key assistant animator - Aladdin
1991 OFF HIS ROCKERS (short) - key assistant animator1991
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST- key assistant animator - Beast
1990 THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER - key assistant animator
1989 ROLLER COASTER RABBIT (short) - inbetweener
DISCLAIMER- the Disney section of my site is nothing more than an expanded resume. The thoughts expressed are my own and not endorsed by Disney in any way. E-mail is invited but I can't and won't answer any questions about upcoming Disney projects, behind the scenes info, etc. Most of the time I wouldn't know the answer anyway. In addition, all characters are ©Disney and all images except the one above are ©Disney. The image above is ©tdog-art. No images may be taken from this section for any reason.