Hello Andreas! 

First off, please tell us how – and why – you got into animation in the first place.  I understand seeing The Jungle Book for the first time was a formative moment?

That movie changed my life, to say the least. After watching that film, I had this sudden realisation that what I had seen was something I wanted to be a part of. At the time, it seemed almost impossible. I was living in Germany and my family seldom left our home country, much the less thought about moving to another continent, but nonetheless I got this idea in my mind that I must go to America and pursue a career in animation. No one took my ambitions seriously but the challenge only spurred me to learn more about the art form and work towards my dream.   

A key component of our work here at The Big Draw is promoting the influence of visual literacy.  We believe it underpins not only all of the visual arts, but also education such as science, engineering, mathematics et al.  Can you share your views on the benefits of a visual eye to one’s everyday life, aside from your day job of being an animator?

I can answer that from an artist’s point of view. As an artist, you must keep your eyes open all of the time; it’s who you are. It is through the observation of your surroundings, both subconsciously and consciously, that you can refine your ability to communicate with your audience through your work. I imagine that for someone other than an artist, observation is also a key in learning how to understand non-verbal language. 

We believe that drawing can be thought of as a universal language, one with the power to change lives.  Do you consider the practice of drawing as a language – and if so are there any experiences you can point to from your own life and career that you think support this?  

I agree that drawing has the power to change lives. Personally as an animator, my goal is to communicate something to an audience. They should be able to easily understand how the character feels which in turn allows them to relate to a character. Several years ago, I attended the International Family Film Festival, where I received an award, and after the presentation there was a reception. During the reception, a young girl shyly approached me and said, “thank you for drawing my childhood.” She boiled this down to such a simple phrase, something I will never forget. She reminded me how the power of what I do as an animator can have the ability to impact someone’s life.  

In your early correspondence with Disney as a teenager, the advice that you received was that they wanted prospective employees to go and be artists first and foremost, rather than to try and copy a particular Disney style and characters. You began life drawing as a step in this direction.  Can we hear about how your thoughts on what constitutes a skill base for drawing – and is that the same as visual literacy?         

I think it is the same in the way that learning how to draw is learning a vocabulary of things – it gives you a basis of the type of knowledge that you need in order to interpret your work. When it comes to drawing, almost no one is born great; you have go through a learning process. It may take hundreds or thousands of bad drawings before you feel you can really draw well. Life drawing is essential for to an artist’s education, especially an animator, because you need to understand the human figure and how it moves. For example, even a film like Zootopia will require animators to use and understand human anatomy. 

You’ve headed animation teams that have come up with some of the most sinister and recognisable ‘bad guys’ that have ever been seen in animation.  What do you think are some of the most important things to bear in mind when making a memorable character – not just in animation, but considering drawing in general?

When I begin working on a character, I always strive to create a character that the audience hasn’t seen before. During my work on The Lion King, I tried to avoid referencing Shere Kahn from The Jungle Book, even though these characters shared a lot of similarities. Instead, I focused on Jeremy Irons (voice of Scar), watching his films and studying how he moves and acts. I also frequented the zoo where I observed the lions and how they moved and interacted with one another. When creating a character, you must determine who they are and the best way to portray them. For villains, it’s crucial to make them interesting – it’s not enough for them to merely beat up on the good guys. In the case of Scar, he genuinely enjoyed messing with others, whereas a character like Jafar had an insatiable hunger for power. My exhibition Deja View: The Art of Andreas Deja on view at The Walt Disney Family Museum until October was a unique opportunity for me to display some of the early sketches of these villains and show a small piece of my thought process to the public.

The animators that we have interviewed so far as part of our Big Draw animation blogs have generally been creators that work by themselves or as part of a small team. How does animation differ as a process when there are many people involved such as at Disney?

When there are many people involved, you need to be a team player. Working in teams isn’t necessarily for everyone and there are plenty of artists that prefer working on their own, but I personally never had issues working with a large team. During my time at Disney, I enjoyed being able to bounce ideas off the other members of my team. One example I recall occurred when we were working on The Princess and The Frog. I was animating a comedic scene featuring Mama Odie’s snake Juju, and at the time, I wasn’t feeling particularly humorous. So, I went to my colleague Eric Goldberg, who is known for his funny animation, and asked him to assist me with that particular scene. If you have a positive collaborative approach, working as a team can only improve your work. 

Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with Andreas which will be published next week!

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