Disney Veteran Ron Husband is Coming to Tokyo!

"The animator must be a keen observer of action and must understand and remember it, for he never knows when we will find in it the inspiration for the entertainment he puts on screen." 

- Eric Larson

"The first and most important things for an animator to know is how to draw." 

-Walt Disney

This June, Disney veteran animator Ron Husband, (otherwise known as "Huz" to those close to him) will be coming to Tokyo,  touring and giving a series of seminars on quick sketching, and traditional hand drawn animation.  

Ron Husband was part of the first generation of animation artists to be passed down the torch of animation by Disney's greatest animation directors, sometimes known as Disney's Nine Old Men. 

Ron learned from some of Disney's best, such as Eric Larson and assisted legendary animator, Frank Thomas.   

Ron started with Disney in its training program in 1975 as many of the artists who established modern American animation as we know it today were retiring.  For the artists who brought life to Walt Disney's greatest films, such as Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, the sun was setting.  However,  a new dawn of animation was on the horizon.  

Ron Husband's peers would include now legends in animation such as Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, Ron Clements, John Musker,  and John Lasseter just to name a few.   Their names would be associated the Disney Renaissance films such as "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid".  

In addition to being Supervising Animator on films such as "Fantasia 2000",  "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Atlantis the Lost Empire",  Ron is notorious for his passion for drawing.  Recently Ron has published his book "Quick Sketching" which has become a much coveted book by professional artists and animators and has been translated into several languages including Japanese.  

Asia is entering the animation market on an international level.  Which means having a better understanding of the Western approach towards animation, which tends to gravitate towards "three-dimensional" forms with "two-dimensional designs" and "acting" as opposed to iconic, purely two-dimensional, (almost notan-like) designs often seen in Japanese comics and animation.  

The first seminar will be held on June 18th at The Waterrace and the second seminar will be held on June 25th and 26th at the Sokei Academy of Fine Art and Design.  

This will be Mr. Husband's first tour in Japan. 

Nine Old Mad Men?

Just finally read John Canemaker's, "Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation". So well written and good reading. After reading this as well as several volumes of "Walt's People" edited by Dider Ghez, this just confirms for me how compelling and dramatic the lives and relationships of these artists were. I still say these stories (as well as other noteworthy people at Disney's) would make an awesome biographic miniseries. There's sexism, substance abuse, racism, backbiting, competitiveness but above all that you have this art form rising above all that to tell great stories.

Who wouldn't be interested in seeing the stories of the people who literally created modern animation as we know it? Especially noting the heavy drinking, chain smoking, foul mouthed, competitive atmosphere at the old studio in contrast to the "Mouse and Fairy factory" image the general public has.

Again as I noted this somewhere in some forum before but someone responded that today's Disney executives would probably never let it happen for those very reasons.

Anyway, it's an idea. That's where all things begin. Naysayers or no.

Nine Old "Mad Men", anyone?

Animation School in the Palm of Your Hand

So...what ever happened to the Animation Podcast??

What is The Animation Podcast you ask? That's a question I wouldn't be surprised to hear from a person who would be a layman to animation. If I mentioned Glen Keane, Andreas Deja or James Baxter and you didn't as so much flinch, you'd be forgiven. If I said "Nine Old Men" and your Jeopardy answer was, "FDR's Nine Supreme Court Justices", you'd be forgiven.

But if you were an animator who worked for a major American animation studio and asked me "What's the Animation Podcast?" I'd be shocked. Because that's the very same question I was asked when I had the opportunity to hang out with an animator who's credits to me were quite impressive. Are there actually animators in the industry who actually do not know what The Animation Podcast is??

The Animation Podcast is a free (key word is FREE, folks!) podcast available on iTunes run by animator Clay Kaytis. His credits include most recently animation supervisor of "Rhino" from Disney's "Bolt". ( An impressive piece of dynamic animation for a character whose design is essentially a palm sized beanbag....trapped inside a plastic ball no less.)

The Animation Podcast features interviews with some of the animation industry's most respected animators like the ones mentioned above. People who were literally responsible for breathing life (and yes, magic) into iconic film characters of Oscar nominated films as The Beast in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", Scar of "The Lion King" and The Genie from "Aladdin".

I believe in his first podcast Clay said, "So much of what I know about animation is from handouts, lecture notes and interviews of great animators of the past. It's always a rush for me to find some new clip or audio file that gives you an insight into who they were and what is was like when they were creating such amazing work."

The Animation Podcast is a priceless wealth of information, not just about animation (and quite frequently Disney history) but also filmmaking and production in general. Listen to a couple of podcasts and you'll learn a great deal not only about what about what goes into animating a character, but also what goes into developing a film concept from start to finish. Did I mention the podcast was free?

Clay published thirty (count 'em, 30!) free podcasts featuring interviews and audio recordings of animators such as the aforementioned above and film legends Ron Clements and John Musker, Milt Kahl, Burny Mattinson and Ray Harryhausen. About a year ago The Animation Podcast culminated to an interview with Eric Goldberg (animator of The Genie in "Aladdin")... and I was like this podcast is REALLY getting good. "What's next for the Animation Podcast?"

The answer to that was, "silence".

For almost a year there have been no podcasts, no teases not a single audible peep from The Animation Podcast. Which brings me back to my original question, "What happened to The Animation Podcast?"

The main website, http://www.animationpodcast.com/ is still up and functioning, and Clay did make a post to make a plug for Walt Stanchfeld's new "Drawn to Life" books. But no updates. I'd like to think well, if Clay isn't around making podcasts, hopefully he's animating.

I don't know what goes into publishing a podcast, but I am sure it's a LOT of work. Clay Kaytis is obviously very passionate about animation and loves the medium intensely. I can't think of any other reason why he would produce for free, such excellent work that many interested people would certainly pay money for. Work that without a doubt will be included in lists of reputable material pertaining to Disney history and animation history in general.

I am confident that Clay and The Animation Podcast will return at some point, most likely with a podcast that will do more than please but inform and inspire.

...by the way just to note how generous Clay Kaytis is, you can find him on Twitter under www.twitter.com/animpodcast. Doing what? Giving tips and advice on animation....yes, for free.

I can be found on Twitter now too. www.twitter.com/ki_innis.