Disney's Nine Old Men - Ollie Johnstone

Ollie Johnstone. Photo: Janke 

Walt Disney joked that his best animators were his "Nine Old Men" - and the nickname stuck. One of the nine was Ollie Johnstone, one of the best character animators at the Disney Studio and the man who breathed life into some of the studio's most enduring characters.



In the video below, Ollie talks about how he created his characters, giving a surprising amount of detailed insight into his work methods. This is fascinating material for anyone who aspires to master the craft of animation, and what comes across most strongly is the amount of time and effort that the Disney animators put into their research, shooting live action, and studying life, in order to create their characters.

To watch the video, which forms part of the excellent "Disney Family Album" series of in-house videos, shot in the late 1980s and early 1990s, follow the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxTZJRr3iE

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days, take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn aboutmotion capture at Bucks.