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Episode 79: Alex Maher
36 Plays14 days ago
On this episode we chat with senior character artist and HUGE Walt Disney fan, Alex Maher!
DISCLAIMER: We are not an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company nor do we speak for the brand or the company. Any and all Disney-owned audio, characters, and likenesses are their property and theirs alone.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Sharing the Magic' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Sharing the Magic, the podcast that takes you on a journey through the enchanting worlds of Disney. Each week, we're joined by a special guest, whether they're a magician creating moments of astonishment or a Disney expert sharing the secrets behind the magic of the happiest place on Earth. Together we'll uncover the stories, inspirations, and behind-the-scenes tales that bring these worlds to life.
00:00:32
Speaker
So, get ready to be spellbound and transported to a place where dreams come true.
Meet the Hosts and Their Excitement
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello, welcome to the latest episode of Sharing the Magic. I'm your host, Barry, and tonight we have another fantastic episode for you lined up. But before we introduce our guest, which you're going to be pretty impressed with as soon as you hear who it is, um let's go ahead and introduce our co-host tonight. And first, let's start with Don. Don, how you doing?
00:01:16
Speaker
Hi, I'm Dawn from Houston, Texas. We're expecting a freeze tonight, so we just got done covering all the plants in the backyard and that fun stuff that I'm sure some of y'all are used to every winter.
Guest Introduction: Alex Mayer, Disney Artist
00:01:29
Speaker
So Houston's a little bipolar on weather, but nice to meet you. Excited to hear your story. Thank you. All right, next up we have Brian. Brian, how Hey, how you doing everybody? It's Brian from the Jersey Shore and I'm really excited for this episode tonight. This is something, ah once i started looking into it a little bit, I got more and more excited. So that's what I'm looking for. Let's get started. I'm ready to get started now. Awesome.
00:01:54
Speaker
And we have James. James, how are you doing? I'm doing great from the land of wet weather out here in I mean, I'm excited, though. It's it's another Sunday here at STM, and we've got another great guest. I'm excited to hear their story. So let's let's rock and roll.
00:02:10
Speaker
Absolutely. And we'll have Lisa join us sometime throughout the podcast as well. um I am from the apocalyptic North Carolina, where everyone thinks that – ah Either the rapture is coming or something bad is going to happen because we're supposed to be getting snow.
00:02:27
Speaker
So nice just just just pray for us. Again, as i mentioned before, we have a wonderful guest joining us tonight.
Alex's Early Fascination with Disney
00:02:36
Speaker
We are happy to introduce Alex Mayer joining us.
00:02:40
Speaker
How are you doing tonight, sir? I'm great. are you guys doing? This is fun. this sounds Great. but So, Alex, let me start off by, and I ask this question for all our guests that are on here.
00:02:53
Speaker
How did you fall in love with Disney? Yeah, I think it's ah it was I was born with it somehow. you know um I remember it was my dad was an artist, I guess I just loved um art and cartooning. He was a cartoonist ah and for a little while, and um so I just loved that um at an early age. and um I remember in kindergarten, I went to the library at my elementary school, and I just pulled out a book at randomly, and it was a book about Walt Disney, and that was it. i was hooked from then on.
00:03:24
Speaker
About five years old. and I'll never forget it. It's almost like ah yesterday. It's just in my mind's eye. i can remember walking up and just pulling this book out. And it was like a little children's book about Walt Disney. And yeah. And then it was all, you know, uphill from there. yeah i mean, this is, again, way before the Internet. So back in the 60s, I guess, late 60s.
00:03:44
Speaker
So, yeah, from then on, I would just find every any book I could find on the subject, any magazine, anything in in the newspapers. You know, so I was hooked from early early age. So were you were you into like the the early movies and things like that? Is that how you got into your your love for what you you did for your career?
Challenges and Persistence in Pursuing Disney Dreams
00:04:05
Speaker
I think so, yeah. I always knew, you know, it's being ah kind of going the route of the artist, you know, like my dad, from my dad. I knew I wanted to work for Walt Disney even, like said, when I was five. um I do remember, it must have been around that age when we went to see like um a re-showing of Snow White. I don't know the re-issued dates and when they were, but I remember we were at a drive-in theater and we were seeing Snow White.
00:04:29
Speaker
That's kind of my first recollection recollection of seeing an old Disney movie. um But I must have been hooked from then. And yeah, my parents divorced when I was like six. So I remember our parents were both there. So it must have been five or six when I saw that film with them in a drive-in.
00:04:45
Speaker
So getting getting into, um you had your love of Disney, you had ah things that got you you know hooked on to Walt's ideas and Walt's dream and things like that.
00:04:57
Speaker
So going into it, how did how did you find yourself getting into your career being a being a artist? Wow, okay. That's ah kind of going to fast forward, you know, like 15, 18 years, right? um Yeah, like I said, I just drew. I mean, I drew the characters all the time. i would get any book I could find, draw the Disney characters, and everybody thought, oh, this guy's a really good artist. And, you know, I was always really hard on myself, so I never thought it was good enough, you know, and I'd have my dad give me give me critique. So i was i learned from an early age to really ah accept critique, criticism from your work and stuff like that. So I relish that. I love that. and
00:05:37
Speaker
So, yeah, so um I would always fast forward to high school. I was in art class, like an art major class, whatever. And and I kept saying want to work for Disney. And my teachers would say, oh, you know, it's impossible to get into Disney. They only take the top of the top of the top, you know.
00:05:51
Speaker
And I said, yeah, I understand that, but I still want to try. you know I want to you know try to work for Disney somehow, some way. i didn't know I really didn't care what I was going to do. I didn't really care about being an artist. I just want to work the company. you know I would write letters to some of the old-timers,
00:06:08
Speaker
One of the first ones I ever wrote was a guy named, he's not very well known in Disney history, but his name was, I believe his name was Ken Peterson. And ah so I'd ask him questions about Walt and he wrote back and he told me about Walt and how Walt was fairly difficult to work with, and um but everybody respected him and things like that. So I just love that. I just love this hearing about the human side of Walt, you know, and um so that was fun.
00:06:33
Speaker
I remember writing to Frank and Ollie and they replied to me as well. Yeah, so that's kind of all it started. And then, like, could graduate high school, and I wanted to go to the school that Disney had started in California called California Institute the Arts.
00:06:49
Speaker
Unfortunately, it was just too expensive. I couldn't afford it. You know, I could barely afford college, you know, so I couldn't even afford college, actually. So I actually joined the military. I did military service. I went in the U.S. Navy, and I did three years in the U.S. Navy on a ship,
00:07:04
Speaker
And I had decorated my locker walls, you know, with Disney characters, all the guys that were crazy. But, you know i didn't care. i i loved it. And, you know, I think they liked it, too. They just didn't want to admit it, you know, because I actually put a bulletin. There was a bulletin board outside of our office on the ship.
00:07:17
Speaker
And there was a ah stairway going up to the captain's quarters. And I would actually sometimes go out of my office and I'd see... officers and all kinds people just looking at the whole display I did of Walt Disney you know they they loved reading about it you know and um so I thought it was kind of cool I think people really enjoyed that so yeah so I did military service and then when I out of the military service i actually um applied at CalArts again and by that time I was married with my high school sweetheart and we decided just go ahead and just go to California and i got accepted to the CalArts in the animation program and um
00:07:52
Speaker
Unfortunately, um um I couldn't afford it. i couldn't get I can only get so much of a scholarship. And my wife and I were pretty poor broken. Somehow she was pregnant. which we couldn figure We couldn't live, move on the other side of the country with her being pregnant and me going to school full time. She was going to be the breadwinner. Right. She was going to work. out it She was a banker.
00:08:11
Speaker
So she was going work. We had already planned out. You're going work. and I'm going to go to school. But I want the whole thing. pregnancy thing kind of kind of put a ah and put a wrench in it all and we decided there's no way we can afford that we're notnna have any family to help us so we decided i deferred or i turned down my acceptance which is really hard for me to do because that was like my dream i would have been like in the class with pete doctor and guys like that you know uh they were there back then so um um i kind of missed out on all that um so yeah so i just started working mom pop print shops and doing graphic design work i did that in the military and um
00:08:44
Speaker
You know, drawing on the side, you know, just painting cells and things like that for myself. And yeah, and then I just started working, like I said, at different a ad agencies and all the while like looking in the in the white, I'm sorry, in the want ads, you know, in the newspaper and Sunday newspaper again. This is like in the 80s, early 80s, looking for jobs at Disney. And I got really good at looking at the Sunday paper and just spotting like a little Mickey because that was like, you know, that was an ad about a job for Disney, you know. So I would apply to Disney jobs all the time. And, of course, I'd always get that nice rejection letter.
00:09:17
Speaker
But i was kind of fun because I loved getting an envelope with that little Mickey, Walt Disney Productions logo on the envelope. i That is so cool. yeah But I always get rejection letters, you know.
00:09:27
Speaker
Were you getting interviews or were you just... um No, no interview. I just say, thank you for your your interest. We found someone else that has more experience or that kind of stuff, right? So... Yeah, and then it didn't so it didn't work out. By this time, we already had, yeah our son was five, our daughter was a year old, and i was working ah at an art as an art director at a university down there, a college down there, and i was the art director, and i I was making pretty good money. My wife was really doing well at the bank, so we we had it we had a house, we had everything going, but I i kept thinking, this is not gonna be this not my career. I want it for Disney. I'm going to be happy in my life until I work for Disney.
