Report: Walt Disney Art Classics Mini-Convention
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Day 2: Andreas Deja
On Friday morning, we gathered to hear Andreas Deja and Ilene Woods. Tim O’Day moderated the discussions with his usual aplomb. Andreas will celebrate his 20th anniversary with Walt Disney Animation in August of this year. His original inspiration was The Jungle Book which he saw three times in his native Germany. He submitted a letter to the Disney Studios asking them what he needed to do to become an animator. He still has the form letter he received telling him to become an artist in his own right, to study the human figure and to study animal physiology and to take classes in life drawing. In 1980 Disney hired him on the basis of his portfolio which was very Disney-like. Eric Larson served as a mentor to him in his early days. He also worked with Tim Burton who was one of the idea people for The Black Cauldron.

Andreas Deja and Tim O'Day

With Tim showing clips from films and Andreas doing drawings, we saw some of the characters that Andreas worked on through the years.   Andreas shared stories from several of the films:

• King Triton was patterned on Andreas’ father’s relationship with his sister. In the pre-release screenings, the animators knew that The Little Mermaid would be a hit.
• Mickey Mouse in The Prince and The Pauper was a difficult character to start because of the importance of Mickey. Mickey has the most “graphic cheats” and his design is important with his floating ears, his sincere, broad smile and the critical dimension of his eyes. Fred Moore did Mickey in a style that made him seem juicy and chubby. (A side note: a caricature of Peter Schneider appears as a portrait in the film). By the time Andreas did Mickey for Fantasia/2000 he was much more comfortable with him.
• Gaston is based on people Andreas has met. He’s a Hollywood-type and is ridiculously “into” himself. When Beauty and The Beast was nominated for best picture, Andreas and the other animators thought they had a very good chance to win because it was an animation “first”.
• Jafar was one of Andreas’ most enjoyable characters. It was a more free animation style. Jafar was color identified with red and black. He was angular and elongated and the low-lying mouth allowed for interesting side-wards movement. His shoulders provided a stage for Iago. Jafar was an elegant villain.
• Scar was based on voice actor Jeremy Irons’ own face. It was very British with the elongated snout and face. Jeremy Irons provided a lot of inspiration for the character during the recording session.
• Hercules’ character had to stay away from the usual flat characterizations. He was made to have a certain vulnerability. His honest and awkward quality provided that starting point for the animation.

Andreas said that there are two great rewards being an animator. Number one is the moment he sees a scene that he’s worked on completed and he gets a “rush” at how well it works. Number two is when he sits in a movie theater with a normal audience and hears their enthusiastic reactions to his work.

Tim asked what influence Marc Davis had on Andreas’ work. Andreas said that Marc’s level of design and draftsmanship was outstanding. The paintings in Marc’s home are really fine art. Even though Marc was first an artist, he had a broad range of interests and it affected his animation making it more accessible. Marc told him that you “had to know your stuff” and have a thorough knowledge of your subject. At this point, Tim introduced a wonderful Marc Davis tribute film. The film featured important aspects from Marc’s entire life and the wonderful relationship he and his wife, Alice, shared. Of special interest were works of art and animation that most of us had never seen before. At the end of the film, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. [Ed. Note: See the coverage of Cinderella's 50th Anniversary Celebration for several pictures from the film.]