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.

What I Learned Working on "Pocahontas"

"Their skin's a hellish red, they're only good when dead"

One of the best experiences of my animation career was working at the Disney Studio in Los Angeles in the summer of 1994 on "Pocahontas", animating the villainous Governor Ratcliffe supervised by lead animator Duncan Marjoribanks. 

Duncan was a generous mentor, and I learned a huge amount under his guidance, as well as learning from directors Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg. 

Being "Goofy" at Walt Disney World in 1989

In the summer of 1989 I was working at the Walt Disney Studio in Orlando, Florida on the animated short RollerCoaster Rabbit, directed by Rob Minkoff.  

It was a dream summer job (I was a student at University in the UK at the time), working at the Orlando animation studio - which was then part of the Disney World Park, and an attraction in itself.  Visitors would stroll through the "animation ride" and gaze through the glass walls, watching the animators busily at work. 

On my last day at the Studio, when I was due to head back home, studio head Max Howard offered me the chance to play Goofy - to be one of the Disney characters in the park itself.   

And so, in the sweltering summer of 1989, I had the surreal pleasure of stepping into the oversized shoes of Goofy at Walt Disney World.

Why Animators Had to Apply to Disney Twice

Back in the 1980s when I was starting my animation career, it was said by the old-timers in the animation business that anyone wanting to be an animator at Disney had to apply twice —because the first application would be rejected by default. This wasn’t an official policy, but rather an unspoken test of determination.

Disney, at the time, was the pinnacle of animation (arguably it still is), and competition for jobs was very fierce. The idea was that only those with true passion and perseverance would push through rejection, refine their portfolios, and reapply. It separated the dreamers from the truly committed.

Beyond The Glass: The WDW Animation Building

Directed by Dane T. and free to watch at YouTube, Beyond The Glass: The WDW Animation Building is a new feature length documentary about the Orlando, Florida branch of the Walt Disney Animation Studios - known as Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time.  For me personally it's a trip down memory lane, as I started my own animation career at Disney MGM Studios on "RollerCoaster Rabbit" back in the late 1980s.  

Webinar: Animation Writer Evgenia Golubeva

Last week I interviewed one of my former students, Evgenia Gurova, who has become a successful writer at Disney Animation.  Evgenia is an award-winning animator, writer and director; she has also forged a career as a writer and independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work. For anyone who missed the live event, watch the video above to find out more about Evgenia and her remarkable career.

MPC and a Flying Elephant

At last week's VFX festival at Escape Studios, MPC lead animator Oliver Dale explained how MPC approached the Making of Dumbo, the 2019 re-make of the 1940s animated Disney classic.

The starting point for the animators was to begin with live action reference. Dumbo is a baby elephant, so his motion has been based on real footage, and he has to fit into the real world of live action photography.

The animators began the process by animating walk and run cycles, and then added their own embellishments, to make the process "as efficient and as refined as possible".

Bringing Dumbo to life was a big challenge, in part because of the high expectations of this re-make of a much-loved film.

Thumbnailing Baloo by Frank Thomas

Continuing this weeks' theme on the making of animation thumbnails, in the video above I show how Frank Thomas thumbnailed a shot from The Jungle Book, way back in the 1960s. Frank Thomas was one of the greatest Disney animators, one of Disney's so-called "Nine Old Men" (the studio's animation elite), and the system of using thumbnail sketches to plan your animation hasn't changed a lot since then.  The trick is to create a plan for your animation so that, long before you start creating poses in Maya, you already have the shot figured out in your head.

Chuck Jones Animation Tutorial

In this excellent 13 minute animation tutorial, actor and director Ron Howard introduces the work of animation legend Chuck Jones, the creative master behing the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny. There are other great voices here too - such as Disney animation stars Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg (the latter the author of the excellent "Character Animation Crash Course" - one of the books on our rstudent eading list).  The video is a great introduction to the basic principles of animation, such as anticipation, squash and stretch, secondary action and overlapping action. We're recommending it to all our students.

Virtual Colouring Book from Disney

In this superb video from Disney, you can see children colouring a virtual colouring book - bringing characters to life in virtual reality - or "augmented reality" - even as they colour in the pages of the book in the traditional way.  It's a remarkable piece of technology, which shows just how fast the world is changing in terms of the way that children learn traditional skills. Hats off to Disney for re-inventing the colouring book - and making it better than ever.

How To Get a Job as an Animator - By Tom and Tony Bancroft

Check out Tom and Tony Bancroft's podcast on How to Get a Job as an Animator.

I worked with both Tom and Tony Bancroft back in the days when the Disney Studio in Orlando, Florida was just a feldgling startup - long before it produced movies like Brother Bear and Mulan. We worked together as animation rookies on the short film "Rollercoaster Rabbit".

