On “Hercules“, I was Directing Animator for Pegasus, the flying horse.  ‘Peg’ gave me the opportunity to combine my knowledge of birds (gained from animating Zazu in “The Lion King”) with my lifelong knowledge and love of horses. 

I had to learn how to be a jock for this performance, so a friend taught me how to punch, and lent me football training videos.  The head-butting greeting between ‘Peg’ and ‘Herc’ came from one of those videos.

Here are some photos from working on “Hercules”.

Check out my hand-drawn animation clip of Hercules (@ 0:20 sec) on my Animation Theater Page.

Stone Sculpture

I learned a lot about weight and being big doing Peg.  Both these concepts directly apply to stone sculpture, but not in the way you are thinking.  (Yes, stone is big and heavy.)  

Drawing big and heavy means thinking and feeling big and heavy–volume, tons of it.  Stone sculpture needs to feel round and full if the subject is an animal.  Especially a furry animal.  Pinched stone sculpture looks painful and unsatisfying.  Contrasting volumes in stone is rhythm, crucial to a successful sculpture.

My horse, Amarretto, was very big.  I draw from my experience animating Pegasus in every horse sculpture I make. “Exuberant” is the sculptural expression of my big horse.