[ MAUKA-MAKAI ]
Slowly losing MY VERY FIRST "Drawn & Quartered" column is a personal one. While I have always been a comic art (or sequential art, if I'm feeling particularly intellectual) enthusiast, I've never developed any artistic skills -- everything's gone into my writing. But my younger brother Wes was the one among us three kids who could actually draw, and draw well enough to make a living of it.
the magic
One Hawaii artist makes it to
Disney only to become a
cog in a machineDRAWN & QUARTERED
Gary C.W. Chun
Star-BulletinA recent weekend phone conversation with Wes, now a longtime resident of Southern California, brought to light that his days as an animator may be numbered.
My brother does what's called cleanup work on the animated features that the Disney studio releases like clockwork every year. He takes a rough drawing done by one of the main animators, places a clean sheet over it and draws over it, giving any given character that magical quality of fluidity and naturalism. He also occasionally does in-between drawings, the crucial transitions between facial expressions and physical movements.
I'VE ADMIRED Wes' knack ever since small-kid time; his first loves were dinosaurs and cars, and he drew them with enthusiasm. His talent would propel him from his island home -- after getting his MFA at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa -- to California to pursue his dream of working for the studio that produced the films that fueled those dreams, such as "Pinocchio" and "The Jungle Book." (I distinctly remember the precise drawing he made of Shere Khan, the tiger from the latter movie, on his boogie board, copied from a book that belonged to our then-4-year-old sister.)
Like that famous song sung by Jiminy Cricket, the Disney star is what he wished upon -- and after attending classes at the Art Center in Pasadena, what do you know? He proved that someone like him from Hawaii could make it to the "big time" and work for Disney. (Other Hawaii-born artists with Disney animation projects on their resumes include two comic book artists, Stan Sakai and Scott Williams, as well as Todd Kurosawa and Don Dougherty.)
But that star's luster was tarnished a bit when he learned that the classic, craft-intensive art that began with "Snow White" had become more of an assembly line, albeit one of the highest quality. So he became a cog in the well-oiled Disney machine.An animation cel Wes sent us is hanging in our folks' home. It's from Disney's first venture back into serious feature animation after a long hiatus, 1985's "The Black Cauldron." The film wasn't the most memorable example of the studio's work, but my family and I were thrilled to see Wes' name in the end credits when the movie hit local theaters. It was a validation of his move to the mainland that made us proud.
Ever since, we've made annual visits to the theaters whenever the latest Disney animated feature hits the screen, and we've always sat patiently in our seats after the room emptied, to see his name roll by in the long line of credits.
As both a free-lancer and a staff member, he's worked on "The Little Mermaid" (Eric), "Pocahontas," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (Esmerelda), "Mulan," "Hercules" (both the baby and adolescent versions of the title character), "Tarzan" (Jane), this year's upcoming release, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," and Disney's 2002 project, "Treasure Planet." He also worked on the adult Simba for the phenomenal blockbuster that was "The Lion King."
But now, because of announced layoffs numbering around 4,000 across the board at Disney, he doesn't know if, by year's end, he'll still have his job. He believes that, even with the success of Disney-owned Pixar productions such as the "Toy Story" movies and "A Bug's Life," Disney will continue to regularly release more tradition-minded animated movies -- albeit with the additional computer-generated work that began in earnest with "Mulan."
"It's the nature of the business," he told me. Thankfully, he has something to fall back on. In addition to the animation job and the work of raising two children with the help of wife Kim and her family, he's gone back to college and is finishing up a degree in, of all things, field biology. His commitment to switching careers has been such that the fire that once burned for Disney has long since reduced to a low -- but steadily -- glowing ember.
While I wish nothing but the best for my brother, I can't help but feel a little greedy, hoping that he'll survive the staff cut and continue to help create that Disney magic. But if it doesn't work out that way, I just want to convey a big mahalo to him for a job well done.
As he says, he may have started out as "starry-eyed and stupid," but he's helped bring to life a number of memorable Disney characters and a lot of happy moments for millions of people.
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