00:10:04
Speaker
So we decided to quit our jobs and sell our house and take our kids up to Orlando. we were living in Miami. Everybody thought we were crazy.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah, I got a lot of, what are you doing? You're father, you're husband. You can't do that. You you have responsibilities. and But, you know, how however, my parents are the only ones that really backed us up. They said, you're doing the right thing. You're chasing your dreams. And that's what you need to do in life, right?
00:10:29
Speaker
Not so much my in-laws. They didn't like that. i was taking their daughter away from them and our grandkids, their grandkids. um So, yeah, it was hard. um We moved up to Orlando with no work. And my wife wanted to stay home with the kids, you know, to acclimate them. So she didn't get a job right away. And I started just doing freelance work.
00:10:45
Speaker
Yeah, and then she actually ended up getting a job at Disney first. She worked in reservations, you know, answering the phone calls for people, you know. So she got a job really quick because she had a lot of experience in office management and working with executives and things like that at a bank. And so she got a job really quickly. However, myself, um they didn't hire me. um I went to a theme park down the road up the highway here that has like King Kong and E.T.
00:11:11
Speaker
And yeah, they hired me right away. But just to work in the park, because I was not making enough freelance work. I wasn't you know making enough money. So I needed to get something. you know My dad used to always tell me, it's always easier to find a job when you have a job.
00:11:24
Speaker
i I went to this park, and I hired me on the spot. And I felt confident. I was great. on my days off, I'd go to Disney. I'd start looking around and going to casting center and talking to people and things like that. you know And ah fine thank God things are actually worked out. So i don't know if I answered
Transition to Merchandise Art
00:11:39
Speaker
your question at all. but Sorry, I kind of go off on tangent.
00:11:44
Speaker
No, you went you got that right on. I mean, from my perspective, because I'm prior service myself. So thank you for your service. Thank you, too. Yes. um I'm prior Marine. So I definitely yeah i definitely get the the road to Disney because I'm a former cast member as well. And kind of sounds similar. you You're trying to find ways in, trying to find...
00:12:01
Speaker
It was ah harder, even when I went in in the 2000s to go work at Disney in the 2010s. They're still getting those rejections. And what was it like with that first rejection? Did you take that as like motivation to you know keep applying, to keep looking in that Sunday paper?
00:12:21
Speaker
And when you were freelancing, were you still getting like you said we still getting the rejection letters like in Orlando, or were you just really networking? very much networking i remember outcome we come at israel disney fanatics so we'd be our kids all the time and Yeah, I would talk to customers all the time. And and and the majority of them would say, you know, you need to be here to get to to get to know people and you get you know you get networking and things like that. Again, this is before social media and all that kind of stuff.
00:12:46
Speaker
It was all just like meeting people and stuff. And um so that's how we decided just, you know, and thank God for my wife. She's the one actually, because like being a family man, and I go, I got to have a good job. i art I'm an art manager at the college and she had a good job. I can't just leave all that because I have responsibility.
00:13:02
Speaker
But she said, Forget it. You know, ah we are actually selling our house to buy another house in Miami. So we had got a buyer and we were like, all right, we have a buyer in the house. You know, we're going build it. We're going to buy this other house in Miami. But she said, forget about buying this other house. Let's just go to Orlando and try to get, you know, get into Disney.
00:13:19
Speaker
And i always thought she was crazy. But, you know, we start thinking about it. Yeah, let's do it. Right. So, yeah. So we we came up here and. yeah It was hard. I mean, i it was good to network. I would go i go to marketing. And the reason I knew about marketing art is because I was part of the the Disney fan club called, it was back then it was the NFFC, which is the National Fantasy Fan Club, which is now called the Disneyland Fan Club.
00:13:41
Speaker
And um so I was part of that. I was like one of the charter, all and one of the early members of that and living in South Florida. So I saw get their newsletter and I'd read about these Disney artists, you know, in Florida. And the two guys that I remember reading about were Don Williams and Peter Ensley.
00:13:56
Speaker
And um so I was like, God, these guys are awesome. man They're amazing. And so I remember going to marketing department when I moved to Orlando and I wanted my days off from this other theme park. And I went over and I talked to the manager. I said, I'd like to meet Don Williams. They go, oh, he's on vacation. Oh, OK. How about Peter Emsley? Oh, and no, he's not here either. i said, oh, man.
00:14:13
Speaker
So I said, I'm an artist and I would love to, you know, see if I can get in here. And they go, well, let me see your work, you know. And and so I went the next day and I showed some drawings to them and they liked it. But they go, we really don't have anything available right now. You know, once you try going to the merchandise department.
00:14:30
Speaker
And said, oh, really? Merchandise? supply i never thought about merchandise, right? Never in my life. And so they I said, where is it? And they go, oh, it's it's up to up the highway by SeaWorld. And went, oh, okay. And at that point, you know being naive on Disney, I thought everything Disney, you work for Disney, you're on Disney property. I never, never realized that Disney had offices off-site, right?
00:14:52
Speaker
And when he said it was up by SeaWorld, I kind of like, thank you very much. But i want to work for the company. And he goes, oh, no, it's the company. I said, really? By SeaWorld? And he goes, oh, yeah, we just have offices up there. I said, oh, OK.
00:15:05
Speaker
So um he gave me the manager's name. a number and I call and contacted the guy and he goes, yeah, come in tomorrow and she bring me some. I said, what do you want to see? And he goes, because, you know, you get these reject when I got these rejection letters, they would say, don't show us any Disney characters. They they want us to see our drawing skills. You know, they said, we'll teach you how to draw the characters. That was the whole background on animation, right? they Oh, don't ever show Disney characters, you know your portfolio.
00:15:29
Speaker
So I asked this manager, I said, what do you want to see? And he goes, oh, you can just draw some characters and do some Disney characters. I said, oh, really? Okay. So that night I actually went home and I drew and I'll never forget it. i drew ah Roger. It was like 83, I guess it was i'm around 83, 84, something like that. Well, no, have to be after that.
00:15:48
Speaker
Get my dates mixed up. No, this early 90s. I'm sorry. 90, around 91. We moved our to Orlando. um August 91. Yeah. And um so um I drew like a Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit and Mickey Mouse.
00:16:01
Speaker
And I took it in to meet, ah to show the art manager. and And I don't know if you've heard of him. He's retired now. His name is Mark Seppolo. And he pretty much started the whole merchandise art department pretty much.
00:16:12
Speaker
Yeah, he was the man that kind of hired us all, you know, and... um Yeah, so he's a great guy. So anyway, so when he saw I met him, he looked at my work and he didn't say anything, he just kind of looked at it and then he had one of his one of his other managers come walking in and he goes, hi hey hey John, this is Alex, we found another one.
00:16:32
Speaker
When he said that, I think, oh, I'm in. Hey, he likes my work, you know? And um so they actually gave me some some ah some model sheets. So goes, I'm going to give you a test. um ah we We need ah a lot of, they just purchased the Muppets or something, and they wanted a lot of Muppet art, you know? And you know what?
00:16:51
Speaker
I wasn't I like would love the Muppets, but not as much as Disney. So I thought, you know, I'll do it. Hey, it's in I'm in the company. I mean, I'm doing work for Disney. I'll i'll do whatever you all want. So but and then he goes, I wanted you to start doing some Muppets stuff. But right now i'm going to give test. I want you to draw a figment from Epcot.
00:17:08
Speaker
And I said, sure, I like figment. So he gave me some model sheets, you know, and I was so excited when I got I was in the car and I was looking
Artistic Challenges and Favorite Characters
00:17:15
Speaker
at Disney model seats. I thought that coolest thing in the world. It was awesome.
00:17:19
Speaker
And um at night I drew a figment and um he liked it a lot. He's next day I brought it in. He said, it's great. I'm going to get you some more freelance work. And to this day, I never touched not one Muppet thing.
00:17:30
Speaker
and Never. I just started doing Disney stuff. That's it. You know, um so kind of like that was like the path starting at the at the department that I'm still pretty much currently in. So, yeah.
00:17:41
Speaker
So i I can talk. on I can tell I go on forever. I'm sorry. i'm Yeah. It was your favorite character to draw. Oh, that's, you know, that's ah I get that question a lot. And it's really hard. I never know the the correct answer for that but because I love all the Disney characters. there there I mean, I have such an affinity towards all the Disney characters.
00:17:59
Speaker
However, you know, you have your favorites to draw. And like, I love drawing Mickey, you know, he's the hardest to draw. you know, believe it or not, he's really hard to draw. To get them right. And Mickey, I like drawing Tinkerbell. I like drawing a lot of, yeah.
00:18:17
Speaker
I like the Pooh characters. I really like drawing the Pooh They're kind of simple, but they're fun to draw. They're so cute, you know But again, I can draw. I love all of
00:18:26
Speaker
What has been the oddest art request that you've had? Hardest? The hardest? but Not the hard hardest, but the oddest. Oh, oddest. I'm sorry. Oddest.
00:18:37
Speaker
Wow. I want to say maybe drawing like a character dinosaur for Animal Kingdom. i had to come up with a character pretty much.
