Floyd E. Norman is an American animator, who worked on the Walt Disney animated feature films Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book, along with various animated short projects at Disney in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1956, he was the first non-white animator at the Disney studios. At age 87, he still works as a storyboard artist, and is a freelance consultant for The Walt Disney Company.
Biography[]
Norman had his start as an assistant to comic book artist Bill Woggon, who lived in the Santa Barbara, California, area that Norman grew up in.
Norman first joined the Disney studio in 1956. As an inbetweener on Sleeping Beauty, he assisted Frank Thomas working on the fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. As an assistant animator on Mary Poppins, he worked on The Pearly Band. As a story artist on The Jungle Book, he was responsible for much of the gags in the "Trust in Me" sequence with Mowgli and Kaa, and for the Vultures.
After Walt Disney's death in 1966, Floyd Norman left Disney Studios to co-founded the AfroKids animation studio, with business partner animator/director Leo Sullivan. Norman and Sullivan worked together on various projects such as the original Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Fat Albert television special, which aired in 1969 on NBC (not to be confused with the later Fat Albert series made by Filmation Associates).
Norman returned to Disney at one point in the early 1970s to work on the Disney animated feature Robin Hood, and worked on several animated television programs at Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears. In the 1980s he worked as a writer in the comic strip department at Disney and was the last scripter for the Mickey Mouse comic strip before it was discontinued.
More recently he has worked on motion pictures for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, having contributed creatively as a story artist on films, such as Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. for Pixar and Mulan, Dinosaur, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for Walt Disney Animation, among others. He continues to work for the Walt Disney Co. as a freelance consultant on various projects.
Norman has also published several books of cartoons inspired by his lifetime of experiences in the animation industry, such as Faster! Cheaper! (ISBN 978-0942909029), Son of Faster, Cheaper! (ISBN 978-1941500378), How the Grinch Stole Disney, Disk Drive: Animated Humor In The Digital Age, and Suspended Animation: The Art Form That Refuses To Die. Norman's latest book, titled: Animated Life: A Lifetime of tips, tricks, techniques and stories from an animation Legend (Animation Masters) (ISBN 978-0240818054) was published by Focal Press in 2013 [1] Debuting at the 2017 D23 Expo , Disney Editions published the picture book: A Kiss Goodnight (ISBN 978-1484782286) written by Richard Sherman and illustrated by Norman. [2]
Floyd Norman with Joe Grant.
Norman is currently a columnist for the websites JimHillMedia.com, AfroKids.com, and contributes to his own blog.
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, a feature length documentary on his life and career was released in 2016. [3]
Floydering[]
"Floydering" is a phrase first used by friends and colleagues at the Walt Disney Studios (and eventually adopted by the Disney fan community) to describe Norman and his particular creative process. The phrase was further expounded upon in a short video unveiled at Norman's 80th birthday party held at Disney Studios. [4][5]
FLOY•DER•ING
Awards and honors[]
Norman was a recipient of the Winsor McCay Award for Recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation at the 2002 Annie Awards.[6] Norman was named a Disney Legend in 2007.[7] In 2008, he appeared as Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2008 and at Comic-Con International, where he was given an Inkpot Award.[8] In 2013, Norman was honored with the "Sergio Award" from The Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS). [9] In 2015 Norman received the Friz Freleng Award for Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Animation from the International Family Film Festival.[10][11] In 2016 Norman was appointed to the education and outreach committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.[12][13] In June 2018, Norman received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Cogswell Polytechnical College. [14]
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney Productions) | Clean-Up Artist/In-Between artist - uncredited |
| 1961 | One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Walt Disney Productions) | Assistant Animator - uncredited |
| 1963 | The Sword in the Stone (Walt Disney Productions) | Assistant Animator - uncredited |
| 1964 | Mary Poppins (Walt Disney Productions) | Assistant Animator - uncredited |
| 1967 | The Jungle Book (Walt Disney Productions) | Story Artist - uncredited |
| 1973 | Robin Hood (Walt Disney Productions) | Assistant Animator - uncredited |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Walt Disney Feature Animation) | Story |
| 1998 | Mulan (Walt Disney Feature Animation) | Story |
| 1999 | Toy Story 2 (Pixar) | Additional storyboard artist |
| 2000 | The Tigger Movie (DisneyToon Studios) | Additional storyboard artist |
| 2000 | Dinosaur (Walt Disney Feature Animation) | Storyboard artist |
| 2001 | Monsters, Inc. (Pixar) | Additional storyboarding |
Gallery[]
External links[]
- mrfun (Floyd Norman's blog)
- Columns at JimHillMedia.com
- Anthrocon 2008
- Animatedviews.com - Floyd Norman: Story of a Storyman
References[]
- ↑ https://www.awn.com/animationworld/book-review-animated-life-lifetime-tips-tricks-and-stories-disney-legend
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2017/07/15/d23-expo-book-review-kiss-goodnight/
- ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-floyd-norman-review-20160823-snap-story.html
- ↑ http://micechat.com/105503-floyd-normans-80th-birthday/
- ↑ http://www.awn.com/blog/disney-celebrates-animation-legend-floyd-norman-s-80th-birthday
- ↑ http://annieawards.org/30th-annie-awards
- ↑ https://d23.com/floyd-norman/
- ↑ http://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot
- ↑ "Comic Art Professional Society" (July 28, 2014).
- ↑ "International Family Film Festival".
- ↑ "The International Family Film Festival" (October 26, 2015).
- ↑ "THE ACADEMY ADDS DIVERSE VOICES TO ITS LEADERSHIP" (March 16, 2016).
- ↑ "Film academy appoints three diverse new governors, others to leadership positions", Los Angeles Times (March 15, 2016). Retrieved on July 24, 2017.
- ↑ "Floyd Norman Shines Through Inspiration, Uniqueness, and Consistency". cogswell.edu (June 1, 2018).
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