What I Learned Animating on "The Lion King"

"I know that your powers of retention..."

In the summer of 1993 I had the great good fortune to work at the Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles on The Lion King, animating under the guidance of lead animator Andreas Deja, who supervised the animation of Scar, voiced by Jeremy Irons.

For a junior animator, it was a dream job, and an education in character animation.

Learning from a Master

Master Animator: Andreas Deja 

Andreas Deja is a master of character animation, and the designer of Mufasa's brother "Scar".  Scar was a wonderful creation; every pose, every glance, every twitch of the eyebrow was motivated by Scar's physical weakness - but intellectual superiority. 

Andreas pushed us to understand why Scar moved the way he did, not just how.  Animation, he showed us, isn’t just about motion — it’s about emotion.  Scar was desperate to be king - but could never take over by brute strength alone. 

Animating Scar

At the Disney Studio in Burbank.

I was lucky enough to animate a few memorable shots on Scar (such as the one at the top of the blog post, at the start of the "Be Prepared" song), but it was Andreas who designed the character and, working with actor Jeremy Irons, gave him life and personality, creating one Disney's most memorable villains.

Lead Animator Andreas Deja
Andreas was a supervising animator at Disney on many characters in on many films, including the Disney villains Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, Scar in The Lion King and the title character in Hercules.  Andreas has been inducted as a "Disney Legend" at the Walt Disney Studio Lot, with his own bronze handprint on the building.

Lion King Shots 

Below are some of the shots I animated on Lion King.



Live Action Reference

"Be prepared..."

Most of all, Andreas taught me the importance of using live action reference to plan creature animation; making sure that the animal locomotion was technically accurate, and then layering in the performance. 

Animal Action

To make Scar's walk towards the camera feel believable, I spent hours scanning through VHS copies of National Geographic animal videos, trying to get the locomotion just right. It took a long time to find clips that were useful (this process is much easier nowadays), but in the end it worked out well.

Animal & Creature Animation

"Simba's down there!"

The technique of using of live action reference to create animal and creature animation is a system I still use today, and one that I teach at Animation Apprentice.  Learning how to use live action reference is one of the fundamental corner stones of learning how to be an animator.  

To see more, read about How to Use Live Action Reference to Plan Animation, and also take a look at An Approach to Planning Animal and Creature Animation.

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our November 5th classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.