00:18:48
Speaker
And that was kind of an odd request, but it was fun to draw. It was like a tourist, direct we call him tourist-to-source-rex. And so i had to I had to kind of create him. And that was kind of the only thing I really created on my own as far as character goes. But that was kind of an request. But I'm sure there are others I'll probably think about later. But yeah, that was that one this is the first that comes to my mind. Yeah.
00:19:09
Speaker
Those are the ones that you come up in the middle of the night and go, oh, I should have said. i know. Yeah. No, exactly. So just just so first tell me that you you kept all these correspondents that you had when you were very young. with Because for me, it feels like, and I agree with James, because i feel like it's that that's...
00:19:31
Speaker
That's driven motivation right there that you're getting, even if you're getting a rejection letter. Because lo and behold, I've even applied to Disney recently. And, you know, it I guess it's not as disheartening getting an email as it is getting a form letter coming back as it was in the old days. Because...
00:19:50
Speaker
You're not constantly checking the mailbox. You know when the mail comes every day. But nowadays, you're checking your email constantly. And when it pops up, then you're you're like, oh say oh oh, I've seen that form letter before.
00:20:05
Speaker
So, you know, getting getting these letters and getting these um you know getting these kind of encouraging ones that you got to be getting... have you Have you kept these and have you looked back at them as kind of you know you know looking at your journey as saying, hey, I was once you know struggling in Miami or struggling in California and and now look, look where I am.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah, I've actually looked them a couple times over the years, but it's been a while. I was just i have a filing cabinet right here, and I know I have in here somewhere. like the letter from Ollie. I didn't get in a letter from Frank, but they kind of like right next they were kind of one as one, right? Frank and Ollie.
00:20:43
Speaker
yeah So I do have that one. um And the other one, I don't know if I have it. It's been many years since I've seen it. um But yeah, I have to look through that when I get ready to pack up. We're going to be building hopefully in the next with the next seven months and moving. Yeah.
00:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'll have to look at all this stuff. you know what You know, you could probably see, like, i have a lot of stuff, you know, and um it's going to be a while to go through everything and pack everything up. And this is just stuff I have out. I mean, I have boxes and bins full of stuff in my garage, you know.
00:21:13
Speaker
As Disney fans, we just collect stuff, you know, and it's just hard to get rid of any of it. But yeah, so I do look back on some of the stuff, you know, and but it's all memories that I have in my head, you know, um ah meeting Frank and Ollie for the first time and Mark Davis and all those kind of things. You know, I wish I had more
Cherished Disney Memorabilia and Memories
00:21:31
Speaker
proof of that. Like I when I went to I went went to visit the four of the nine old men back in the 90s all one day. And I didn't I took some pictures, but I didn't have any video or back then. You know, you have you don't have like an iPhone, you know.
00:21:45
Speaker
And I kind of regret that I didn't have any video of of my conversations with them and stuff. That was a lot of fun. But yeah, I got to know some of them, you know, being a Disney and going to California quite a bit, you know.
00:21:57
Speaker
i have a lot of correspondence, actually.
00:22:01
Speaker
You're not the first Disney person that we had on here it says that they have boxes of memorabilia saved or collect collectibles or you correspondence. No, no, because even as as a former cast member myself, i was only there about a year.
00:22:14
Speaker
i have just... collectible stuff that i've I've picked up along the way, even throughout the years of not being there. just like, I look around my office area, I'm like, he's right. i look I'm like, there's stuff here that I've been collecting.
00:22:27
Speaker
And then it's just over the course of time with my correspondence with, you know, other cast members that I know or other people in the industry, I'm like, this is insane. So what is it about... Because i know I know why I keep myself. What is it about these these things that you want to keep? Is it the core of the memory? Is it something along within your career that that's a reminder of like, these are the things that got me here. Because like Barry piggyback off me. I want to now piggyback off of Barry.
00:22:52
Speaker
ah these that Are these things that just are constant reminders of like over the last 30 years? This is what got me here. This is what has kept me here. And this is my passion because this is what Walt would have wanted.
00:23:04
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's all the above. It's like memories and it's just the love of the IP. You know, I love all this stuff. And um I love more of the older stuff versus the newer stuff, right? ah Very rarely I buy anything nowadays. um You know, I think I did buy something recently.
00:23:21
Speaker
um That's something I worked on, actually. I bought it because i like it because when I do a product, piece of art for product, I try to my all into it um because, you know, i i want to kind of please. And it's kind of odd thing, but i I don't want it's not to please my leadership. It's to please Walt. Right.
00:23:40
Speaker
So I do something I do the best I can, because that's what Walt instilled in everyone. Like, you know, quality will out and, you know, put the quality into everything and people will pay you back for it.
00:23:51
Speaker
So, yeah, I try to put the best, my most efforts, my hardest efforts into something to make it right. You know, um sometimes you don't have the time to do that, but I try to do my best. So I did recently I was in California for Christmas when my son lives out there and and went to the studio and I purchased a Mickey, a Santa Mickey that I figurine that I did, i did the drawings for and stuff. And they and i I work with a sculptor to make sure he sculpted correctly and all that kind of stuff.
00:24:21
Speaker
and And, you know, recently um it came out maybe last year, I think it was um the Mickey with the paintbrush with the sign of triangle to triangle. And it says Walt Disney Productions. I created that one. And so when I saw it, it you know, at the store, I go, gosh, I worked on this. I got to buy it. You know, the pin right so I don't give it to you with a pin and a figurine. It's a figurine. Yeah, yeah, so i have I have that pin.
00:24:42
Speaker
ah So it's says of him it's a whiteboard, right? ah it's it's ah I think it's a whiteboard because I'm a pin collector. So when you bring these things up, my my ears instantly perk up. I don't think it's it is an orange triangle and it says Walt Disney Productions and it's Mickey there's a paint can next to him. I know what you're talking about. I don't have that one. I have one similar.
00:25:00
Speaker
Yeah. yes It's based off the old logo from Walt Disney Productions back in the 50s and 60s. yeah I love that logo. And when they're asking us to come up with stuff for the 100th anniversary, I pitched that.
Building Relationships with Disney Legends
00:25:12
Speaker
I said, I want to do this as a figurine. And they they they allowed me to do it. So I did that.
00:25:16
Speaker
And then I did this ah you the Santa Mickey, you know, based off an old magazine cover, ah the vintage Mickey cover. So and i also did a a headless horseman and could about crane. I was at d twenty three and I want to get that one, but it's not around anymore. I have to see if going to bring it back. It sold out at D23. So I really want to get that one. I really like the way that one came out because I worked really closely with the sculptor and and making making sure it looked exactly way I wanted it, you know.
00:25:43
Speaker
Because a lot of times we'll do drawings and we'll send it to to Asia and then they sculpt it. And kind of hard, you know, when you get it back in an email to do corrections, you do overlays and stuff like that. But, you know, it's only, you know, they can only do so much. And so I didn't have that much control. But when it's sculpted in-house, you have a lot of control. So I make sure it's right, you know, and then to make sure the painting is right and all that kind of stuff.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, so I do buy stuff that I've done. And once in a while, pins that I've done. I was on the pin team for, I was one of the original people that were on the pin team in 1999 for the millennium.
00:26:18
Speaker
And I did all the pin events up until, oh gosh, five years ago. I stopped doing pins. I might have some of your work floating around. Yeah, you probably have a lot of my. I've done thousands of pins. Oh, you've got thousands. Thousands, okay.
00:26:30
Speaker
I'm an avid pin collector, and I'm a part of an event up here in Washington called the Pacific Northwest Mouse Meet. And me and my buddy were such big, avid pin collectors. We actually bought brought pin trading to the event because nobody was doing it.
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, know yeah. but that that meet I want to go to that event one of these years Hey, i if you want to, we can link up after, and I will put you on to the person to talk to. you but Yeah, you get you get like Tony Baxter there, and you get all kinds of cool but Bob Gurr, and everybody cool up there. I've been trying to go out there. I'm trying to work it out so I can go next year. I know. I want to go. yeah I want to go, too. ah Bob Gurr was there last year, and he was so much fun. And i you you talk about the old-timers. I have an affinity for the old-timers, and Bob's my guy.
00:27:09
Speaker
so it was really nice to meet him. Have you actually had – you said you had like interactions with – some of the nine old men. Who are some of the current peers that you've you've had interactions with?
00:27:21
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Like I said, being such a huge fan, not just, you know, people, yeah some of my coworkers criticize me because they go, my God, he's such a Disney fanatic. When he goes on vacation, he goes to Disneyland. You know, I said, yeah, because love Disney. you know, I love Cal, you know.
00:27:34
Speaker
So when I would go on vacation, even before my son lived out there, I'd go over to Imagineering and I'd get to know the Imagineers. I got to know Tony Baxter really well. I've been to his house and stuff. And, you know, Tony's an awesome guy. And,
00:27:44
Speaker
um You know, a lot of the Imagineers I've gotten to know, ah Bob Gurr, I know Bob Gurr fairly well. He'll probably recognize his season, probably doesn't know my name. But, you know, because Bob's out there everywhere. you know, he's at every event, it seems, you know. um But, you know, like I went to Mark's house, Mark Davis's house and Mark and Alice and, um you know, course, Frank and Ollie and Ward Kimball. I got to see all his train. I'm a big train guy. I don't know if you can see. It's kind of blurry.
