Eric Larson
Third on the list was an animator who had provided Deja with some meaningful one-on-one mentoring before launching his animation training program: Eric Larson. Deja considered Eric to be the best animation teacher, ever. Some of the industry’s most influential artists learned from Eric, including Ron Clements, John Musker, Tim Burton, Brad Bird, and Glen Keane. After Eric started with The Walt Disney Studios in the early ’30’s, he worked on many different animated shorts and such feature films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp. After spending 52 years in the industry, animating some of the most memorable Disney characters, Eric retired in 1986.
