Glen Keane

What can I say? Meeting Glen Keane at Siggraph was such an amazing experience. First hearing how he has made the transition from traditional animation to computer animation and seeing the progression of his work from an early Where the Wild Things Are test where he animated the character on top of moving 3D backgrounds to what he's working on now, as director of Disney Feature Animation's Rapunzel Unbraided - I was totally blown away.

The fact that this man can think in 3D and draw it flawlessly in 2D is completely mind-boggling. What a feat of imagination. And now to seem him apply his masterful style and animation knowledge to bear on the 3D world in an immersive way will truly be a sight to behold.

They played a short clip from Rapunzel several times and I sat speechless. It's like watching someone make an elephant disappear right before your eyes, remembering your first kiss, the wonder you felt as a kid the first time you saw fireflies - pure magic.

Then, after all that, getting to meet him... He was probably scared I was going to boil his bunny, but he was very gracious and even drew a quick sketch in my sketchbook (I should have asked him to draw Tarzan, cause that's one of my favorites of the characters he's animated). He had heard of AnimationMentor.com and wished me the best of luck and sent me on my speechless way.

I'm still pinching myself...