The History Of Animation

James Baxter

Who is James Baxter?

He is one of the most successful and well-known animators in the industry alongside Glen Kean and Andreas Deja for 2D traditional Animation. He worked for Walt Disney Animation Studios for 35 years. His animation career began at the age of 20, though at the time he thought there was a small chance he would never make it big. When James Baxter was in Art School like most art students, he had been inspired by artists like Frank Frazetta and Terry Gilliam, but his inspirational Animator was Richard Williams, who was considered as one of the best at the time. Richard Williams was hiring talented people for his new project “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”(1988), James Decided to join this project allowing him to meet other fellow animators such as Steven Spielberg and Andreas Deja. James Baxter proved his skills and gaining the reputation as very talented for his young age.

His Work:

James Baxter later was asked by Walt Disney Studios to join projects such as the Little Mermaid(1989), Rescuers Down and Under(1990), the Hunchback of Notre Dame(1996) and The Lion King(1994). However his greatest work was when he supervised the animation for Beauty and the Beast at just 23 years old, the youngest supervising animator at the time. He supervised the team that animated the famous scene where Belle Dances with the Beast in the ball room. Initially the Filmmakers had wanted a traditional approach of Hand Drawn 2D animation without the use of computer software. But as technology advancements progressed in the animation industry, the filmmakers then decided that implementing CGI environments through 3D Rendering combined James Baxter’s 2D hand drawn animation would be the best decision for the project. The Studio Executives were impressed with the final results and it convinced them to invest in Computer Animation for future projects. The Dance scene has been recycled many times in other popular Disney films.

Disney’s Beauty and The Beast (1991)

James Baxter made the decision to leave Disney in 1997 and moved on to work for DreamWorks as a Supervising animator on the film Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002, Shrek 2 in 2004, Madagascar in 2005 and He later became Director for Kung Fu Panda (2008). His experience working with CGI in Madagascar led to his decision of creating his own 2D Animation Studio and becoming a freelance animator. He has worked as 2D animator for the animated series Adventure time(2010) where he created a talking horse character named after him as well as voicing him as well as the Netflix Animated Feature Klaus(2019).

Adventure Time (2010) James Baxter Horse

Why I have Chosen His work?

James Baxter is one of the first animators that I came across as a child when I had decided to watch the making of Dreamwork’s Spirit the Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). His demonstrations and animation processes left 8 year old me in awe at how it was possible to bring drawings to life on a page. I have also been quite familiar with some of his work in the Dreamwork’s The Prince of Egypt(1998) and How to train your Dragon, his take on movement of both Humanoid and Animals/Creatures though body language and facial expressions, showing what the character is thinking and feeling, really brings to life believable characters through 2D animation.