Floyd E. Norman is an American animator who worked on the Walt Disney animated features 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 African American animator at the Disney studios. At age 80, 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.
After Walt Disney's death in 1966, Floyd Norman left Disney Studios to co-found 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, Faster! Cheaper!, Son of Faster, Cheaper!, and How the Grinch Stole Disney. Norman's latest book, titled: Animated Life: A Lifetime of tips, tricks, techniques and stories from an animation Legend (Animation Masters) ISBN 0240818059, was published by Focal Press in 2013.
He is currently a columnist for the websites JimHillMedia.com and AfroKids.com.
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. [1][2]
Awards
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.[3] Norman was named a Disney Legend in 2007.[4] In 2008, he appeared as Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2008 and at Comic-Con International, where he was given an Inkpot Award.[5] In 2013, Norman was honored with the "Sergio Award" from The Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS).
Disney 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
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Floyd Norman. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |