Ron Husband (born February 8, 1950) is an American character animator known for his work at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he has worked since 1975. He was one of the first African-American animators.[1] and, it is argued, the first African-American animator for Disney.[2]
Information
Ron Husband joined The Walt Disney Company in 1975 as an assistant to Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston on "The Rescuers", but his career was almost cut short by a brain tumor. During production of "The Fox and the Hound", Frank and Ollie retired (early 1978) and he was transferred to newly-minted animator Randy Cartwright. His most famous assignments while at Disney were co-animator with Russ Edmonds in "The Rescuers Down Under", animating Gaston with Andreas Deja in "Beauty and the Beast" and Pumbaa with Tony Bancroft and David Pruiksma in "The Lion King", and as supervising animator for Djali in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Elk in the Firebird Suite - 1919 Version segment of Fantasia 2000 and Doctor Joshua Strongbear Sweet in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. From 2002 until retiring in 2015, he worked in the Publishing Group, as an illustrator.
Quick Sketching with Ron Husband
Ron Husband also has published a book called "Quick Sketching with Ron Husband." It lays out the fundamentals of quick sketching and how it benefits an illustrator.[3]
Works
Some of Ron Husband's most recognizable animated works include:
- The Small One (1978) (Short) (Character Animator)
- A Family Circus Christmas (1979) (TV Movie) (Assistant Animator)
- The Fox and the Hound (1981) (Animator)
- The Black Cauldron (1985) (Animator)
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986) (Character Animator)
- Oliver & Company (1988) (Character Animator)
- The Little Mermaid (1989) (Character Animator)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (Character Animator)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991) (Animator: "Gaston")
- Aladdin (1992) (Animator: "Jafar")
- The Lion King (1994) (Animator: "Scar" and "Pumbaa"
- Pocahontas (1995) (Animator: "John Smith")
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (Supervising Animator: "Djali")
- Hercules (1997) (Animator: "Titans" and "Cyclops")
- Fantasia 2000 (2000) (Animator - Segment "Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102") / (Lead Character Animator: "Elk" - Segment "Firebird Suite - 1919 Version")
- John Henry (2000) (Character Designer / Visual Development)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) (Supervising Animator: "Doctor Joshua Strongbear Sweet")
- Treasure Planet (2002) (Animator: "Captain Long John Silver")
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (Animator)
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) (Video) (Animator) / (Character Animator)
- Fat Albert (2004) (Animator)
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005) (Key Animator)
- Bambi II (2006) (Video) (Animator)
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) (Video) (Character Designer)
- Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010) (Documentary) (Caricaturist)
References
- ^ Sergio (October 9, 2013). "Disney's first African-American animator: Walt never cared about my color". Salon. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ Reif, Alex (July 21, 2016). "Ron Husband: The Story of Disney's First Black Animator". Laughing Place. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ "Quick Sketching with Ron Husband". Taylor & Francis Group. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
External links
- Ron Husband at IMDb
- Official page on Blogger