The Nine Old Men: Lessons, Techniques, and Inspiration from Disney's Great Animators

Ollie Johnston

Ollie Johnston always felt that the characters he animated were living beings. “I never thought of them as just lines on paper—to me Pinocchio, Bambi, and Mickey really existed,” he stated once.

It is that conviction that led to a very personal approach toward animation, one where the animator analyzes and eventually identifies with the character’s emotions. Those feelings become the springboard for what the drawings will look like and how they will move on the screen.

Ollie never considered a particular design style that a film ...