Young Nala
This film was very special for a few reasons. It was
the first lead for me and animator Aaron Blaise. There was a lot
more pressure on the both of us , not only being responsible for
the look of a character, but to do it from across the country.
Drawing quadrapeds seemed to come fairly easy for Aaron, who was
always a bit of a wildlife nut and who does some pretty amazing
wildlife paintings as a hobby( as a matter of fact he puts many
"professional" wildlife artists to shame), I on the
other hand, had never drawn animals , except for the ones in
my Disney portfolio, so it was definitely a learning experience.
It was also the first time the Florida clean up unit was given
supervising positions on a California based film. Dan Gracey headed
up the young Simba clean up team with Mark Henn supervising the
animation.
Another thing that made this film so special was the
fact that nobody ever suspected how successful it would be. The
story problems and the shift in artistic, as well as story direction
caused many problems and delays. It seemed the attitude among
the artists was that Lion King(then called King of the Jungle)
was considered the "B" project while the Glen Keane
headed Pocahontas, was the hot ticket. Then as director Rob Minkoff
came on board , he and co-director Roger Allers really turned
the film around and transformed it into a great piece of work.
We even heard that some of the Pocahonts artists actually began
envying us. The rest, as we all know is history, my family
could finally lift their heads up with pride, and my father could
finally find peace knowing all of thse checks he wrote to the
Columbus College of Art and Design didn't totally go to waste.
Sarafina
We also pulled double duty on Nala's mom, Sarafina,
here seen giving Nala her bath.