Looking Back on a Summer at Disney: Part 2

So, I'm at Disney as a Summer Associate, along with thirteen other young'uns and we're given the assignment: create an animated short in six weeks. We're free to make whatever we want, provided that it uses both 2D and 3D animation and is done in six weeks. Panic ensues.

As the only story artist, I felt obligated to provide a brilliant little gem to build our short around, except I couldn't think of anything, frozen as I was with fear. Thankfully, the team stepped up with an array of concepts, from my bizarre "ghost in a teapot," to Anna Bron's poignant "ice boy loves fire girl," to Alex Curtis' epic adaptation of the "Chinese paintbrush" myth. Below are some of my sketches for ghost/tea and Fire & Ice.

All work is the property of Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2010.

Ghostea was too weird, Chinese Paintbrush was too ambitious, and we couldn't figure out a satisfying ending for the star-crossed Fire and Ice sprites.

Finally, Nick Orsi helped us narrow the field to "A child draws something and it comes to life." We all did takes on this concept. Mine featured a little girl playing hopscotch on a hot summer day. When she hops into the last square, she is plunged into an underwater fantasy.

  The idea was that the real world would exist in 3D and the fantasy world would be a 2D chalk drawing. I wanted it to look like a child's imagining of the ocean: full of naive wonder.

At this point, our little sunburnt girl had evolved into an African American girl thanks to some designs by Nick Orsi. I thought the concept could work just as well.

  

After a few days of exploring, I was able to convert our chalk fantasy into a cohesive storyboard. Here's the animatic we made from my sketches, edited by Craig Peck.

Chalk Animatic on Vimeo

Then a few weeks that blurred by. We were all dazed from lack of sleep. At some point, I painted some color keys to help get the lighters started.

I also painted the mural that comes at the very end of the short, based on fantastic fish designs by Andre Medina. Sadly, I don't have a copy of the original file (it's somewhere in the Disney vault) but you can see my work all over the sidewalk at the end of the movie.

And here, six weeks after we first got the assignment, is the finished short. Huzzah for the Disney Associates of 2010!

Chalk: Finished Short! 

And now for the legal bit:

Materials produced at the Talent Development Summer Associate Program at Disney Animation 2010. Property of Walt Disney Animation Studios (“WDAS”). No use or reproduction without the prior written permission of WDAS. © Disney. All rights reserved.

Looking Back on a Summer at Disney: Part 1

Hi friends. For those loyal few who followed me as Casey Neal, I'm going by my first-and-middle name these days. My grandma called me "Casey Robin," and so I am. With a new name, I thought I should have a new blog.

To start, I need to backtrack to summer 2010. I spent that summer in the dream factory: Walt Disney Animation Studios. One of fourteen Summer Associates, I studied, drew, painted, and grew. The first four weeks of the program were spent in mentor-led excercises.

First came story excercises with mentor Michael LaBash: A Simple Character Expressing Emotions (shown below: Eager, Puzzled, Defeated, Irritated, Content.) Based on a design by Michael LaBash.

All work is the property of Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2010.

More story excercises: Waiting at a Bus Stop

Next came character design with mentor, Bill Schwab. He asked me to choose a story. I chose The Nutcracker. Then he asked me to reset it against a wildly different backdrop. I chose Bollywood. I would pay so much money to see a Bollywood Nutcracker!

Around Week 3, we Disney Associates were starting to get antsy because - gasp! - we were supposed to start a group short Week 4 and we had no clue what it should be about. As the only Story person, I was first up to bat. I was terrified.

But that's another post.

And now, the legal bit: Materials produced at the Talent Development Summer Associate Program at Disney Animation 2010. Property of Walt Disney Animation Studios (“WDAS”). No use or reproduction without the priorwritten permission of WDAS. © Disney. All rights reserved.