00:28:10
Speaker
But I do have a like a G-scale train set going around. And then I have a ah live live steam engine right there. And that's actually and actual an actual duplicate of Walt's engine. I was going to ask.
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, it is. Because it was actually I bought it. um It was built at the Disney Studios in 1950. Wow. and I'm getting ready. When I move to my new place, I'm going to have enough land to do a layout. So I'm actually buying rail and ties. And I'm going to do a whole layout, steam engine. I still got to get it worked on. It's not completely finished.
00:28:40
Speaker
But I got turned on to it a few years ago. And it's like I bought it. And yeah, it's it's really cool. It's like what i got all the plans. Like that TV show, Make My House Disney or something that was on a couple of years ago. Do you remember that show? I think I saw that, yeah.
00:28:52
Speaker
but Anyway, um i don't even know if I answered the question you were asking. it ah No, no, you did. people know Yeah, I've known quite a bit. like One of the guys that became pretty good, from one of my best, I guess I'd say when a good friend of mine, ah more than the other old timers, was Bill Justice.
00:29:07
Speaker
I became really good friends of Bill. And he was just a personable guy, such a great guy. um i remember we used to have, like, in our and our chapter here, our Disney chapter ah the of the NFFC, we used to have our little mini-meets and mini-conventions here. And a lot of times they'd get Bill to come out.
00:29:24
Speaker
And I remember when I just started Disney, I was at one of these little meets, and Bill was there. And I was so intimidated to go up to talk to him. I was so shy. And and i ah didn't have the nerve to talk to him. But somebody kind of introduced me to him.
00:29:38
Speaker
And I say, yeah, yeah yeah Mr. Just, I draw the characters too. and And so we just, you know, he was really friendly and he drew me Donald or something, you know. and But then every time I go to California, I'd end up going out and talking to him and meeting him and stuff. We'd run into him sometimes at the studio. I'd run into him at Disneyland. was weird. um And then when he got married to Kim or even when we started dating Kim,
00:29:59
Speaker
I got to know them really well. And then I'd go like to the house for dinner and I'd go out to different places with them and stuff like that. And I'd see them all the time. They'd come here in Orlando. So I have to say, of all the artists, Bill was my closest friend.
00:30:11
Speaker
I know Tony Baxter pretty well. Other than that, I'm trying to think anybody else. Just some of the yeah younger people that are in there now, you know. lot of the old timers are gone, unfortunately, you know. Lost a lot of the great ones, you know. Willie Crump. I used to talk to Willie a lot. i like Willie a lot. He was awesome.
00:30:28
Speaker
I asked them crazy questions i like, you know, the you know the the Tower of the Four Winds, you know, from the New York World's Fair. we were having breakfast in morning. And I said, where is it? And he goes, they cut up in pieces and threw it in the river, like in right there by, you know, were wherever, you know, the river next to wherever the thing was. Right. And said, we got to go diving. I'm a scuba diver. going to go down there, find some these pieces.
00:30:49
Speaker
you know And he goes, that would be really cool, you know. but So it's over here where the Mets play baseball. It's in that river there. I've actually heard that to myself. Yeah, it's in the river. He said it's been pieces in the river. I said, man, I swear, if I had the time and I could get up there, I would go scuba diving down there, and I'd find me an old, rotted little piece of it if I could, you know?
00:31:07
Speaker
But, yeah, I'm crazy. I don't know if you'd want to scuba dive in that river. Oh, no? Yeah, I'm afraid what you'd look like coming out of that. I know, right? Yeah.
00:31:18
Speaker
You'd come out green and probably a foot. A lot of dead body parts fly. Is that the huddy or the east? East. I want to say it was east. I think he told me it was thrown in the East River. That's not right over there. It's an open place in Shea Stadium right over there.
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah. That's that's not, that's who knows what's in that river. Yeah. I'm a diver, too. I'm a diver, too. We've thought about that. Yeah, no way I would go in there. Little pieces of Disney everywhere across the world. I know, right?
00:31:49
Speaker
But yeah, again, like Bill, Bill was such a great guy. i mean, he would make that guy can make me laugh. He has such a great sense of humor. And I love talking to him about the history because he would, he has such a great memory, even though he got dementia his later years, but he would, I would always ask him about Freddie more. He loved talking about Freddie more. He could talk about Freddie all. And sometimes he would tell me the same story every time I'd say, tell me about Freddie.
00:32:08
Speaker
And he just, Oh my God, Freddie. He loved talking about Freddie. And so I love hearing about Freddie. So i thought that was great. And, uh, Even when he was hospital and was kind of getting dementia, I would ask him, you know, about the old times because he remembered the old times.
Fostering Synergy in Disney's Creative Departments
00:32:22
Speaker
He didn't know what was going on now.
00:32:24
Speaker
And i would he was a big tennis player. And I asked him, did you play tennis with like Frank and Ollie? He goes, they didn't play tennis. How about Mel Kahl? He didn't play tennis. And so he would talk about different guys he played tennis with and stuff. And he played tennis with Freddie and played, you know, played with a lot of these guys, you know, but that's how it get I kept him going as far as, you know, just keeping his memory going, I guess, you know. Unfortunately, didn't get a lot of visitors in the last few couple of years, you know, it's kind of sad.
00:32:52
Speaker
So that's kind of a Tony Baxter. We've been trying to get you for a year now. So I think this is an omen for you to come on if you hear our podcast. um Alex, I had, you know, you mentioned, you know, working with some of the greats and talking and interacting with them.
00:33:11
Speaker
but Let me ask you, is there a difference between um an artist who actually works on a film than compared to someone who actually like works like in merchandising, just like that? do they have is ah Is there some camaraderie between you guys, or are you guys like separate? or Because it always seems like you know when you hear... um When we bring somebody that's worked on a movie and they come on and they talk about, you know, all these people that they have to work with. And, you know, they learn from so-and-so and they learn from so-and-so and, you know, we passed it on before.
00:33:48
Speaker
So is that is that kind of kind of how how the spirit is within the Disney Corporation? Yeah, it's to be honest, it's a little bit, maybe it's getting better now, but it's kind of separate. We're all separate entities, you know, even with Imagineering.
00:34:01
Speaker
And that was one of my things that I've tried to um break down some of the walls because I'm such a big synergy guy with Disney. I love everything. That's why I would go visit Imagineering, got to know the Imagineers.
00:34:12
Speaker
I'd go to see friends in animation or you know stuff like that. So um yeah, when I first started at Disney, ah um I wanted to be an animator because I thought, you're an artist, you're going be an animator. you know So um I found this department that i told you I got in the merchandise side of it.
00:34:26
Speaker
But the first few months, I said, this is a lot of fun, but I want to be an animator. I still want to be into animation. um and But then I started realizing, you know as the months went by, I'm drawing for merchandise. I'm drawing. Like the first few weeks, I was drawing Aurora.
00:34:40
Speaker
for Christmas ornament. I was drawing Pablo the penguin, which I love. ah lot of Mickey Mouse's and a lot the Pooh characters and you know Snow White. And I'm drawing all these great characters. and And I started slowly realizing that in animation, you draw a character that nobody knows. You're sitting on drawing this character for four or five years, hoping that it's going an endearing character that you know people are going to love, but you don't know that. you know And I really learned that when i we first moved over. We left the SeaWorld area, he went down to Kissimmee, an office complex down there. It was in Main Gate. It called Main Gate.
00:35:15
Speaker
And then we actually moved over to the animation building. So we were actually in the building with the animators, but we weren't allowed to go see them. They were on the other side of the elevator. We couldn't see them. We could only see them in the hallways and down downstairs.
00:35:26
Speaker
But of course, you get to know people after a while, right? But we were kind of like don't talk to the animators. Don't talk to the animators, you know? And um I remember talking to one of my friends who was a working on Stitch. And I think he's still with a company. he moved out to California when they closed here, ah Alex Cooperschmidt.
00:35:42
Speaker
And he worked on Stitch. And um remember asking him, I said, so what are you working on? So I'm working on this little, you know, blue alien character. I said, really? That's kind of unusual. He goes, yeah. and I said, what's it about? He goes, well, you know, he lands and crash lands in Hawaii and his little Hawaiian girl finds him. And he just was saying this thing. And she likes ah Elvis music. I was like, that is the weirdest sounding movie I've ever heard in my life.
00:36:05
Speaker
it's like what i said is he a good character he's a bad character he goes well he's kind of bad but he gets good in the end i like oh man i was like man that's that's when i really realized i'm in the right place because i get to draw all the great distant characters that we all know and love you know and it's like i'm having the best time i'm not drawing a character that i don't know how to do what this character this little and i end up drawing a lot of stitch and i so i love drawing stitch actually now but uh It was really odd in the beginning. I didn't know anything about him. It was kind of interesting.
00:36:36
Speaker
But yeah, that's when I knew. And it's funny because in kind of back up a little bit when we talk about collaborating, we were working on some when Aladdin was coming out. I was working on on a Raja flush, the the tiger.
00:36:48
Speaker
And we're actually, we're still up up up in near SeaWorld, an office complex up there. And I needed some model sheets of a raja a Raja. And they go, well, our admin person said, well, you have to wait until California opens up. And then we got a call and get a request and yeah all this kind of red tape. And I'm not into the red tape, you know?