Both Tom and Tony excellent animators who went on to have a great career at Disney.  So what, exactly, do they say is the secret of getting a job?

How Disney Animators Created Beautiful Acting in Frozen

Watch Disney's smash hit animated film Frozen and you will find some first class acting, beautiful work which arguably takes the medium to a whole new level of sophistication and skill. But how do animators achieve such great acting? The answer of course is just the same as it would have been at the Disney studio 70 or 80 years ago: if you want great acting, study great actors. Below is an excellent shot progression showing how animators on Frozen used live actiion reference to bring their shots to life.

Planning Animation - Fagin Thumbnails by Glen Keane

Oliver and Company

The secret of great animation is in the planning. Open up a copy of Maya, the leading 3D software, and you just get a blank screen. With CG animation you get nothing for free; you must fill the blank space with creative, entertaining animation. 

The secret of doing great work is to thumbnail - that is to say, to plan out your work with sketches and scribbles - drawings which create a kind of road map of where you want to go.  

In the video below, I show how master animator Glen Keane approaches the business of doing animation thumbnails.

The Purpose of Storyboarding - by Eric Goldberg

This short film about storyboarding is presented by the awesomely talented Eric Goldberg, an animator who moves seamlessly between animation, storyboarding, and directing. And why not? All these skills are complementary, and all involve the telling of stories in a visual medium. I was lucky enough to work as an animator on "Looney Tunes, Back in Action", and was directed by Eric, who taught me a lot about comic timing and just how much an animator can get away with in terms of fast transitions from one pose to another. Eric is the author of the excellent book "Character Animation - a Crash Course", and there are few better people in our industry to learn from.

Secrets of Disney's Nine Old Men - Ollie Johnstone

Ollie Johnstone. Photo: Janke 

Walt Disney joked that his best animators were his "Nine Old Men" - and the nickname stuck. One of the nine was Ollie Johnstone, one of the best character animators at the Disney Studio and the man who breathed life into some of the studio's most enduring characters. In the video below, Ollie talks about how he created his characters, giving a surprising amount of detailed insight into his work methods. This is fascinating material for anyone who aspires to master the craft of animation, and what comes across most strongly is the amount of time and effort that the Disney animators put into their research, shooting live action, and studying life, in order to create their characters.

It All Started With A Mouse: The Disney Story

Students of animation can never know too much about the history of our craft. Fortunately, there are tons of great (free) resources online, including this one: It All Started With A Mouse: The Disney Story, now available at YouTube. Why study the history of our medium? Because it gives you credibility in an industry which, as much as any other, builds upon the achievements and talents of the pioneering animators of the past. Learn from the masters at Disney, polish your craft - and aim to do even better yourself. To watch the video, follow this link, or paste this into your browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnpGiEjxN0

It All Started With a Mouse

It All Started With a Mouse

Below is a link to an excellent documentary on the History of Disney Animation, titled It All Started With a Mouse.  It was broadcast in 1989 - so it does not include anything from the digital era - but much of what the Disney Studio achieved is timeless, and still holds up well today. Think of classics like The Jungle Book - still great entertainment 40 years later. In short, this is an excellent documentary on the history hand-drawn animation at the studio up until the late 1980s.  The video is hosted at YouTube (for some reason I can't embed the video here) but if you follow this link you'll find it. It runs an hour and a half, and is an excellent introduction to the medium of animation.

---Alex

 

Phil Young recalls The Golden Age of Disney Animation

Walt Disney in 1937

Phil Young is an animator, artist and teacher. He worked at the Disney studio for 25 years, working with and studying under the legendary "Nine Old Men", Walt Disney's hand-picked top animators who were synonymous with the first Golden age of Animation. Phil worked on many of Disney's biggest hits, including Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, as well as some of the legendary misses like The Black Cauldron. In this interview last year with our sister blog FLiP,  Phil took us on a sentimental journey back to the 1970s - and revealed what the Disney studio was really like back in The Olden Days.

The Other Book Every Animator Should Own

The original animation bible

The Illusion of Life was first published in the 1970s. It caused a sensation among animators, because it represented for the first time in print the accumulated wisdom of the Disney studio - set out in detail for anyone who cared to learn. The 1970s were a lean time for animation; Walt Disney was dead and the revival that would come with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Little Mermaid was still far in the future.

The Secret of Animation - by T Dan Hofstedt

T. Dan Hofstedt - animation supremo

My old friend and former kumrad at Disney animation, T Dan Hofsted, recently posted at Facebook a reply to a student asking how to become an animator. T Dan is one of the best animators I know, a veteran of countless Disney hits including The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules and Mulan, so he ought to know a thing or two about how to make it as an animator. Here is what he wrote: