(Concept art for Disney's Tangled by Bill Perkins)

Guess who I was able to spend 3 days with. Pfft not even close... Give up? Bill Perkins! The acclaimed Disney Artist! Recently, he did the concept art for the movie "Tangled" but he is no stranger or newbie with Disney. He was the art director for Aladdin and Fantasia 2000, the key layout and workbook artist for Beauty and the Beast and has worked on many Disney movies and others such as Shrek. If you would like to see a list of all the films he has worked on click here. 

On Monday (the 28th) through Wednesday (the 2nd) he came to my school and I was able to meet and learn from him.  I was very interested in his history. He didn't start out as an animator, he graduated in illustration and later dabbled with fine art and gallery work. During a recession he worked with a group of artists to get their work into a museum. After that project he became fascinated with the idea of "collaborative art" and started working at Disney as a layout artist for the film Oliver and Company. And from there he has become a legend in the animation world.

The key concepts I took from Bill's lectures and demonstrations were composition and design. The man knows design! (I will come back and post some of my notes later.)

On his last day here (unless you spent 300 dollars and attended his color workshop), Wednesday, two animated films were premiered: BYU's newest animated film Dream Giver directed by Tyler Carter and a new animated short by Disney that hasn't been released yet Tick-Tock. After the films Bill Perkins shared his experience.

I couldn't believe how incredibly nice Bill Perkins was! Like C.F. Payne he was incredibly helpful  and I learned so many valuable lessons about the tools and elements of design!