Glen Keane talks about Ariel, Pocahontas, & the Beast CTNX 2012
Glen Keane at CTNX last week
what an inspiration
I’m so glad someone recorded this. He’s a really cool person and I’m glad he’s teaching us all to keep on drawing. :)
“Here’s a drawing that (animator) Shawn Keller did of Ursula at Christmas of ‘88. To this day, I’m still not sure what this drawing is about. Shawn just liked the idea of Ursula using her stomach as a bass drum…Bowmp, bowmp, bowmp! Shawn even asked Glen Keane to do one of Ariel doing the same thing. Glen obliged.” - Nik Ranieri
For Rapunzel, (her hair is) this constant reminder that she has this gift. She has a destiny, a purpose. The more you hold her back, the more her hair grows. If she had not been kept in the tower, I don’t think she would have had that long hair. It’s part of her problem; there it is. Always a reminder. - Glen Keane
Glen Keane - A True Artist
A few weeks back when I posted my interview with D23, I mentioned two artists that inspire me. The first was Mary Blair, the second was Glen Keane. If for some reason you are unfamiliar with his work, you certainly know his characters.This is the man responsible for Ariel, Pocahontas, Beast, Tarzan and so many others. “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast” came out when I was in high school . I already knew I was headed off to CalArts to study animation upon graduating, with the hopes of working for Disney. Those two films triumphantly marked the return of Disney animation and it’s second golden age. Glen Keane, in my mind, seemed to have a special roll in that. No one draws the way Glen does. He is a master of his craft. Once familiar with his work you can easily spot the scenes he worked on. It’s easy, it’s all in the eyes. He not only did beautiful artwork, he brought these characters to life. He made us believe they are real. I still find it funny that in all my years woking in Disney animation, I was always too intimidated to talk to him. In fact I would often see him coming down the hall and I would turn the other way, like somehow I was not worthy. This was of course all in head, because he could not be more thoughtful, genuine or giving of his time and knowledge. I wouldn’t know this first hand until a project came up at the Disney Stores where I had the chance to meet and work with him. Taken from my D23 interview , I had this to say about that experience. “I had the pleasure of working on the Disney Toddler “Animator” collection, which was all the Princesses, so automatically, I’m on board with that! And we worked on them with Glen Keane and Mark Henn [two legendary Disney animators], and I got to help translate their vision—[working] with the sculptor to make sure the “sculpts” looked like their drawings. I was in the same room as these people. Glen Keane is my absolute hero, and I never had the pleasure of working with him at Feature Animation. Plus, he just made me so nervous—this is my idol! He’s one of the reasons I do what I do. So when that project came to a close, he wanted to see the [Disney Store] building, he said, “I want to meet some of these people, and see what happens over here.” Because he really enjoyed the project as well. And he came and sat at my desk, like, literally, sat at my desk… for an hour! And just chatted, and talked about art and animation. And he was wondering why we had never worked together [at Feature Animation] and started telling me how beautiful he thought my drawings were—and how the work I was doing was inspiring. And he did a drawing of Ariel for me, and wrote on it, “Your work is inspiring. Ariel continues to live through you. Keep going!” And it literally made me want to cry. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. And to have a mutual respect. I was no longer just someone approaching him like a fan. But he got to sit and check out what I was doing so it was more like talking to a peer. [He was] really passing on some wisdom [to me] and it was unbelievable!”.Glen left the Walt Disney Company after 38 years in March of 2012. Luckily we all have the amazing work he has done to cherish. I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.”If you’re going to make a mistake, don’t make it in the eyes. Because everybody’s looking at the eyes.” -glen keane
omg i love these sketches ;__; all that anatomy!!!!
character developing through animation..tarzan ‘holding soap’…lol
Glen Keane’s Tarzan Animation Tests
Glen Keane, the supervising animator on the Beast, created his own hybrid beast by combining the mane of a lion, the beard and head structure of a buffalo, the tusks and nose bridge of a wild boar, the heavily muscled brow of a gorilla, the legs and tail of a wolf, and the big and bulky body of a bear. He also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human.
While I was in California a few weeks ago, Grace, Jaxxy, Tomar and myself went to a gallery where some of Glen Keane’s new life drawings were up on display. We thought we were just going to see his artwork and leave, but when we walked in, we realized that Glen Keane was actually there, along with Bruce Smith, De’Von Stubblefield, John Kahrs and others! It was really cool! They were having a drawing and painting workshop with really young kids, and they all seemed to be pretty engrossed in what Glen and the others had to say.
At one point, after most of the kids got drawings of their favorite characters, I went up and spoke to him for a few moments and he asked me if I wanted a drawing. Knowing that I’d never be able to pack the thing away in my suitcase and have it survive in one piece, being drawn in grease pencil and all, I asked him if he could draw Ratigan for my buddy Zach as sort of a house warming/thank you present for letting me crash at his place for a few days. Glen said it was the first time he’s drawn him in a very long time and he apologized if it didn’t come out perfect, but it came out excellent! Thankfully Jaxxy snapped a quick phone picture before I gave it to Zach later on!
I wish I bought one of De’Von’s ink drawings while I was there, but at this time in my life, as much as I love to be surrounded by inspiring artwork, I need to focus on saving my funds for more dire, important things. Oh well, maybe next time!
Sweet!
“I have a little brother who’s 20 years younger than me, and when he was very little, the Aladdin TV show would be on and he would hear my voice and see the Aladdin character, so he said ‘that’s you!’, and it’s funny because that’s sort of how i see it too. I couldn’t imagine seeing that character and hear somebody else’s voice come out.” - Scott Weinger