00:37:05
Speaker
I said, wait, wait, wait. But the animator is right down the road here in animation. Can I just drive down there and get it from him? He'll give me the model sheet. Oh, no, no, no. You're not a allowed to go talk to the animators. No, that's ah and that's forbidden, you know?
00:37:17
Speaker
So no, I had to wait and get a request in and I had to send ship it from California. And it was just, like said, a lot of red tape, you know. And so again, fast forward, we're in an animation building. We're working on our merchandise stuff, but they're doing animation.
00:37:31
Speaker
We're separate, but we all kind of started knowing each other, gotten gotten friendly with each other. And they used to always tell me, we don't like all this red tape. If you need some, just come talk to and I'll give it to you. You know, all the artists, we're all the same, right? We just want to help each other and collaborate, you know? it's just like, it's just tense. There was a lot of red tape. And at one point, I proposed trip because we used to have budget for travel. We don't have much anymore, but they used to ask people, okay, put a wish list of what want do. And so I did this three or four-page proposal because I'm a really big advocate of, I said, synergy and getting to know different parts of the company.
00:38:07
Speaker
So I came up with this trip for anybody that wanted to go on it, but I had a total of five per trip because I don't want it too big. To go to all the creative divisions in the company, from animation to Imagineering Disney live entertainment to theme park design to all the different locations in California.
00:38:26
Speaker
And then also tried it into some Disney history, going to all the Walt sites, you know. So we did that. It was approved and we did, I took five, a group of five people every year for like five or six years.
00:38:40
Speaker
And then course the budgets kind of hit and then they cut that. But doing that, I got to know a lot of the leadership in different divisions like Imagineering. That's where I really got to be friends with Tony, you know, and Joe Lancicero and all these guys, you know, Imagineering and their assistants and all that stuff. So we set up really cool interactions with them.
00:39:00
Speaker
Like we got to do some really cool stuff. Like so when they're doing like testing at Imagineering for like in a ride or an attraction, they they would let us be the guinea pigs and stuff. That was really fun. And then we'd get down to Disneyland and we got to walk all of Indiana Jones when that was first being built and walk through the whole ride with Tony Baxter.
00:39:16
Speaker
I mean, you know, walk the whole track. Yeah. And then getting Joe Rohde to show us the model that was, you know, as big as a house for of all of Animal Kingdom, you know, and walking on it and just seeing it and just Joe would explain the whole park to us. You know, that stuff is invaluable, man. You know, it's just so, so great. I mean, I'll always keep that in my memory. I'll never forget that stuff. You know, it was a lot of fun, but, uh,
00:39:38
Speaker
Yeah, getting back to the question about it was kind of separate and it kind of still is. However, you know, um i think it's getting a little bit better now that we have. um We're all one like they call it one Disney now. My lead, my actually direct leader is in California. He's in Glendale.
00:39:53
Speaker
And my VP's in Glendale. And then I have a director here. so it's we're bi-coastal. So we're all like split teams are split up between Glendale and Orlando. So we're getting getting better. and so And we have weekly meetings with people feature animation and stuff like and Pixar and you know Lucas and all that kind of stuff. So we are trying to get more collaborative. So it's getting better.
00:40:17
Speaker
So that was a long answer. Some of the historical places like the world is like, I mean, I recently was out in Chicago on business got to go to his house there. Yeah, that was really cool. I took a picture and on the front steps. But have you been able to go do those kind of things to go? Oh, yeah. um ah I actually went to his house, the birth house, when I was still working in Miami. and We drove up to Chicago and then went to the house. It was it was just a house. It someone living there. And I remember talking to the neighbor, asking if they knew who lived in the house.
00:40:46
Speaker
And they did. But, you I don't know. lives there
Disney History Tours and Key Sites
00:40:49
Speaker
though. one lives there now. It's just house. No, it's owned by these couple that work, they're animators, but they bought the house and they renovated it with a lot of donations and stuff. They're making it like some kind of a learning center.
00:41:02
Speaker
I haven't been since it's been finished. so Really nice. and I can get tours inside. I've never been inside the house. but It's beautiful. No, you can actually go look in the windows. can't go in. but it was just if yeah yeah There is tours when you can go in. They have special events when you can go in.
00:41:14
Speaker
Yeah. um But I haven't been in yet. But I mean, i've taken I've taken people, I've done tours with like historical tours for like starting Chicago, taking the train to Marceline and then going on to California, stuff like that. um Again, I love talking history, you know, and I've been going to Marceline since 2001 when they had the 100th celebration of Walt.
00:41:35
Speaker
They had a thing called Toon Fest in Marceline and I'll go every year to that for like 15 years until they kind of stopped doing it. So I know everyone Marceline. They're all my friends in Marceline, like my second family in Marceline.
00:41:48
Speaker
I helped build a barn that's right there in the Disney family farm. We recreated the barn and built it. we built I actually helped build that barn. I did some of the roof and some of the back wall. You know, I love carpentry and stuff like that. So that was fun.
00:42:00
Speaker
I've drawn a lot of places in the museum, like the old, there's stuff on the old theater, the Uptown Theater, which is closed now. I've done drawings in there. Tony Baxter's done drawings in there. Pete Docter's done stuff, you know.
00:42:11
Speaker
It's funny because we we actually had, um I would say in the Uptown Theater, bed and breakfast, and I would stay in in one of their suites up there, and they had, they they decided i was the first one to stay, so they asked me to write Cartoon Artists Hall of Fame.
00:42:26
Speaker
So I did that in Marker. And then they asked any cartoonists. Toon Fest was all about cartooning. So they would invite all kinds of cartoonists. So I got to meet people that did Hager the Horrible and Lucy and all these famous comics that I grew up watching, you know, reading and stuff like that.
00:42:41
Speaker
So um they would i would know ah I'd invite them up to my suite and say, hey, draw on the wall. So a lot of there's a lot of drawing. So Tony Baxter, I took Tony but up there, and he drew a Dream Machine from Figment's. Dream Machine, ah our Dream Finders. They drew that.
00:42:54
Speaker
Pete Docter drew something in there. So I've been in Marceline with Pete Docter twice. um It was cool because i I had like this sketchbook and I would as have all the cartoonists every year draw on it, you know.
00:43:05
Speaker
And I asked, we were sitting, was sitting and having dinner with Pete Docter and asked him draw. He drew me a Mike and a Sully, no, Sully and a Boo, or a Mike and a Boo. But his kids wanted me to draw in their books. kind of thought that was cool.
00:43:18
Speaker
And they were asking me to draw Disney characters for them, you know. That was kind of neat. Pete's really good guy. so But it's been a lot of fun. Yeah, Marceline's great. So I highly recommend going to Marceline. It's a great place to go. I'll tell you who to go see, you know um know, where to stay and all that kind of stuff. I wish I would have known you when I went three years ago, four years ago to Marceline.
00:43:37
Speaker
oh I loved it. I loved every bit of Marceline. Everything you talked about, i'm like, that that town is so cool. It's like Disney history on steroids. I got to go there.
00:43:48
Speaker
yeah uh my name that barn my name's inside of it um oh yeah you put yeah there's millions of names in there yeah i mean when we first built we built the barn and i drew a mickey in there and i went back i was there probably six months ago i think seven months ago and um i looked my mickey and there it could barely see it there are so many people i've written over it you know so many times you can barely see my mickey and i remember when i asked i actually went with a a group like a Four couples, it was a Disney fan club here in Orlando, in Orlando, or close by, and they asked me take him Marceline, so I took him Marceline.
00:44:21
Speaker
I said, find Sully, no, is it Mike Wazowski, yeah, Mike Wazowski, find the drawing of Mike Wazowski that Pete Docter did, and I kind of gave him in an area, because there's so much on the wall outside that barn, and and they could not find it.
00:44:34
Speaker
And so I actually had to look for it, and people were drawing, had written all over Mike Wazowski, you know, know and that's sad, you know, he was like, have some respect for someone else that's drawn something, you know.
00:44:44
Speaker
Yeah, we actually had a Summer Nesbitt on ah and one of our episodes, and he's actually the general manager for the the hometown museum there.
Character Design Process for Merchandise
00:44:55
Speaker
Summer's a great guy.
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah. So let let me veer off a little bit because some of the things that you've worked on, um how long, you know, for someone like you, every time there's a new ah new movie that comes out or a new character, how long does it take you to actually get it down to where you're doing it repetitively for each of the products that you need to make?
00:45:21
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I don't do a lot of product design and product drawings anymore. um I kind of moved on to managing licensees a lot. So that's another story. but um so But like when I was working on it, we would get model sheets before the movie comes out. So we got we have to kind of get up to speed to draw them before the film comes out. so Because they want to make this merchandise and have it ready for when the film comes out, right? so like I'm going back to Pocahontas and Tarzan and stuff, and we'd learn a year ahead. you know We'd learn how to draw the characters.
00:45:49
Speaker
And they used to send us out there. I got to go out there to draw to work with the animators on on Tarzan. They sent set me out there for a week to learn from the animators that worked on them, to learn how to draw all these dizzney character all these ah characters from Tarzan, which is a lot of fun.
00:46:03
Speaker
I felt like an animator because we at one day we we went to L.A. Zoo and then we all had pads and we're drawing. And I'm sitting there with all these big Disney famous animators. And I'm, oh, man, I'm a Disney animator. I'm trying, you know, I feel really cool.
