Anyone want to watch Glen Keane animate for a half hour? Cuz I do!
For Tarzan, the Disney animators actually hired a professor of anatomy to consult with them over Tarzan’s musculature. He would superimpose the correct type of muscles over their drawings to help show them how to depict a man at the peak of his physical prowess.
(Drawing by Glen Keane)
According to special features on the Tarzan DVD, as well as a trailer on the Mulan VHS, Glen Keane was first inspired to incorporate Tarzan’s “tree surfing” into the film by his own son’s love of skateboarding. Tarzan’s moves were modled after those of skateboard legend Tony Hawk. Because of this, Hawk appeared in several advertisements for the film’s release.
I heard Part of Your World, Jodi Benson singing that, and it just captivated me. I went and told those guys, “I really want to do Ariel.” They said, “Well i don’t know Glen it’s supposed to be a pretty girl, can you do that?”. I said, “Look I have to do Ariel, I can feel it in my heart.”
Glen Keane on animating Airel for The Little Mermaid
Mickey’s PhilharMagic is unique in being one of a very select amount of attractions in the Disney theme parks in which Walt Disney Imagineering has collaborated with another division of The Walt Disney Company- in this instance, it was Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Legendary Disney animator Glen Keane re-rendered Ariel from The Little Mermaid in 3D, returning after rendering her in 2D in the original film. Nik Ranieri, supervising animator of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, also returned to animate that character in 3D. Most of Donald Duck’s dialogue is actually archival recordings by his original voice actor, Clarence Nash. Tony Anselmo, Donald’s current voice actor, recorded only five new lines for the character in this attraction (such as the scene where Donald Duck hums to the tune of the song “Be Our Guest”.)
As of March 23, 2012, Disney Legend Glen Keane has left the Walt Disney animation studios. Glen served as a mentor to several Disney artists and a hero to those aspiring to work for the company. This post is in honor of his outstanding work in animation, his ability to breathe life into that which was once without and his dedication to the Walt Disney company.
:’( I’m heartbroken.
Thank you Glen. Thank you for all you’ve done.
Glen Keane’s ambition with Tangled, technically speaking, was to make the computer “bend its knee to the artist” instead of having the computer dictate the artistic style/look of the film, and make the computer become as “pliable as the pencil.”
Because many of the techniques and tools that were required to give the film the quality Keane demanded of it didn’t exist when the project was started, the WDFA had to make them on their own.
