Hey there!
I'm super excited that you found your way to my site. For my first official blog post, I'd like to do a simple introduction to myself. I've never been great at describing myself; it's such a weird concept to me. But here it goes.
My name is Lauren, and I am 22 years old. I have been drawing since I was about 3 years old, and Disney has always been my main inspiration. My first favorite movie (and is still my favorite movie today) is The Little Mermaid. As a child I was always fascinated by the idea of mermaids and how beautiful they looked when they were swimming. I would draw mermaids every day with my little box of Crayola crayons, drawing each one with their own look, personality and colors. Ariel was always my favorite to draw. From that obsession, that went on for years and still to this day, I learned about Glen Keane; the supervising animator for Ariel.
Glen Keane's character design sketches for Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989)
Glen Keane's animation drawing from the Part of That World sequence in The Little Mermaid (1989)
Upon finding Glen's beautiful sketches and animation drawings for Ariel, I fell in love with his style. He was able to bring so much heart into his simple pencil drawings and I was so envious of that talent. I studied his sketches, listened to the talks he gave at schools and conferences, and re-watched over and over again scenes he animated. These wonderful scenes include the part of that world sequence in The Little Mermaid where Ariel is singing in her grotto, the scene where the Beast falls dead after the rose loses its petals; then coming back to life and turning into a human in Beauty and the Beast, and the scene where Aladdin is talking to Jasmine while they are sitting on a roof in China watching fireworks. All of these moments he animated, even if they are brief, have so much raw emotion and the strokes of his pencil are just so beautiful. It's funny that I'm gushing over scenes in Disney movies, but there's no way to describe how much I love watching Glen Keane's animation. And of course all of these moments being paired with the beautiful music of Alan Menken didn't help with my obsession, but that's another story (seriously... these two are a match made in heaven).
A collection of drawings of the Disney characters Glen Keane animated. Rapunzel, Tangled (2010), Ariel, The Little Mermaid (1989), Todd, The Fox and the Hound (1981), Aladdin (1992), Tarzan (1998), Pocahontas (1995), The Beast, Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jim, Treasure Planet (2002), Jenny, Oliver and Company (1988)
His drawings also persuaded me into the world of character design. Since then, I have been creating my own characters that live in their own world with their own stories. Unfortunately I'm not a great storyteller, so most of these characters are left as just drawings on paper.
So fast forward to now. I'm a college graduate, with an associates degree in visual arts and a bachelors in graphic design. I have been working as an in-house designer for a little over a year, doing freelance design and illustration on the side. I have had the wonderful opportunity of working on a children's book and it was an awesome experience. The book has not been published just yet, but knowing that I created the characters and environments for a book that will soon go into the hands of children is a great feeling. This sparked my interest in children's books, and I am currently working on one with my fiancé Josh. Josh has always loved writing, and so it was a no-brainer to put our talents together and create something awesome. More to come with that soon, so stay tuned!
I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me. I will have more exciting blog posts to come :)
- Lauren