interview

Alladin's Genie's book of tricks

Eric Goldberg was turned down by Disney when he first tried to get there. Years later he was
called to the studios. And he went about creating such classics as Alladin and Pocahontas. In
this interview with ANIMATION REPORTER's Nikita Banerjee, Goldberg speaks about his book that
distills his experiences of over 30 years in the business, his top 24 animation films and his tips for
those wanting to be animators
You belong to a tradition of Disney artists up, we had the first televised anima-
who have written about the art of anima- tion in The Mickey Mouse Club,
tion. However, you are not a life-long Dis- the Disneyland program,
ney hand. Is this a book on animating the Looney Tunes, Popeye,
Disney-way or about animation including Betty Boop, Woody
the Disney-way?
I love all types of animation, from big
studio product to small independents.
Of course, this includes Disney, but
also includes Warner Bros., MGM,
John and Faith Hubley, Pixar, Fleisch-
er’s, UPA, and Ren and Stimpy, among
many, many others. The information in
the book is really my own distillation
of the information I’ve gathered over the
years, both from great mentors and my
own personal study and experience, chan-
neled toward the understanding of what we
know as “classical” animation - primarily
hand-drawn but also CG - for the purposes
of creating great, entertaining characters.
Woodpecker, and
Could you tell us a little about your back- even young upstarts
ground and interest in becoming an like Hanna-Barbera
animator? (Huckleberry Hound
I was a 1950’s “baby boomer,” hopelessly and The Flintstones)
hooked on the new medium of television, and Jay Ward (Rocky and
particularly the cartoons. When I was growing Bullwinkle). On The Woody

Woodpecker Show, Walter Lantz used to do a

segment every week on the process of creat-
ing cartoons, and I was fascinated. In fact,
so enamoured was I of the character, that my
older brother Elliot taught me how to draw
Woody (he was seven and I was four). Bob
Thomas’s The Art of Animation, about the
making of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty was a
book I checked out of the library every other

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animation reporter

week. My first animated features were Dumbo
and 101 Dalmatians, both two of my all-time
favorites. When I was six, a toy came out on
the market called “Flip Shows”: perforated
sheets with the frames of a Huck Hound or
Popeye cartoon printed on them, which you
could assemble into your own flipbooks. That
was it. From that point forward, no memo pad
in the house was safe. While other kids were
out playing baseball or going on dates, I was
making flipbooks.
As an author of this “text-book” on anima-
tion, what are the qualities that you believe
an animator should have?
1. Patience!!!
2. A well-developed sense of observation
and ability to caricature.
3. A desire and ability to entertain (and to
develop a sense of what is entertaining to
an audience).
4. The realization that, no matter how many
years you have been a professional ani-
mator, you never stop learning.
5. Patience!!!
Why have you chosen to call this book a
crash course?
“Crash Course” usually means a concen-
trated period of instruction, where the amount
of information is huge, and the instruction
time is very short. The book is everything I
have managed to learn or invent for the last
30 years, all crammed between two covers.
It is the book I wish I had when I was start-
ing in the medium, full of common-sense
techniques and animation principles (and an
accompanying CD of animation movie files
that demonstrate those principles, so every-
one can see how they actually work). It is
interview
also called “Crash Course” because the front
cover illustration shows a cartoon cat about
to crash into a pile of animation equipment.
In what ways is your book different from
Richard Williams’s book? Is there some-
thing different that readers can expect in
terms of techniques and style?
I have nothing but respect and admiration
for Richard Williams and his excellent book.
Dick was my mentor, as well as the man who
introduced me to animation greats Ken Har-
ris, Art Babbitt, and Tissa David, all of whom
were exceedingly generous with their knowl-
edge to a young punk like me. I think the main
difference between our books is that Charac-
ter Animation Crash Course!, devotes the first
half to conceiving characters and making
them unique personalities. While there may
be some overlap in the technique section, I
have also developed my own personal style
over the years, and my approach to technique
is often different from Dick’s (frequently useful
alternate ways), and always intended to be in
service of a character’s performance. It also
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includes sections on attitude poses, animat-
ing to music, character design, and animat-
ing graphic characters that I have not seen
covered anywhere else.
Could you list three books other than you
own that should be part of every animator’s
bookshelf?
Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair
The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie
Johnston
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard
Williams
Are there things about the making of Alad-
din, Pocahontas and other films that you re-
veal in the book? How did the Genie come
about or what was the challenge in the
making of Rhapsody in Blue?
My experience at Walt Disney Feature Ani-
mation (now Walt Disney Animation Stu-
dios) puts me in a unique position to convey
information that I have witnessed and utilized
first-hand on my various projects. I liberally
discuss the Genie in Aladdin, Phil in Her-
cules, Pocahontas, Rhapsody in Blue, and
Carnival of the Animals, primarily in the con-
text of how their characters were created and
their personalities conceived, as well as the
musical challenges and solutions in the
Fantasia/2000 sequences.
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animation reporter
In India, there are a lot of institutes that
teach animation and software that are used
in animation. In this day when computer
software are a must in animation, can one
move from art school to animation studio?
One can certainly move from art school to
studio employment, but in my experience, it
is not the knowledge of computer programs
that paves the way, but rather the knowledge
of tried-and-true animation principles from
the 2D world, which can be applied to the
world of CG. This is not 2D prejudice on my
part; it is a simple fact that, for most anima-
tion studios creating entertainment, character
animators with the traditional skills of act-
ing, timing, spacing, posing, lip-sync, etc.,
stand a much better chance of getting a job.
Frankly, the reality is that computer software
and hardware is constantly changing, and of-
ten studios have created their own proprietary
software as well (to which a student could
never have access unless employed at that
studio). What does not change, however,
are the principles. Are there techniques and
graphic solutions that are better done in 2D
than 3D? Sure. Are there new techniques and
approaches being created in the world of 3D
that work better in CGI because they have the
benefit of form and lighting? Absolutely. I do
a lot of comparing and contrasting of both in
the book, but with the understanding that 80-
plus years of animation history and methods
that have come before still have a lot to offer.
If you had to list ten must-see films for ei-
ther animators or animation buffs, which
would those ten, be?
1. Dumbo (Disney)
2. Pinocchio (Disney)
3. Duck Amuck (WB)
4. Rooty Toot Toot (UPA)
5. Fantasia (Disney)
6. Red Hot Riding Hood (MGM)
7. The Band Concert (Disney)
8. The Tender Game (John and Faith Hubley)
9. The Jungle Book (Disney)
10. The Three Caballeros (Disney)
11. Toy Story (Disney/Pixar)
12. Spirited Away (Miyazaki)
13. Bambi (Disney)
14. Mouse Trouble (MGM)
15. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(Disney)
16. Snow-White (Fleischer / Betty Boop)
17. Outfoxed (MGM)
18. Adventures of an * (John and Faith
Hubley
19. 101 Dalmatians (Disney)
20. Canned Feud (WB)
21. Rabbit of Seville (WB)
22. Long-Haired Hare (WB)
23. Hopalong Casualty (WB)
24. The Little Whirlwind (Disney)
Well, you really did not expect me to stop at
ten, did you? Plus many, many more.
Any three nuggets that you can share with
the readers without having them purchase
the book!
1. If the storytelling poses are what a
character is doing, the breakdown positions
are how he does it.
2. Always register consonants for at least
two frames.
3. Never put a smear drawing on twos.