Applying to Disney

So You Wanna Be an Animator?

All information here does not guarantee acceptance to Disney Animation,
yet it provides a guideline for all who are interested in applying.
General Information on Applying to Disney Feature Animation

INTERVIEWING WITH DISNEY ANIMATION

While it is not possible for Disney to personally interview the hundreds of people a year who apply for positions to the Disney Studio and the Disney Studio in California, Disney feels that it is important to give everyone an opportunity to have their serious artistic work evaluated. To that end, Walt Disney Animation has internship semesters for people in their senior year of art school or who have graduated from a college level art program. In order to enter the program, candidates must submit portfolios to the Disney Review Board, who then carefully look over the work and make recommendations and evaluations of each candidate. Disney also hires people with previous animation experience on an as needed basis. Many people submit portfolios, but only a very few have the appropriate drawing skills to be chosen.

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR DISNEY ANIMATORS

To become a Disney animator requires many years of art training and animation experience. First, you must possess a very strong, natural, artistic talent, with emphasis on good drawing mechanics. Animators are primarily creative draftsmen ; they must be able to express their ideas clearly, forcibly and quickly with a pencil or pen. In order to do this, they must know thoroughly the skills of linear drawing. Great emphasis is placed on the ability to draw animals and figures in action, to express these actions convincingly and originally in one gesture; not only in facial expressions but in emotion and situation. It is helpful to get a strong art education that will develop your talent, teaching the proper principles and techniques, with classes in life drawing, human and animal anatomy, perspective, composition and quick sketching.

But, school can only teach the knowledge. The individual artist must spend many long hours practicing in order to build consistency in their drawings. Animators are really actors and actresses with pencils. Their stage is a blank piece of paper, and their performance must not only make a character move , but also bring that character to life.

ARTISTIC REVIEW BOARD

All portfolios are received by the Professional Staffing Office and initially reviewed by Disney's Animation Training Department. Those that meet the general artistic requirements are sent on to the Animation Artistic Review Board, which is made up of key animation artistic personnel. The Review Board meets periodically to then evaluate all portfolios presented. At that time, the Board will recommend for training or hire, based on the needs of the Studio, any applicants whose abilities meet the Disney Artistic Standards.

Some applicants may be required to take additional tests, either in studio or by mail. Further testing, however, does not guarantee employment. All applicants, accepted or not, will receive a letter of response, which will usually take from 6 to 8 weeks.

STUDIO POSITIONS (PRODUCTION AREAS)

There are three basic categories for the personnel in our Studio: Artistic, Production Support and Technologies. Artistic areas include Animators, Assistants, In - Betweeners, Special Effects Animators, Computer Animators, Background Artists and Layout Artists. Production Support includes Animation Check, Photocopy Team, Inkers and Painters. Finally, Production Camera Operators and Editorial would be in the area of Technologies.

Internships are offered for Artistic positions only, with the exception of an occasional Editorial internship, normally recruited from film school applicants.

PORTFOLIO SUBMISSION Note: DUE TO OUR CURRENT PRODUCTION NEEDS, DISNEY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING TRADITIONAL PORTFOLIOS ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS.

Following are the specific guidelines to follow in order

to prepare for a future submission.
Enclose your completed submission form (submission form can be
downloaded off disney.com).
Enclose your résumé.
Write a cover letter identifying your specific discipline of
interest (e.g., animator, layout artist, background artist,
etc.).
Avoid including loose artwork.
ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE COPIES AND IN DISPOSABLE CONTAINERS
AS THEY WILL NO LONGER BE RETURNED AFTER REVIEW.
Identify each piece of artwork, as well as the packaging,
videotape, slides, etc., with your name.
Limit your portfolio to twenty-five pages total.
Edit video reels (VHS, U-Matic [3/4], NTSC or PAL) to no
longer than four minutes. Include slates on the tape or
a table of contents (breakdown) identifying your
responsibility on each scene, i.e., animated the cat and
the bear in The Chase: rough inbetweened the water
splashes in Duncan's Voyage at Sea.
Basic Portfolio Contents
• Several pages of current life drawing from live subjects.
• Copies of pages from sketchbooks with gesture-style drawings of people and animals in motion.
• Head drawings-both quick sketch and long poses.
• Some samples reflecting color and design sense.
• Some figurative drawings reflecting knowledge of lighting.
• Some work based on imagination.
• A few samples that display cartooning skills. Do not include copies or interpretations of Disney or other classic cartoon characters.
• No more than two or three samples of comic-strip, comic-book or fantasy illustration.
• Do not include graphic, advertising, industrial, textile or 3-D design, photography or jewelry.
Instructions for Specific Positions
In addition to the Basic Portfolio Contents, the following materials should also be included for specific positions.

• Visual Development artists should provide artwork that displays a sense of caricature imagination, color and design; a selection of color sketches (any media) that dramatizes a story; and extensive samples of character concepts drawn from your design and imagination. Include various types: humans and animals, personalities, anthropomorphic objects, model sheets, characters in environments, etc.
• Story Sketch artists should supply one or two sets of storyboards (animation or live action); character designs and/or model sheets; and quick sketches showing lighting, dramatic setting and staging sense.
• Layout artists should provide a selection of layout drawings demonstrating a strong sense of staging, design, lighting and perspective. Include character drawings for the layouts, if possible; a selection of comic strip and/or comic book samples, if possible; and indicate if this work is from your own roughs or clean-ups from another artist's work.
• Character Animation artists should include a video reel of scenes you've animated and two or three animation "flips", if available.
• Clean-up artists should supply at least two sets of rough keys, along with clean-up drawings of same and other clean-up samples (please note if drawings are assistant, breakdown, or inbetween work).
• Effects artists should provide drawings showing a variety of work and approaches to design; a résumé noting any optical or digital training you might have. A video reel is suggested but not required.
• Background artists should supply painting examples emphasizing attention to detail, lighting, atmosphere and painterly technique, along with a selection of color prints or transparencies of animation backgrounds.