James Lopez is a veteran Disney animator who has been working as a professional in the animation industry for twenty-five years.
Career[]
His credits at Disney include being a Lead Animator on films, such as The Emperor's New Groove and Hercules and as an animator on the character Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog and Timon in The Lion King. He also worked for studios such as Warner Bros. and Dreamworks in both television and features, and has performed a variety of positions that range from Storyboarding and Layout to Art Direction, Production Design and Character Design.
He is an alumni of CalArts where he recently taught drawing and animation to inspire a new generation of artists.
Hullabaloo[]
In 2014, James Lopez raised funds for an animated film/short series called Hullabaloo, a steampunk adventure created through the art of traditional 2D (hand-drawn) animation. The project aims to preserve the art of 2D animation with the hope of selling it to a studio and become either a feature film or a series. James Lopez originally aimed to raise $80,000 for one short, but within thirty-five days raised $470,726, enough to produce four shorts with support from over seventy countries around the world.
Other veteran Disney artists and animators with years of experience in the film industry were brought together by James Lopez to work on Hullabaloo. Production took about ten years, and by November 25, 2023, the first short episode of Hullabaloo was released on YouTube, with more to come in the following year.
Disney Filmography[]
Films[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Lion King | Animator: Timon |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | Animator: Wiggins |
| 1995 | Runaway Brain | Additional Animator |
| 1997 | Hercules | Supervising Animator: Pain |
| 2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | Lead Animator: Tipo |
| 2004 | Home on the Range | Lead Animator: Farm Animals |
| 2005 | The Proud Family Movie | Storyboard artist |
| 2005 | Chicken Little | Animator |
| 2009 | The Princess and the Frog | Animator: Dr. Facilier/Lead Animator: Tap Dancing Kid |
| 2011 | Winnie the Pooh | Animator |
| 2012 | Paperman | Final Line Animator |
| 2016 | Moana | Visual developer |
Television[]
| Year | Show | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2012-2015 | Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja | Storyboard artist |
| 2017-2020 | Tangled: The Series | Visual Developer: Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra, Maximus |
Trivia[]
- James Lopez is a fan of steampunk, which he features in his personal animated project, Hullabaloo.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
