Animation Honours 2012: D23

Sunday, August 12, 2012

D23: Day 2 Andreas Deja

Here are some of the progress sketches by Andreas Deja done at the D23 Conference.

Deja began by sketching Mickey Mouse in the traditional three quarter view, then demonstrated how animators cheat reality by showing us what Mickey would look like if he were drawn front on exactly as he appears in the three quarter view- a mess.

Special needs Mickey

To combat the awkward looking Mickey, the front on version changes the position of the ears, the nose completely turns sideways, the snout moves and the mouth also moves to the centre.

Next, Deja drew some of his most famous characters, Scar:

And Jafar from Aladdin. I stand by the claim that villains are infinitely more interesting than heroes in most Disney animation films.

Andreas Deja is one of my all time favourite modern day Disney animators, and it was seeing Scar come to life in the Lion King that first made me realise that I didn't want to be a teacher forever and that it was time to look for ways that I could get into the art of animation.

D23: Day 2 Drawing With Personality

After a presentation about the wild and wacky animation of Disney presented by veteran animator Eric Goldberg we were treated to a lecture about modern day animation at the Studios.

Historian Jerry Beck and Animator Eric Goldberg

Genie from Aladdin Pencil Test later cut from final film

The famed soup slurping scene cut from Snow White

Disney animator Andreas Deja presented the next segment of the program providing insight into character animation Disney style. Deja spoke about how acting and empathy were crucial to understanding the psyche behind a character's action on screen. In addition to doing some of his most well known characters such as Scar from the Lion King and Jafar from Aladdin, Dejas also revealed some fantastically candid character concepts and first pass animation done by Disney animation legends.