Disney Feature Animation Internship: MGM

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Since the Disney Feature Animation Studio was on the back lot of the Disney MGM Studios theme park, I often walked into the park to sketch at lunch time. I didn’t have an art stool, so I would always sketch from whatever bench happened to be available. Benches are seldom situated in scenic spots.

I do believe that is the Brown Derby Restaurant. They had a really good Cobb Salad that I liked. A very rough sketch of the Tower of Terror is off to the left.

After a day of animating, I would see the search lights probing the sky above Epcot. It always resembled an air raid over London although I doubt that is the effect they were looking for. Perhaps my impression just matched my mood. The final project was an ongoing battle. I didn’t feel I was fully grasping the animation principles that had been thrown at me the past few months.

A day of work on Lion King production felt like a welcome vacati0n. Production work felt real and practical.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Discovery Island

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As interns we got to go on sketching field trips.I liked Discovery Island which had a small zoo of animals to be sketched. Unfortunately Discovery Island is a thing of the past. I particularly liked sketching the howling monkeys who were always a blur of motion.

I had finished about two seconds of animation on the final project. Progress was slow. I was starting to feel the stress. Too much hinged on this one bit of animation. I never felt fully rested and my right eye was starting to twinge.

We watched The Black Cauldron which was a Disney animated film made back in the 1980s. This was a darker film from a darker time. Disney was being threatened with a corporate takeover by Steinberg. Disney ended the take over by buying back the 11.1% interest he held in the company for $300 million dollars and they added 28 million for out of pocket expenses.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Disney Resorts

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There was a boat launch near the animation studio which was an easy way to boat over to the Disney Resorts. I liked to walk around this lake to clear my head. It was also an easy walk to Epcot. I started a series of sketched around the Epcot lagoon. The idea was that each sketch would be a full 180 degree view and lead into the next sketch so they could all work together as a scroll. That project got sidelined since I had so much animation to do.

My idea for a final project was approved and I began animating. From this point to the end of the internship I would have my head down animating full time. It is odd that I never showed these sketched to the Disney approval board. These sketches were done for myself to ground myself in reality.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Epcot

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This is another sketch exploring the theme parks on the weekends. At this point I seldom looked up from the drawings on my animation desk. I was deep into the rough pass of the animation on my final project.

Interns animated all day and well into the night. Several slept under their desks. Being a bit older, I needed my beauty rest, so I went home early, about 11pm. Every other intern worked through the night. I decided this was a marathon, not a sprint, so I paced myself.

I met with Frank Gladstone, the training manager for a progress report. Frank reminded me of Jerry Lewis. He was always supportive and kept me on track, even if I had no clue what I was doing. Well the goal was to fake until you make it.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Hagar the Horrible

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Chris Brown the creator of Hagar the Horrible came to the Disney Feature Animation Studio to give a talk.I think I have a sketch of Hagar somewhere in my art archives. Chris could dash those drawing off every minute.

We also watched the movie Alive which I liked. I had also read the book, so I was excited to see it brought to life. It was a rather dark movie to be showing Disney cartoonists but I like dark. I wish more animation would push the limits of humanities inner demons.

I was toying with two ideas for the final project. In one Baloo interacted with a balloon. In the other a fire broke out and Baloo pulls an elephant’s trunk to squirt water on the fire. I went with the second idea. The final result would not be winning any Oscars. The important thing was to commit and get it done. I do think it was that commitment to even the silliest idea that they were truly looking for. Looking back I really should have had Baloo survive a plane crash in the Andes mountains by eating other cartoon characters. Had I gone that route, I would have likely not been hired.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: MGM

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Michael Eisner, the big cheese at Disney was going to visit the Florida Feature Animation studio in a weeks time. People were scrambling to get the place cleaned up.

For the interns the final project was about to begin. This project would involve animating a scene from start to finish. We were told to animate Baloo from The Jungle Book. Along with that, we were to continue doing production work on the Lion King. I was looking forward to more production work.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: First Scene

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This was the first scene that I worked on for The Lion King. It was a scene where the lionesses were cleaning their cubs. My lioness was lounging in the background not moving very much. On the first day of production I finished 6 drawings and they all were approved. I was responsible for 1/2 second of screen time.

The drawing of Simba leaping was unrelated to the scene I was working on. These are not the production drawings but just quick pen sketches. The production drawings were much more refined with pencil on paper. The next day I would work on another scene. I was now a cog in the machine of production.

Disney Feature Animation Intern at Work

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I did a simple layout rough.Somehow my heart wasn’t into a scene devoid of people.I considered doing a second layout over the weekend while the studio was quiet.

Production was about to begin for us on the Lion King as clean up inbetweeners.  My mentor sat down with me and gave me plenty f tips to help me understand how to accomplish inbetweening in production. I was excited to start but didn’t yet know which scene I would be working on. I was hoe sick but getting to work on actual production drawings lifted my spirits. We were about to start making magic in this parking lot trailer.

Disney Feature Animation Internship: Mark Henn

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Disney animator Mark Henn is one of the best animators in the world. At the time I was an intern, he was animating young Simba for the Lion King. He animated Jasmin in Aladdin and I remember him saying he used one of his sisters signature laser beam looks for one of the scenes.

Anyway Mark was also an avid Civil War re-enactor and he came into the studio in his Union uniform to pose for one of the late night painting sessions. Mark was just recently made a Disney Legend.

In the morning Imagineering gave a presentation about their plans for a new theme park which will recreate a jungle safari. Tomorrow land in Walt Disney World was getting a complete face lift as well. One attraction int the works was called Alien Encounter and it involved  a transporter experiment that goes horribly wrong. a 10 foot alien is unleashed and scurries among the audience. The alien was to be part scorpion and part spider. Each audience member at some point would feel the alien breath n their neck. I do believe that after we finished Lilo and stitch many years later it would be Stitch who would cause havoc in the attraction.

COVID Dystopia: Reno Plans

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I update the laurels and re-post the poster each time COVID Dystopia is accepted into a new film festival.

I booked plane tickets and the hotel in Reno. The full cost of the hotel will be reimbursed by the festival but the airfare is on me. The hotel room has a king size bed which is such a waste. I couldn’t find a smaller room in the Silver Legacy casino hotel which is where all the film makers will be staying.

Booking decent round trip flights is a challenge I haven’t yet mastered. Only after the tickets were booked did I discover that I have a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. Well if I go out or sketch in the airport that will take carer of two hours. I have a similar 3 hour layover in Salt Lake City on the way back but that one goes until 1am. I might be less enthusiastic about sketching Salt Lake City that late at night but we will see. Hopefully I have learned from my mistakes. Actually the layovers are intentional. Had I paid several hundred more dollars for the tickets I could have flown much faster. In Iowa I am driving 6 hours to avoid a similar layover. I would rather watch the road flow by than sit inside an airport. No matter how challenging, this is all an adventure and I need to embrace that.