00:46:16
Speaker
But yeah, like Andreas Deja. And Glenn Keane was at that point, he was working in Paris. So we got to talk to him learn to learn how to draw Tarzan via like a like a Zoom, but it wasn't Zoom back then.
00:46:27
Speaker
So that was kind cool. but That was from my first experience doing like that kind of like a conference call, you know, to fix technology. I thought that was really unusual. We're sitting at a yeah at a big table and there's a big screen there and and Glenn is there talking to us.
00:46:40
Speaker
And um they asked if anybody has questions. And I had a question and he actually looked like he looked over at me. I thought that was so weird. He's on the monitor, you know, and um that that was kind of interesting. And since then, I've gotten to know Glenn fairly well. um He's a really good guy, really awesome guy. um I hate that he left the company.
00:46:57
Speaker
Andreas is awesome, too. But yeah, so we um it takes so it takes a while. We draw we start learning how draw the characters before the film comes out, at least a year ahead of time, at least sometimes a year and a half to to when we get final model sheets. lot of times they don't want to share anything until they have final, you know, approved model sheets, you know, especially like Aladdin. Aladdin changed like halfway to production. I think he changed the look a little bit, and you know, so they really don't like to share ahead of time too much. We were constantly asking, come on, we need that we need this model sheet so we can learn how to draw all these characters, you know.
00:47:28
Speaker
So is it is it is it difficult? I mean, say so you have a movie that didn't do so well in the box office. is it Is it hard to put that character out of mind because you're because they're not going to use it as much?
00:47:44
Speaker
Or if someone were to ask for it, say, for example, Bolt. you know and someone said hey can you can you draw a bolt i mean is it is it just a second nature for i mean i i guess because i'm not an artist so i would i would i wouldn't figure if say someone asked me to draw something from a black cauldron and i haven't done that in a long time and all sudden you know hey can i can i draw exactly like ah used to be able to draw it Yeah, no, I mean, but we don't, yeah, you need, that's the the beauty of model sheets. we There's model sheets for all the CG stuff that's done now. um And we have to kind refer to, like if somebody if you ask me right now, can you draw a bolt for us? I wouldn't be able to draw him. I'd have to get a model sheet and or some reference. If I find certain a one image of him, I'll be able to draw him.
00:48:31
Speaker
But I need reference. Any of characters don't draw very often. Can you explain to our listeners what a model sheet is, though? Can you explain to our listeners what a model sheet is so maybe maybe not everybody knows? A model sheet is um of a view of each character on a sheet of paper, and they pretty much have all the different poses of the character, like different views. like some Some of those models just with ah face expressions, and just so you can see different expressions of the character. Because you know when the animation is being done, it's not just one guy drawing these. I'm going back to the hand-drawn stuff.
00:48:59
Speaker
There's not one guy drawing this. They hand out model sheets to, and this is back in Walt's day when he kind of created all this stuff, that you know each anime has drawn correctly, so you need to model sheet to to know how to draw these characters.
00:49:10
Speaker
And there's different yeah full body views, a different you know walking, standing, turnaround views, like each view, each side of the character. close-ups, hands, sometimes just the hands, all kinds of different things.
00:49:23
Speaker
just like Even like like in Lion King, they had close-up model sheets of like how to do Simba's teeth and how to do their eyes and their ears and all these, is really break it down to every little individual thing.
00:49:34
Speaker
and um So so yeah i you know i know more how to draw the hand drawn stuff versus the CG stuff. We don't really draw a lot of the CG stuff because um we get those already provided for us, like just line art that was done by feature animation and then consumer products would actually do inkings.
00:49:52
Speaker
And so we they provide like they call them style guides of all these characters like for Was a Wish? You know, when Wish came out, we didn't really draw... I've i've yet to draw any character from Wish. Maybe I drew Valentino. That's the goat, right?
00:50:06
Speaker
I drew Valentino a couple times, but not for product, just to draw for someone, you know? And I had to get reference on him. Like, so, for Wish, you know, we would have, we would have, like, a style guide of all these different poses of the character that we'd slap it on to merchandise, you know, stuff like that.
00:50:24
Speaker
But... so i don't na i So I don't do much of the merchandise set of stuff anymore. I pretty much have to prove licensees work now. So that's my new world. so Got away from the pins there, James. No more pins for me. ah You know, have to say, I did create, they asked me to, apparently a lot of the, because I had been doing pins for 20 some years and a a lot of the events, i've got everybody got to know me, you know, they got to know the pin artists, right?
Favorite Disney Pin Creations
00:50:47
Speaker
And so the last couple of pin events, they were, a lot of the requests was like, bring back some of the old pin artists, you know? And so they asked me if I could do ah ah pin, like a few pins for this next in next August, and whenever it is, the next pin event.
00:51:01
Speaker
So I created several pins for that. So I'll have some coming out for that. And I'll do a signing because they want me out there to sign whatever. So I'm doing that. So that it's kind of fun to get back into a little bit. But, you know, it got really difficult for me to do pins because, you know, after doing it for 20 some odd years, you're doing thousands of designs. And that was the hardest part. I racked my brain on what to do that hasn't been done already. You know, that was the hardest thing.
00:51:23
Speaker
How long of a process is that? How long of a process is that from the time you actually put the design in for a pin to the time you actually see it? Yeah, it can take anywhere from three to seven, eight months, sometimes longer. It depends.
00:51:36
Speaker
Yeah, you do you have to, you know, you come up with a rough idea, and then you get it to approved, whatever, rough pencil, and then you do cleanup line work. Sometimes we we ink it and then color it in the computer, and we send it. now Everything's done digitally now. We send over it to to the factories, and they create them. We won't see a sample for at least six months, you know, on a pin.
00:51:56
Speaker
And then sometime by that point, it's done because they've already done the mold or the metal and they've done, you know, everything done everything's done. So they can pretty much change like a color fill. They got something wrong. But as far as like, oh, can you you reposition the hand?
00:52:09
Speaker
Then I could do that because they've already made the metal mold and all that's really expensive to change. you know Once the mold is made, it's like you said, it's impossible make. And to see as a pen collector, sought after things like that, that like a new mold or an artist proof. Those are things that are really...
00:52:26
Speaker
sought after by collectors because that's something that the artist physically touched and when an artist from our perspective physically touches it it adds value to that pen and they can know that you are one of those guys i like ah that he just said he just asked a question that going to ask like what's that process and What out of all the pens has been your favorite to create? You just created thousands. I know this is a top-the-wall question because I never knew I'd talk to a pen artist, obviously. um
00:52:56
Speaker
but What's been your favorite pen to collect? Because there's been thousands. There's a lot of good art ones. I know my personal favorite being a Marine, it's Mickey shaking the Marine's hand. That's one my personal favorites. nice. But as as someone who's created a bunch, what's been yours?
00:53:09
Speaker
You know I always go back to the, I don't even have a sample of it. um i have a I'm looking at, I have a pin wall, so I have thousands, not thousands, maybe a few hundred. I don't have that pin. um If I can pull one out that I like.
00:53:21
Speaker
I try to do, um when I get a chance, i I try to do something related to Walt. um i I like the Walt Disney Day pins. used to do the Walt Disney Day pins every year. They'd always do a Walt pin because I had personal contacts with the photo library in L.A. And I would be able to access all the old photographs of Walt stuff.
00:53:41
Speaker
So they would give those to me. You know, I hated doing it after a while because I didn't know what else to do. You know, like I've done so many Walt day wal Disney Day pins. I don't know what else. But I'd say that my default pin would be it's Mickey on Walt's train. And there's a in the caboot. I mean, the little red barns behind them.
00:54:00
Speaker
And Mickey slides. He's a slider. He's like, it's a little mini jumbo, kind like that big. Yeah. i yeah That was probably one of my favorite pins. Cause you know, i love Walt's barn and Walt's train. And, and so I had Mickey kind of dress as little, you know, just in those little blue overalls and a hat, you know, it's supposed to be Walt, I guess.
00:54:17
Speaker
that's probably my favorite. And I know that Michael Brogy, who was involved with Walt's trains and stuff and radio of great wrote a great book on it, he asked me to send him like 10 of those.
00:54:29
Speaker
i was able to get them from the factory. And he gave them to each of the family members, or the grandkids, Walt's grandkids. that That was kind of cool. That's cool. my favorite My favorite pen set, and we'll get away from the pen set. I can talk pens all day. like you dog history because I love the history. is Actually, it's a Fab Five train set that I bought. It's actually a set of the five of them on individual locomotives.
00:54:50
Speaker
I did one like that. I don't know if that's one I did. I think it might be because it's got it's it's an older set from the mid like the early 2010s. It had to have been 2011, 2012 ish. Yeah.
00:55:02
Speaker
And but I'm like, it's one of my favorite sets. I put it away because I know how important trains are to the Disney lore and the lexicon of Disney because it was
Designing and Approving Disney Merchandise
00:55:10
Speaker
a Walt thing. So I'm like, I saw I had to buy it. And who knows? You may have been the one to do it. So that's I probably did. because I did a lot of the Walt pins.
00:55:18
Speaker
I mean, I'm one sorry, a lot of the train pins. Yeah, and I have a lot of Walt pins too because Walt's one of my go-to. Yeah, so thank you so much for for what you've provided to the 25 years of pin trading. Thanks.
