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| Audience members at the Women in Animation panel. |
Presented by the Walt Disney Family Museum in conjunction with their latest exhibit, MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair, WDFM’s public programs manager Mary Beth Culler and exhibition curator, animation director, and author John Canemaker introduced the Women in Animation panel.
Jenny Lerew, director of the hit 90s television show Animaniacs, author of The Art of Brave and most recently, storyboard artist for Peabody and Sherman, moderated the event for the over 200 animators and animation fans in attendance.
DISCOVERING ANIMATION: CALARTS AND BEYOND
Lerew kicked off the talk by answering a question she is often asked, usually by men, “Why aren’t there more women in animation?”
“It's a good question,” said Lerew. “I can tell you why this woman is in animation. Like all of us, I loved cartoons and I also grew up as an artist, I loved to draw." However, animation was not on her radar, until she learned about California Institute of the Arts, or CalArts, in high school.
In fact, Lerew first learned about Brenda Chapman through CalArts in 1987 after seeing her student film A Birthday. The film, about an old woman remembering her birthday as a little girl, made quite an impression on Lerew, and helped encourage her to tell her own stories.
"Now there are hundreds of places you can go and it's on everyone's radar,” said Lerew.
Brenda Chapman learned about CalArts from a friend of a family friend who worked at Disney Feature Animation. At the time story was not even offered as a course, so students learned from the upperclassmen. In 1987 she earned a spot as a trainee at Disney, where she was frankly told “they were happy to have you. We needed a woman that's why you're here. And you have six months to prove yourself.”
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| Brenda Chapman, Claire Keane, John Canemaker, Jenny Lerew and Lorelay Bove at the event. |
Prove herself she did, working as a story artist on Beauty and the Beast and
The Lion King at Disney, and later becoming the first woman to direct an animated film for DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt.
Lorelay Bove, another CalArts grad, recalled being enthralled by the film Fantasia at age eight, a film, she discovered, that was not as beloved by her fellow classmates.
“Everyone at school hated it, but I loved it,” recalled Bove. Along with Disney films, she also experience art by spending time in her father’s art studio, where he worked as an abstract painter.
From a young age she knew she wanted to work at Disney, something that most people she knew in her native Spain did not understand. After moving to the states with her family, her father found out about CalArts. She applied, was not accepted, but did not let that deter her. She studied at another college for three years, reapplied to CalArts, was accepted, and later served as an intern at both Pixar and Disney.
Bove then took a job as a visual development (Viz Dev) artist at Disney, working on The Princess and the Frog, Wreck-It-Ralph and this fall’s upcoming super hero adventure Big Hero Six.
Claire Keane took a different path, attending graphic design school and creating a storybook as her thesis.
"What I loved the most was all the research,” said Keane.
She loved creating developmental drawings, but did not believe that there was a way for her to create what she wanted for film. That was, until a conversation with her father, animator Glen Keane, changed her mind.
“Claire, that exists,” said Keane, laughing as she recalled her father’s words. “We have visual development artists at Disney.”
His advice inspired Keane to apply to Disney, where she worked as a Viz Dev artist on both Tangled and Frozen before leaving to work on her children’s book that will be released in 2015.
CREATING A FILM: ONE DRAWING AT A TIME
Each of the panelists along with moderator Lerew shared some of their favorite studio work, and a few of their personal projects, enabling the audience to glimpse a behind the scenes look at what goes into making a film.
“I can only work from what I know,” said Keane. “Anytime I start drawing something I don't have an emotional connection to I can't draw it. My hand just draws in circles.”
In order to create that emotional connection between herself and Rapunzel from Tangled, Keane stayed home one weekend documenting everything that she did, while at the same time imagining all of the activities Rapunzel would engage in if she were unable to leave her own home.
“Maybe she had an imaginative imagination,” said Keane. “What would her paintings look like in the dark. Happiness? Fear of the outside world? Chores? Make her bed, make candles, brush her hair. Fascination with birds -- they fly, they don't get eaten by monsters, they return.”
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| Claire Keane discusses her artistic process while at Disney. |
The practice allowed her to get into Rapunzel’s head and see the world the way that the character would.
Lerew showed her boards and animatic from a scene of Peabody and Sherman, the first scene to be animated for the film. In the scene, Sherman reluctantly tells Mr. Peabody of an altercation he experienced at school. Lerew showed both the storyboards, as well as the final animation of the scene, to highlight the similarities
and differences between what goes into the boards and the final product.
Bove showed backgrounds from Sugar Rush, the racing game that serves as a turning point in last year’s hit film Wreck-It-Ralph. Her designs were inspired by Spanish homes that “looked like candy.” In fact, research is one of the best parts of the job.
“[We] went to a candy convention in Germany that was three stories tall. The Comic Con of candy,” said Bove.
Chapman showed boards from Beauty and the Beast where Belle nurses the Beast’s wounds, as well as the scene from Brave where Queen Elinore and Princess Merida clash and Merida slices through the family tapestry.
“This is the crux of the movie, it sets the scene,” explained Chapman of the scene from Brave.
Mom is trying to do her best, and the daughter is trying to exert her independence, according to Chapman, and both are right and wrong.
“Most fairytales involve moms or stepmoms that are either horrible or dead. I wanted to show a family,” said Chapman.
QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
The panelists also took time to answer questions from the audience, ranging from what studios look for in a portfolio, and both Keane and Bove agreed that it was better to show your best work than a ton of everything.
“Put in the best work that represents you,” said Keane. “Focus on the character or environment and make that image say what you want it to say.”
The panelists also addressed what it is like seeing your creation as merchandise.
“For the most part it’s very positive,” said Chapman. “If I can make one little kid forget their problems at home, then I’ve done my job.”
Chapman also addressed the darker side of merchandising, recalling the now famous incident of the change in Merida’s design from Pixar heroine to the more traditional Disney princess look.
“The ‘princessing’ of Merida was not good, I put up a stink about that,” said Chapman.
They also addressed the lack of female representation in film, and what creators can do to rectify the situation.
The key, said Keane, is to have “someone who is grounded in reality. No more clichés – that’s any character in animation, not just women.”
Chapman, and the other women on the panel, are living proof that animation will continue to inspire. Now when she goes to lecture at CalArts, 52% of the women are students.
“Just do it,” said Chapman. “First, learn how to work in the studio system. Then, learn how to make your mark.”
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Special thanks to the Walt Disney Family Museum for planning the event and providing the photographs, ILM for hosting, Jenny Lerew, Brenda Chapman, Lorelay Bove and Claire Keane for discussing their work and life through animation and John Canemaker for curating the WDFM exhibit.
And you can see more of the artists’ works on their websites:
John Canemaker
http://www.johncanemaker.com/
Brenda Chapman
http://brenda-chapman.com/
Lorelay Bove
http://lorelaybove.blogspot.com/
Claire Keane
http://claireonacloud.com/
Jenny Lerew
http://blackwingdiaries.blogspot.com/
And visit the Walt Disney Family Museum to see their latest exhibit:
MAGIC, COLOR, FLAIR: the world of Mary Blair through September 7, 2014
For information on Women in Animation San Francisco and animation events happening around the San Francisco Bay Area:
Visit our Website:
www.womeninanimationsf.blogspot .com
Join our Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/wiasf
And follow us on Twitter:
@WIASanFrancisco
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