Study Skills - A Brief Introduction to Glen Keane

Glen Keane

Figure 1: Sample character designs for Aladdin ('Aladdin', 1992)

Figure 2: Concept art of the Beast (Beauty and the Beast, 1991)

Figure 3: Concept art for Pocahontas (1995)

Figure 4: Concept artwork of Pocahontas

Glen Keane is born in 1954, the son of prolific artist-illustrator Bil Keane, who is most noted for his work on the ‘Family Circus’ comic strips. Graduated from CalArts in 1977, he started off working in the Disney studios, debuting as an animator in 1977 with his work on “The Rescuers”. He then began working on some more feature animation and shorts before leaving Disney to work freelance. Here, he worked with Disney for its 1986 feature animation “The Great Mouse Detective” as a supervising animator and artist for the protagonist, Basil, and the antagonist, Rattigan. He then returned to Disney to work on “Oliver and Company” as a character designer and supervising animator, overseeing the design and animation of the characters Fagin, Sykes and Georgette (Lenburg, 2006). He is then promoted to lead animator, and became known as one of Disney’s so called ‘Nine New Men’ for his work and designs of some of Disney’s most memorable characters in the onset of modern Disney animation; this includes Ariel and Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” (1989), the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), and while working as a director in Disney’s animation studio in London, he is also the creator of the eponymous characters of “Aladdin” (1992), “Pocahontas” (1995) and “Tarzan” (1999), of which he also worked as supervising animator.

In 2002 he is responsible for the creation of Long John Silver for Disney’s “Treasure Planet”, which did not turn as well as his previous work. He has recently worked on “Tangled” (2010) as the executive producer, animating supervisor and directing animator for Rapunzel.  

He is also known to be the author and illustrator for a number of Biblical books for children published under Chariot Victor Publishing, featuring Adam Raccoon and King Aren the Lion (Lenburg, 2006).

The artwork above is a concept artwork for Disney’s Pocahontas (1995) in which Keane is a supervising animator and character designer for the title character. It comes off as striking, even though it is a simple turnaround sketch of the character, which happens to closely resemble her final design.

Keane’s artwork is eye-catching and easily recognized, mostly because of the fluidity of his lines. From the above artwork, the usage of shapes can be clearly seen from the slightly angular form of Pocahontas’ body; her face has a slight hexagonal shape. He uses only single lines to sketch out her design, allowing it to stand out when the final design is created - there are 3 single lines running through the shape of her hair, and these lines follow with the movement of the hair to give it life.  The lines used here are simple, single lines – the usage is minimal, yet it gives shape and form to the overall design of the character.

Her figure stands out from the rest of her body; Keane gives her torso an hourglass shape so that there is a feminine appearance to her body even though her design is slightly angular (which is usually used for creating male characters). There is also a unifying use of angular and curved shapes and lines to give her overall form, giving the character a more feminine appearance. As a result, her design looks dynamic and alive, even before the animation process takes place. In an animator’s perspective, Keane has a solid drawing of his character by uniting different lines and shapes to give her overall appearance; this then leads to the design having appeal to those viewing the design.

Glen Keane’s artwork has given life to many memorable characters in modern Disney animation; being the man behind the Beast, Tarzan and Aladdin, as well as Ariel and Rapunzel, his work as an animator, director and character designer truly stands out and is an inspiration for many budding animators, as well as a delight for audiences of all ages. Keane is definitely hugely inspiring and empowering to the animation industry, then and today.

Bibliography

Lenburg, J (2006) Who’s who in animated cartoons: An international guide to film and television’s award-winning and legendary animators. New York: Roundhouse Publishing Inc.