A Disney Artist on the Future of Animation

(Rocky Mountain News) – After seeing his first animated movie – Disney's "Jungle Book" – at the age of 10, Andreas Deja wrote to the Walt Disney Studios about a job. To his delight, he got a letter back, encouraging him to study and "become an artist in your own right first," Deja recalled. A decade or so later, after completing his art training in his native Germany, Deja went to work as a Disney animator. Deja, 49, led the animation team for the recent DVD release of Disney's "Bambi II." Even after all these years, he said, "I always get a rush when I see my drawings move for the first time." Deja has had a hand in many Disney features over the years, including "The Lion King," "Lilo and Stitch" and the 1988 hybrid animation-live action movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," made in the days before computer-generated animation. But while computer animation has become more realistic, he noted, the medium is due for a change. It needs "more of a vision than just realism." He sees the future of animation as a "fusion" of cutting-edge computer animation and classic hand drawing. "I see big possibilities in the blending of the two mediums." Deja's next project is a new Disney feature called "Enchanted." The first 10 minutes are an animated "homage to fairy tales," he said, that will shift to live action for the rest of the movie. Deja is animating the witch character, to be voiced and acted by Susan Sarandon. "Enchanted" is scheduled to debut sometime next year.

I met Andreas a few years ago in Orlando and we talked about the future of animation. He has always maintained that traditional 2-d, hand-drawn animation can go further and his dream was to one day go back to the roots and make a classic animated film from the ground up, using all the old school techniques. I doubt that will ever happen today, but it seems like he is still holding on to the idea that 2-d animation will always have a legitimate place in story telling.