00:55:29
Speaker
Have you been over to the in the Wilderness Lodge where they have that room that has that's dedicated to the the trains? that's Yeah, it's awesome. You have a question? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you had a question.
00:55:42
Speaker
No, it's just how you've been there. Oh, yeah, I know. know it's ah It's a great little place to hang out. It's really, really fun. It's just yeah's it's it's very manly, right it's got the stone walls. you know It's got the but deep, but I think, green or red colors. And it's got the trains there. And yeah, it's got one of Walt's, I think one of his ah cars there. One of the cars is still there. you know you know All the others are in San Francisco. But it's cool.
00:56:07
Speaker
It's a great place hang out. right, Alex, why don't you go ahead and tell us about your appearance at the International Art Festival that's coming up. Oh, yeah. um I've been doing it for for forever. I mean, since it it was called, it was it used to be over at Disney Springs, which when before it was called Downtown Disney. They used to do it over there. it was called festival the masters i think as called masters Festival of the Masters, of the Masters.
00:56:30
Speaker
And then I would do stuff. then I did it one back then. And then now it's at Epcot and it's been ni for several years. um So I provide paintings for that. And um I got, I have three of them coming out this year. They're,
00:56:45
Speaker
The first day is January 17th, which is, gosh, a couple of weeks away already. So I'll have three premiering there. And I think I have one from last year. didn't sell. It's still in the gallery at Disney Springs. so One or two. Actually, actually one. Yeah, there's Orange Bird.
00:56:59
Speaker
I did an Orange Bird last year, and it's still there. You never know what's going to sell, right? And then they make prints, you know, and then we do signings, know, we do signings for the prints. So it's a lot of fun. I'm going to to, I'm trying to, I'm not good in social media, which I should be, because a lot of the artists are already posting all their appearance schedule, you know, for the festival. And I'm trying to put something together to put on Instagram or whatever, you know, against my, you know, all my coworkers, my colleagues, you got to, you got to have Instagram, you got to have a social media presence, you know, and I'm kind of old fashioned. I don't know to do all that stuff.
00:57:31
Speaker
But I'm learning, trying to learn. my girl Good old-fashioned social media manager is what you need. I know, right? yeah Gosh, that'd be awesome. But maybe when I retire, I'll have somebody. kind If I keep doing this stuff, you know?
00:57:42
Speaker
Hopefully, I'll keep doing paintings, you know? But, yeah, I enjoy doing the paintings for the gallery, ah for the for the festival. It's a lot of fun. I just like getting out and meeting everybody, you know? Because I'm a big fan, you know Disney fan. And everybody comes, and they just love Disney so much. And it just we just talk, you know, and just...
00:57:56
Speaker
I just love meeting everybody ah yeah that loves Disney. You know, it's just like we're all big, one big happy family. You know, it's a I love to hear what people collect and, you know, things that they like and stuff. You know, it's a lot of fun. Cause I, I like pretty much everything, you know, I don't like some people click, Oh, just source for Mickey. collect everything that I like, you know, which is a lot, lot stuff kind of blurry. You can't really see back there. i don't know why it's so blurry, but yeah, I have a lot of things, you know,
00:58:20
Speaker
But yeah, um it's fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a fun. it's ah It's probably my favorite festival of the year because there's so many great artists. And I get inspired by seeing all these artists all around the you know the lagoon, the lake. you know have artists set up in different tents all around.
00:58:33
Speaker
And I actually, one of my jobs at Disney now is overseeing Disney Fine Art and collectibles. So one of my licensees is Disney Fine Art. It's an outside company that does art for Disney.
00:58:44
Speaker
um So I oversee that and I do all the approvals for them. and ah corrections and stuff like that. these i found out that these artists, these painters are amazing painters. However, you know, i in my 30 some odd years of the company, there are there are not a lot of people that control the characters well.
00:59:02
Speaker
You know I found that out a long time ago. So I do a lot of ah corrections to these Disney Fine Art licensee because they can't show the characters. And I want to make sure that guests get a good character as much as they can, as much as I can. You know, I try to make sure it looks right. You know, that's what Walt would want us does to do.
00:59:21
Speaker
And i do you all know Kincaid, Thomas Kincaid? Yeah, they do disney Disney art. That's one of my licensees also. So I do approvals for all Thomas Kincaid art. Again, they do some really great paintings, but they don't draw the characters well.
00:59:35
Speaker
So I'm constantly doing total character work for them. Sometimes they put 10 characters in one painting, and it takes me a while to get to it because I'm so busy. But I do complete redraws on all their characters, and so they paint them. So it's funny when I see some of the more recent, the last couple of years, see them in a show or something, and it's like, oh, that's all my character work, you know, because it's all stuff. And you don't get to sign it, dude. Oh, no, I don't get so. No, it's the artist that paints it gets the sign, you know.
01:00:04
Speaker
But they appreciate
Involvement with Lorkana and Quality Art Process
01:00:05
Speaker
it. They appreciate that I'm making them look better. um Yeah, it's funny. i If I had a chance, I could show you like a comparison of what they give me and what I've done. oh my God. It's just amazing. you know I actually showed my ah VP one day. I showed her a comparison. And she was, oh, my God. It's like night and day. It's like, yeah, that's it. I mean, a lot of people cannot all these characters. And I'm also involved with um I do all Disney fine art and collectible. But I also do, don't know if you all i have heard of Lorcanna.
01:00:34
Speaker
Lurkana's in the world by storm with his cards. I've been involved with Lurkana since it started three three years ago. i do corrections for the Lurkana character art, and I do, you know, we do approval. So we have three meetings a week, of sometimes two hours each meeting, and three ah three times a week because they're constantly producing so much card art.
01:00:55
Speaker
And they have some amazing painters out there that paint these cards, ah come up with these ideas and stuff. And so we're constantly doing corrections and constantly doing, ah you know, like, Oh, fix that, fix that eye, fix this, you know.
01:01:05
Speaker
So we we get on Zoom and we have, you can do notations and we kind of draw over their art, you know, right on the Zoom. And so I'm heavily involved in Lorkana. So that's a big thing. It's huge. I mean, yeah Michael Eisner, and i'm like my god um um Bob Iger loves it. Bob Iger loves it, you know, because it's made a lot of money for for everyone.
01:01:24
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I don't know. i I had a pack around here. I just i was looking for it. didn't see it. But yeah, a couple of my friends are big into that right now. So they're they're getting me to come see. I'm actually going. i I went to watch one of my friends at a tournament recently. I was shocked on how many people. was like a Comic-Con. It was amazing.
01:01:41
Speaker
It's crazy. I mean, they actually came, the whole team came out from, they're in Seattle, I think. They came out from Seattle to teach us how to play the game. And I was there with like three or four hours working, playing with the game with them.
01:01:52
Speaker
And to this day, I don't know how to play that game. It's just, I guess it's not I don't comp compute that kind of stuff. You know, don't play card, those kinds of card things, you know. others those trading card games. I don't know. But um I just look at the character art and make sure it's right. So I have no idea how to play this game.
01:02:07
Speaker
But I'm telling you, the storyline that they're coming up with, it's amazing. They they have such creativity, you know, and I'm blown away by the things they're coming up with. It's like,
Insights into Walt Disney's Values on Quality
01:02:15
Speaker
And they're taking a lot of liberties, you know, that in the past we haven't been able to do because of brand or corporate brand.
01:02:21
Speaker
But where we bend the rules for them because it's ah it's like um it's like a glimmer. It's not really the characters. It's like a glimmer of the character. It's kind of confusing. But, yeah, so it's it's fun. it's its Some of them are extremely expensive, too.
01:02:34
Speaker
Some of those cards are extremely expensive, yes. Yeah. Apparently some of the old cards are expensive. I see them on eBay and stuff. They're going really high, you know. Don, you got a question? Yeah, before we, yeah it's changing gears. I wanted to get this in before we end. I think we're. Oh, we're ending already. How's our, I can go on all night.
01:02:52
Speaker
um So when you said that's what Walt would have wanted, um i feel like out of everybody, I've been just sitting back and listening, but I feel like ah out of everyone that I've been on a podcast with, you probably are at the top of the list for having researched Walt and gone to all of his haunts and from birthplace to death.
01:03:14
Speaker
What are some pearls of wisdom that you've learned that the general population may not know? yeah. For example, we know that he was ah critic and very like hard on his employees.
01:03:26
Speaker
And if you got you know a thumbs up, that was like and phenomenal from Walt Disney. So he had really high expectations, but he was also a family man. These are like common things that and I think most people know that like Walt Disney.
01:03:39
Speaker
But what are some things that you could say to our listeners that would be like pearls of wisdom or things that you have learned that maybe the general public would not know?
Walt Disney's Lifestyle and Americana Representation
01:03:49
Speaker
Wow, that's an awesome question. I wish I had a really great answer for you.
01:03:54
Speaker
But it's pretty much everything that because there's so much on Walt already. there's So many books written by Walt, you know, and it's like he was just all about, you know, quality, quality, family entertainment, you know, and that's, you know, and we all know that. So that's what I'm i try to poll you know I try to keep that going, the quality of things. I mean, I'm i'm assuming that when I do something, I'm i'm assuming I draw it, i do it as well as I can, thinking, okay, Walt wouldn't approve of this, right? i don't know if he would approve it but I'm hoping he would, right?
