(Top Row: Kevin Deters, myself, Mike Gabriel, not sure, Gale Musker
Bottom Row: T Dan Hofstedt, Bill Matthews, John Musker, Jeff Ranjo)
Today I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in a panel about the annual Disney Caricature Show. The program was taped at the Animation Research Library in Glendale. The program went over the origins and history of the show, up until today's shows which is where we came in. It was pretty surreal to be a part of everything , sitting next to these legends, listening to John Musker tell all of these old school Disney stories. Reminded me of all those behind-the-scenes DVD specials I used to watch!
Speaking of caricatures, here's one of my last art director, Mike, who is to my left in the picture. Mike really took me under his wing and mentored me to create my best work. Which ultimately transitioned me into the vis dev dept. Everytime I would walk into his office there were sketches everywhere, on his desk, all over the floor (I'd be stepping on them and he'd say No No thats fine step on them come in), on the walls, and usually of the same character, or attempt at a character. I always took comfort in that and it reassured me that , even for these guys at the top, it took drawing after drawing after drawing to get there. He would do it over and over and over until he found something he liked, and it never came easy. And that's the way I started to work. He'd say , "We're throwing up ideas, that's all we're doin'. To have a great idea, have a lot of ideas."
