Lion King first roughs vs tie downs James Baxter 2020-09-21 | Here's three shots from The Lion King showing my first rough pass compared to my tie down pass. In the first two shots Simba is animated by the brilliant Ruben Aquino. You can see that my first sketches are really scribbly.
Scar Tests James Baxter 2023-06-29 | These are nearly all of the Scar shots that I animated for Lion King. Apologies for the low res. - it was 1992! You can see some of the early tests, reworked versions etc. This is all pre Hans Zimmer, so it's all scratch music from other movies. Enjoy.
Red Balloon James Baxter 2023-06-10 | Another doggy animation. I can't seem to stop animating dogs, they're the best! Anyway, this was started as a live demonstration at The Art Department event run by We Are Playgrounds in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Then I finished it off at home.
Support Tina Nawrockis Syrenka. See link in the description James Baxter 2023-06-07 | indiegogo.com/projects/syrenka-legend-of-the-warsaw-mermaidThis is a beautiful pencil test by my friend Tina Nawrocki, you might know her work on the "Cuphead" game. She is making a hand drawn animated short about a Polish mermaid called "Syrenka: Legend of the Warsaw Mermaid". Hand drawn animation is very important to me - nothing else seems as magical as drawings that come to life! If you like hand drawn animation as much as I do, please consider supporting her crowdfunding campaign. Time is running out!indiegogo.com/projects/syrenka-legend-of-the-warsaw-mermaid
Damn James Baxter 2023-04-29 | This is another one of my animation demonstration lecture pieces. I think this one was for USC. The students gave me the sound file and this is what I animated for them live in the lecture.
Wolfwalkers pencil test James Baxter 2023-04-29 | Pencil test for two shots (the only 2) that I animated for Wolfwalkers. I absolutely loved working with Tomm and everyone at Cartoon Saloon.
Fullerton the Squirrel James Baxter 2021-04-06 | This five second test took about three hours to animate. I did it for a demonstration lecture for the students at Cal State Fullerton. If you want to see the full three hour demonstration, it's here:youtube.com/watch?v=rG2UJ2kcdlE
Heavens Light James Baxter 2020-10-07 | Here's some more Quasimodo that I animated. The cut is slightly different from what ended up in the final film, with less time spent on the cut-away to the gargoyles. Plus the original intent was to just have them look sad, and not goof around.
Quasimodos acceptance James Baxter 2020-09-28 | Here's a short bit that I animated towards the end of "Hunchback"
Spirit and Rain James Baxter 2020-09-19 | This is a pencil test that has been elsewhere on the internet. I thought I would put it here too. I animated this little section after Spirit sees Rain on the river bank to where the shot dissolves and Matt Damon's voice over starts.
Happy Anniversary! James Baxter 2020-09-06 | Here's a little animation that I did for Kendra as an anniversary gift. She then very kindly did the ink and paint on it. It's what we wish we could do in Animal Crossing New Horizon when we play together.
Jesper and Margu James Baxter 2019-11-21 | Here's a short sequence that I animated for Klaus. It just came out on Netflix so check it out. It was so much fun to animate on and work with so many talented folks at Sergio Pablos' studio
Quasimodo Sanctuary James Baxter 2019-09-08 | So here's a pencil test of the sanctuary shot from Hunchback of Notre Dame. The background of the cathedral was animated first by Mike Merell in 3D. Then that wireframe footage was printed out onto paper frame by frame. I then animated the characters over the top on paper. This is before the final sound mix obviously, and if you listen you can clearly hear Gary Trousdale, one of the film's directors, yelling "Ahh, you can't get her now Frollo!"
Biscuit James Baxter 2019-03-31 | So yesterday, The makers of a new documentary about hand drawn animation wanted to film me animating something, so I did this.They decided his name was Biscuit.Please go to their Indiegogo page and support them, they are doing great things. indiegogo.com/projects/hand-drawn-feature-film#
Stevens Fusion James Baxter 2019-01-24 | Thank you to the Steven Universe community for saying such positive things about this scene, we thought you might like to see the pencil test. These are the shots from "Change Your Mind" that I animated and that Kendra tied down. Thank you Rebecca for letting us be a part of your beautiful show. Thanks to our Drew for scanning it all.
Animation at Netflix James Baxter 2018-11-06 | I have a new job as Director of Character Animation at Netflix. I'm working with a whole bunch of creative geniuses like Alex Hirsch, Jorge Gutierrez, Megan Dong, Glen Keane, Pen Ward, Elizabeth Ito, Chris Williams, Matt Layzell, Ryan Crego, Craig McCracken, Shion Takeuchi, Phil Craven, and a whole bunch of others. We're going to create some pretty wild stuff.Stay tuned.
James Baxter Animation Reel James Baxter 2018-09-28 | My daughter cut this reel together from some of my animation from the last 30 years. Beautiful job sweetie, thank you.
Pops vs AntiPops James Baxter 2018-02-18 | So JG Quintel asked me to animate a moment in the epic finale of Regular Show (actually, I pestered him to do something on it). Here's the rough animation.
Moses and Tzipporah James Baxter 2018-02-17 | Here's a first rough of Moses returning to tell his wife that he just spoke to God and she needs to have a little sit down. Previous attempts had been made to write dialogue for this scene but it never really worked so they asked me to just pantomime it. It's the only scene I've ever been given with no time limit and the minimal direction of, "You know the situation, just animate something."
Rafiki and Simba James Baxter 2018-02-17 | My first rough of a Rafiki scene from The Lion King. Simba pose is by the brilliant Ruben Aquino (Simba still has his teenage hair, which was later changed)
Thumper James Baxter 2018-02-17 | This is a test that I did at the tender age of 20 in 1987 while working as an assistant on Roger Rabbit and wanting to become an animator.
Giselle pre-production test James Baxter 2017-09-23 | This is the original test that I animated before we started production on Enchanted. It was done to test out the character and production design as well as our production pipeline. The sound comes from one of Amy Adam's audition tapes which is why it sounds like it was recorded in a hotel room (which I believe it was!). Enjoy.
Dipper candle James Baxter 2017-09-21 | For the title sequence. Rough and then the tie down. Thanks to Alex.
dogpull James Baxter 2017-01-17 | A CalArts lecture test from a few years ago. I never finished it so you can see some parts where it is my first scribble pass.
Chel comfy chair James Baxter 2016-12-17 | This is a pre-production test that I animated of Chel for El Dorado. 20 years ago! My friend Kristof re-shot it. Sorry about the sound quality, it was not done to production sound. She says, "Ooooo, Oh my! This is the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in!
cat surprise James Baxter 2016-10-23 | This is a test that I animated for a lecture at Laguna College of Art and Design. Hi to all the folks there.
dog being a dog James Baxter 2016-07-15 | This was a piece of rough animation that I did as a demonstration during a lecture on quadrupeds at Dreamworks. Kind of has a Pongo in the park feel to it.