01:04:22
Speaker
So, yeah, I wish there was something. Gosh, that's another one I wish I would have got a head down, have thought about it and come up a really good answer, but I don't know. When you're researching or talking to people that knew him and you get little tidbits, where are there anything? Like I remember when I went to the family museum, I thought it was so neat that his shopping list for his groceries and what he wanted fixed for dinner was so simplistic. It was like chili and jello. and He was a simple guy. Very simple.
01:04:48
Speaker
Yeah. Is there anything else that you can think of in that? It sounds like what he you know liked most or... Yeah, gosh, you know, again, I'll think about it. I'll wake in the middle of the night and think, oh.
01:04:59
Speaker
You'll be like, dang it. Yeah, but I can't, you know, I can't think of anything. like said Like you said, he's a simple guy, but he he was all, he was like, you know, pure Americana. You know, he he he he had a sense of what people would like, I guess, right? And... um Yeah, I wish he was still around today on how things would go. You know, there was you know always a lot of the executives would say, what would Walt do? Nobody knows what Walt would have done. And and I can't say that Walt would have done this, you know, um but we can only assume, right?
01:05:27
Speaker
Just based off his love of ah of entertainment and storytelling, things like that, you know. But yeah, I wish I had a better answer yeah oh man Well, and here's the thing with Walt, and i I can kind of convey some of like the the viewpoint that your perspective you on your perspective, because hearing and Bob Gurr speak about Walt, because Bob is one of, I think, two or three people left in the world today who has firsthand knowledge of working with Walt.
01:05:54
Speaker
Yeah.
Emotional Impact of Disney Art on Lives
01:05:55
Speaker
And he didn't talk about it obviously, but just his emotion when it came to Walt tells you that no one will ever capture the essence of Walt Disney. It doesn't matter if it's an animatronic. It doesn't matter if it's someone portraying Walt.
01:06:09
Speaker
Walt was Walt and that's just who he was. he Like you said, you hit the nail on the head. He was Americana when it we needed Americana the way we needed it and He didn't work blue is in the term meaning you know he didn't use swear words in his work he just he related to everybody.
01:06:26
Speaker
So here's my final thoughts I know we're getting close wrapping up and I want to pass it over some other people. um What is it or what was it when you were a young boy that drew you to Walt Disney after that first reading.
01:06:39
Speaker
what Was it just his humanistic qualities? Was it the fact that he created something so special that you know it touched everybody? What was it about that man that created this love and this passion for to where you are today within the company but also within who you are personally? Because you can see some of the qualities and the aesthetics that Walt wanted out of humanity and what you do.
01:07:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good question, too. I i think it's just like um the appeal of what he did. you know i just love the way the characters looked. They were very appealing and and just um the innocence of it. And it just was fun. i mean you know I think a lot of it was watching, I don't really remember know when I was you know two and three and four years old, but watching Sunday night, you know the wonderful world of color, you know and just seeing that and just the magic magical you know, of all that, you know, when we got a color TV, seeing all that, you know, I always always remember in my mind's eye that, that Tinkerbell flying around and boom. And then just the fireworks going off from behind Disneyland's castle, you know, that's when I first saw that castle. I was like, I was like so thrilled to see that castle. still my favorite castle because I remember it as a kid on TV, you know, and ah lot of people make fun of the castle. It's so small, but I love Disneyland's castle. my favorite castle, you know, and yeah,
01:07:54
Speaker
ah Just just ah the whole memory of it. It's this all memory. It's just fun and wholesome family family yeah entertainment, you know. And the appeal of the characters, you know.
01:08:05
Speaker
I remember showing a Mickey Mouse, had a little monkey Mickey Mouse doll, little plastic doll when my son was like two months old. And that was like the first, I showed that big old Mickey Mouse, that little Mickey Mouse doll, put him in his face.
01:08:16
Speaker
And he had a big, big old smile on his face. And it's amazing how this little character put a smile on a little baby's face, you know. And that to me is like, that that's what Disney's all about, you know. and And just like, you know, the joy that it brings to people, you know, it just, that to me is something that nobody else can match. Nobody else, man. I mean, ah again and we had a lot of time. to tell you some stories. But i used to volunteer, quick like story.
01:08:40
Speaker
I used to volunteer drawing for the for, it was a Make-A-Wish place called Give Kids the World. It's down in Kissimmee. And it brings that they bring in terminally ill children from all over the world to have a wonderful time, all expenses paid to go to Disney World and other parks, whatever.
01:08:55
Speaker
So we would go like on Friday nights and draw off for the kids. And um so, you know, you know that these families are going through a lot, you know, their their children are ill and stuff. and And we would draw for the kids. and And I remember this little girl, this parents wheeled up this little girl and then she was, she didn't have any hair.
01:09:10
Speaker
and she, and I'll try to say this without getting all kind of teary eyed, but um she, she, and I have kids. That's why I get really sentimental because I have kids too. But um they wheeled her up and she was very serious, very, you know, like, like, i know, she was really down, you know, down and out.
01:09:24
Speaker
And what would you like me draw for you? And she says, Ariel. And I drew her an aerial. And i just I did this aerial real quick. And the parents are standing behind me, behind her. And I gave her the aerial. And she looked at it.
01:09:36
Speaker
And she started beaming. There's big old smile on her face. you know And I was like, oh, my god, that's amazing. And then I look at the parents. And they were bawling. There were tears are coming down their face.
01:09:47
Speaker
And I said, oh I said, she's happy. You know, why are you crying? She's happy. You know, and he goes you don't understand. We haven't seen her smile in six months. And it's like, to me, that's the power of Disney right then and there.
01:10:00
Speaker
Nobody else. And we're kind of like a conduit for that, right? It's not me doing it. It's just it's like coming through me from Walt, you know, and just like doing this for these people for people and they just making them happy. And it's like, you know, I hope that, you know, when I go to the pearly gates, I can say, I made people smile just by the things that I did, you know? And what else can you ask for? You know, it's the best, you know?
01:10:24
Speaker
That was it. And I could tell you so many other stories about that kind of that kind of thing, but i don't have the time, but it's just like, that's what Disney is all about. That's the bottom line right there. It's not, you know, the the big corporation that's making billions of dollars and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's just that it's that simple right there, those characters.
01:10:42
Speaker
And that's what Walt wanted to concentrate on. I think is just doing memorable, memorable, you know, meaningful characters that people are going to love. Yeah. I remember another quick point. I remember we were watching the last episode, the last parade of the electrical light parade at Disneyland. You know, hey they kept bringing it, you're retiring and bringing back, retiring, you know, whatever.
01:11:00
Speaker
And then there was on the last one we were at Disneyland and the parade ended, you know, and I was like, God, it's kind of sad and nervous this parade again. I love that i parade, you know. And I looked and I saw this mother and her daughter. And the daughter was probably in her 30s. The mother was probably in the 60s, whatever.
01:11:14
Speaker
And they were hugging each other and crying. they were going, they were hugging and crying. They were isn't that wonderful? Isn't it was and it's so wonderful? And I said, God, that's amazing that this parade could touch these adults like this, you know?
01:11:25
Speaker
And that, again, is like, God, there's nothing like Disney that can do that. Nothing like, nobody can do that like Disney. And that's what i'm I'm proud about working for the company. I think we want to have you come back on and tell more stories like that. Cause I have got, I've, I've got a couple of stories like that as a cast member myself. Yeah.
01:11:42
Speaker
yeah And I, that's, that's that, what would Walt do question that people always talk about right there. You hit the nail on the head and I appreciate you answering the question so full heartedly the way you do it. Those two stories that just, that emphasizes everything guys, I'll pass it over to you. i I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm done. i mean I don't think we could, I don't think we could top this story, but that's the best way to end the episode right there. My goodness. Right.
01:12:03
Speaker
All right. And with that fantastic words of knowledge, we're going to go ahead and wrap up this episode. and and Alex, we definitely want to have you come back on and hear more history and more stories. I think I learned a little more today than I did before this podcast began and how, you know, just ask all the listeners, just when you're at the parks, just look, look at the kids.
01:12:30
Speaker
If they're having fun, Disney's doing it right. so um And we want to thank you for for for coming on. And is there any anything else you want to leave us with before we say goodnight?
01:12:46
Speaker
A little pearl wisdom? um Probably what i just said as far as, you know, just remember what the core what Disney stands for, not the corporation, but just the core of ah the the essence of what Disney stands for. It's just, you know, wholesome, fun, friendly yeah family entertainment, you know, with some wonderful, wonderful characters, you know.
01:13:07
Speaker
Great. That's all I could say, I think. Awesome. All right. And with that, we're going to go ahead and sign off for another episode of Sharing the Magic. Thank you so much for coming on.
01:13:19
Speaker
My pleasure. Thank you. Hope you do it again. yeah Thank you for joining us for another enchanting episode of Sharing the Magic. We are the Thinking Fans Podcast, an edutainment show where education and entertainment collide each week.
01:13:32
Speaker
We bring you whimsical interviews with Disney guests who share their magical experiences and reveal how they are woven into the Disney fabric. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay updated on our latest episodes.
01:13:45
Speaker
Spread the word and let your friends know they can tune in wherever they enjoy their favorite podcasts. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, formerly Twitter, at at sharing the magic pod.
01:13:59
Speaker
Until next time, keep sharing the magic.