I read this story about a young Glen Keane animating one of his first scenes on the original Rescuers. It was of Bernard sweeping the floor. He went to one of the old men for advice. Expecting some kind of frame by frame technical mechanical breakdown of movement the Disney old man questioned him back,"What kind of guy is bernard? He really cares. He really cares about doing a good job. Make him sweep that way." [ paraphrasing]
Let those with ears hear.
that's a cool quote.
that story you were reading wouldn't happen to be online would it?
http://ben-reynolds.com
Animation and Design
If Keane sees himself as an artist who animates, he also sees himself as an actor, because "an animator is an actor with a pencil.", he says. "when I'm drawing for Beauty and the Beast, I'm being the Beast. The same with Pocahontas. I feel the emotions she's going through. You live the character out."
It's a lesson he learned on his first assignment at Disney, The Rescuers, as he struggled unsuccessfully to make the character Bernard push a broom.
"I couldn't figure out the dynamics of sweeping, so I went to animator Erik Larson for help," he remembers. "He asked me,' Glen, what kind of guy is Bernard?Does he want to do a good job?'
"When I said I guessed he did, Larson responded, 'Of course he does. That's the kind of guy he is. He cares about his work and wants to get every last speck of dust off the floor; he puts his whole heart into what he does.'"
Struck by the way Larson talked about Bernard as if he were a real person, Keane went back and animated the scene with a different attitude.
"I learned animation wasn't about formulas and techniques," he says. "Instead, it's an expression of a charcater from the inside out."
-Article:
The Man Who Brought Pochahontas To Life
The animated faith of Glen Keane
by Kevin Dale Miller
The Christian Reader (1995?)