Hey there, I'm Michael Woodside and I'm an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Every year in early April, the animation
studios host something called the annual
caricature show, where all the artists
get to draw each other. That was started by John
Musker in the late 1970's
I thought maybe today, it would be fun to draw Walt
Disney himself to celebrate the caricature show so,
let's get started. The first thing I like
to do is just do the first
big shape on the head so we want to
decide how, what's the head shape we're going to use so
Walt has this great
he's kind of got a
he's known for his pronounced
strong nose, so I want to make sure I leave
a lot of room in the middle of the face for that.
and so, just going to start
here. This gives me an
outline of the face, a little centerline.
Now work really loose here so that
I could find the drawing as I go.
Sort of that indication for the hair.
and then some real quick shapes for the ears.
So this just lets me know what
direction he's looking and,
how I should build it from there.
So, when doing a caricature,
it's, there's a couple of ways to go about it. The way that I like to
try it, what I'm trying for is
not just
getting a drawing that looks like the person but also
at best can feel like
the person, so I want to try to
capture what is the soul
of the subject.
So you have to make some decisions
beforehand to start just working
out someone's hair detail. Let's talk about that.
For me, Walt
is kind of an internal
optimist, and he has a lot of
pep, he's a, he's just
someone who represents
happiness to a lot of people, you know, myself included.
So, I want to really capture that
spirit of hope and
optimism in this drawing, because I want it to feel
like, feel like the Walt that I
think of so, I'm going to start
just working out some of the details
here, sometimes I work out details
while I'm thinking of other
things I need to work on.
So this is
kind of a necessary polish work
that I put in really early.
But, that's just for me to think
about what I might want to do with the expression.
So this just
gives him that really nice,
he always had his hair pulled back.
and really clean, so even some
some white in there for some shine.
And I want to, I want to keep
it really sketchy because, you know, Walt was an
animator and so I think he would
appreciate this,
this style so,
it doesn't need to be a final
finished, pristine line.
Okay, so.
Let's go ahead, let's
do that nose. We're going to put the nose right
here in the center.
He had this great, long nose. So I'm just going to indicate that.
this line here
from the nose starts all the way up at the top.
It's funny, for all of my life, Walt has reminded me of my grandpa.
We call him opa,
on my mom's side, and he had
the same kind of charm, the same
sense of humor I felt like and
really the same
attitude as Walt
also had a similar mustache. So I had
to make sure to get that.
Give him a big smile.
I know it's not just me, but I feel, it feels like
I have a personal connection, it feels like
Walt was part of the family,
We grew up, I grew up in
Florida, central Florida, near Disney World.
And so, we would always visit
Disney all the time.
and,
so we were constantly around this
this world, and so I was
just enamored by the magic he created.
It was alive then, it's alive now.
And I think all of that is because
of his sense of optimism
and his sense of hope
and promise and
just always looking forward.
So definitely wanted to
capture that spirit in here.
So yeah, without his mustache it doesn't look, it doesn't
look like Walt, so we have to make sure to have that in, make sure
that it's lining up. He had
a little space
between his lip and the mustache that
I want to make sure I keep in there.
So I like using this
China marker because I think it has a lot of
texture in it and I can get some
loose lines, and I don't have to get
really precious. I might come in later with
more detail. So,
but for the time being, I want to
make sure that I get
a gestural loose drawing,
then I can work on that
side of the marker and get a little more detail here.
See, I think some people think of caricatures as mean drawings or angry,
offensive drawings, but I don't,
I think caricatures are
kind of like a visual love letter
to somebody, that just says, this is...
Hey I was thinking about you, and I think
when I think of you I think of this.
and, you're thinking
positively, you can really do some really nice drawings
for people. I know they appreciate it.
Great, so that feels more like Walt, now that we have
the nose,
And then we're gonna, I'm just gonna go ahead and work on the
clothes real quick I
feel like because of the
television program,
everyone saw him in a suit all
the time so I want to give him a suit.
tie,
it wasn't, it wasn't like a business suit, he didn't have
really hard shoulders, so he was
I think keeping the shoulders soft, helps him
feel more casual
more, more like, Walt,
just a pleasant,
dreamer.
Caricatures are really fun to do
around the house too. So if you have a brother or
sister, you guys can draw each other.
Be nice, and
just take a look at each other and,
try to figure out what are the shapes
that are specific and unique
like is your brother tall, does your sister have really long
hair. Those sort of things are great.
So, just going to give him a little detail on the tie.
Yeah you want to
try to find some
some nice characteristics of somebody that you want to
accentuate
So that, we have here, let's go ahead and
work on the eyes. Again, he's an optimist
right? So I want to have him
really brighten up
it's that famous
Sherman Brothers song
in the Carousel of Progress.
I always think of that song when I think of Walt.
So I'm going to have them
looking up towards
the future, towards the sky
I got some of these details over here,
What's fun about caricatures too, is that there really
isn't a way to do it, it's not
like you have to
follow
the way that they're drawn before. Everyone
sort of makes it up as they go, so
you could decide the way
and really make a lot of artistic choices that are yours.
he had a little dimple, make sure to get that.
So you can use photo reference, to really get a sense of who
a person is, or if you know them
well, if it's someone in your family, then you can go
from memory, sometimes those are the
funnest drawings, so,
going to, have a little
bit of shading. There's something special I want to do in the eyes
I'm going to save that for the end.
Darken here.
Cool, so I think when we do the eyes. I'm gonna
Switch over to a different pencil.
Get a little more detail.
So I always try to find something special to put
in the drawing that feels like it's a
characteristic only of that person.
because you want the drawing to really make someone feel like
wow they really captured
the soul of that person
and I think
to really help
accentuate the idealism
of Walt, I'm going to give him a little
little Mickey shines in his eyes.
I'll tidy up the drawing, give him
some more shading
Yeah Walt had a lot of
a lot of influence on people from all over the world.
And I don't think you can get there
without being an optimist,
and without seeing the best in people, and so
that is what I'm trying to capture from Walt today, is that
he saw the best
in the world and saw how it
could be better so,
I think if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have the job that I have
and I wouldn't be inspired to do
the thing that I do, and I think that's true for a lot of
people, so hopefully this,
captures a little bit of that.
Let's go ahead and give him a little
cheeks.
I think all that's left is for us to sign it.
I'm gonna sign mine right here.
There we go.
Well thank you for joining me, I hope you had a good time.
We'll see you around later. Keep drawing.
Bye now!