Thoughts about Glen Keane

Glen Keane is one of the legendary animators and illustrators of Walt Disney Studios. Keane was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ever since childhood, Keane was interested in art. This was because he lived with a great cartoonist, his dad, Bil Keane. Bill Keane was famous for creating the s how The Family Circus, which is a syndicated comic strip that reflected Bill Keane’s family, (Wikipedia).

From liking art, to becoming an animator, Keane was for the take to path of animation by fate.  In his younger years, Glen Keane took inspiration in his father Bil. Bil Keane, who in hand will joyfully teach him about art and illustrations. For instance, “in his early attempts to draw, his dad gave him a copy of Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy, and instructed him to analyze the body forms and the creative approach to life drawing,” (Wikipedia). After graduating high school, Glen Keane decided to apply to the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), a school established in 1961 by Walt and Roy Disney. Keane chose CalArt over a football scholarship awarded to him by another college, (Wikipedia). To Glen Keane’s luck, his application was accidentally sent to the Program in Experimental Animation (then called Film Graphics). Without him even choosing to apply to this concentration, he was accepted into this program. Keane was marked by fate to become a cartoon animator.

            Through all his years at the California Institute of the Art, Jules Engel specially influenced Glenn Keane. Jules Engel was an American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, animator, film director, and teacher. (Moss).

Jules Engel was involved with the type of following media: paintings, films, drawing, sculpture and prints. “He received his initial recognition in color design and choreography for the animation dance sequences in "Fantasia" at Walt Disney Studios,” (Moss.) During 1958 and 1970, until he became the founding director of the Abstract Experimental Animation on Film Department for the California Institute of the Arts, which is where he became Glen Keane’s mentor in the program. (Moss.) After Engel’s death in September 2003, according to the Center for Visual Music, “he left behind a legacy of more than thirty-three personal films and thousands of animation drawings. The Jules Engel Preservation Project was established in 2003 by Center for Visual Music (CVM) to insure archival conservation of his work.”

            Upon leaving the California Institute of the Arts in 1974, Glen Keane was accepted to start working at Walt Disney Studios, (Wikipedia). While in Disney, Keane made his debut work in 1977, by contributing on creating the movie The Rescuers, which took him three years to make, (Cobain). The Rescuers is a 1977 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977. This movie is about “mice, jittery janitor Bernard (Bob Newhart) and his co-agent, the elegant Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor), set out to rescue Penny (Michelle Stacy), an orphan girl being held prisoner in the Devil's Bayou by treasure huntress Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page), “ (Wikipedia). From than on, Glen Keane started animating popular shows and movies such as Elliott the Dragon in Pete's Dragon, and also the climactic bear showdown in The Fox and the Hound, (Cobain). “Keane left Disney officially for some time, working as a freelance artist on Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective. During a lull in production at Disney he did some work on The Chipmunk Adventure. He returned to Disney to work on the characters of Fagin, Sykes and Georgette for Oliver & Company,” (Cobain). In his return to Disney, Keane rose in position to lead character animator in the company. During his time in Disney, “he was responsible for animating some of Disney's most memorable characters in what has been referred to as the "New "Golden Age" of Disney animation,” (Cobain).

            Most of Glen Keane’s famous contributions were many all-time favorite Walt Disney movies. The viewers received his movies, such as Aladdin, The Beauty and The Beast, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, among many others, with open arms. One is his praised recent works is Tangled, which is modern version of Rapunzel. The story is about “the magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is.” (Wikipedia).

            Aside from all the great works produced by Glen Keane, he still has “endless territories to explore.” This is why he is leaving Walt Disney Studios after incredible 39 years, to expand his horizons, (Kilday).  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Glen Keane has decided that the time has come to take the next step in his personal exploration of the art of animation.

Works Cited

Cobain, . "Glen Keane." The Art of Disney Animation.. N.p., 20 June 2008. Web. 22 April. 2012. <http://artofdisneyeng.canalblog.com/archives/p10-10.html>.

Kilday, Gregg. "Veteran Animator Glen Keane Is Leaving Walt Disney Animation." Hollywood Reporter. 23 March 2012: n. page. Web. 1 May. 2012. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/glen-keane-leaving-walt-disney-animation-303857>.

Moss, Tobey. "Jules Engel." Tobey Moss Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 April 2012. <http://www.tobeycmossgallery.com>.