Bruce W. Smith
Bruce W. Smith began attending animation classes at age ten, after his fourth grade teacher noticed his artistic skills and helped arrange for classes. He became the designated class artist for school projects, and by the time he was 12 years old, he made his first animated movie. Through high school, the aspiring artist continued with extracurricular classes, intent on making art his career. After graduating from high school, Smith enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts. He was offered a summer internship and the chance to work full-time in a studio, and because of that he chose to leave school before getting his degree.
Smith got his first start as an assistant animator for Bill Melendez's 1984 Garfield television special Garfield in the Rough. He continued on to animate for Baer Animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, worked on character designs for and directed Bebe's Kids, which was his first feature in 1992. He was also animation supervisor for The Pagemaster, served as director and character designer for Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, designed the characters for A Goofy Movie and C-Bear and Jamal. He also co-directed the animated segments of Space Jam. Even though he was the creator of Da Boom Crew, he is best known as the creator of Disney Channel's Proud Family.
Bruce W. Smith began attending animation classes at age ten, after his fourth grade teacher noticed his artistic skills and helped arrange for classes. He became the designated class artist for school projects, and by the time he was 12 years old, he made his first animated movie. Through high school, the aspiring artist continued with extracurricular classes, intent on making art his career. After graduating from high school, Smith enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts. He was offered a summer internship and the chance to work full-time in a studio, and because of that he chose to leave school before getting his degree.
Smith got his first start as an assistant animator for Bill Melendez's 1984 Garfield television special Garfield in the Rough. He continued on to animate for Baer Animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, worked on character designs for and directed Bebe's Kids, which was his first feature in 1992. He was also animation supervisor for The Pagemaster, served as director and character designer for Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, designed the characters for A Goofy Movie and C-Bear and Jamal. He also co-directed the animated segments of Space Jam. Even though he was the creator of Da Boom Crew, he is best known as the creator of Disney Channel's Proud Family.
Floyd Norman
Born in 1932, Floyd Norman is an American animator who worked on the Walt Disney animated features Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book, along with other various animated short projects at Disney in the late '50s and early '60s. After Walt Disney's death in 1966 Floyd Norman left Disney Studios to co-found the Afro Kids animation studio with business partner animator/director Leo Sullivan. Norman and Sullivan worked together on various projects such as the original Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert television special which aired in 1969 on NBC. The television special was completely different from the Fat Albert series which was made by Filmation Associates. At one point in the early 1970s Floyd Norman returned to Disney to work on the Disney animated feature Robin Hood.
Norman had his start as an assistant to comic book artist Bill Woggon who lived in the Santa Barbara area that Norman grew up in. In the 1980s he worked as a writer in the comic strip department at Disney and was the last scripter for the Mickey Mouse comic strip before it was discontinued. More recently he has worked on motion pictures for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, having contributed creatively as a story artist on films such as Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. for Pixar and Mulan, Dinosaur, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for Walt Disney Animation. Floyd Norman has also published several books of cartoons inspired by his lifetime of experiences in the animation industry : Faster! Cheaper!, Son of Faster, Cheaper!, and How the Grinch Stole Disney. He is currently a columnist for the websites JimHillMedia.com and AfroKids.com. He was named a Disney Legend in 2007. Also in 2008, Norman appeared as Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2008 and at Comic-Con International where he was awarded an Inkpot Award.
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