James Baxter - Pencil Tests

Posted by: Peter Nagy-Galambosi

James Baxter

James Baxter on Tumblr
James Baxter at YouTube

James Baxter at Wikipedia
The 50 Most Influential Disney Animators: James Baxter

James' Filmography at IMDb

PENCIL TESTS


Wolfwalkers (2020)

Klaus (2019)

Steven Universe (TV Series)

Ep. 'Change Your Mind' (2019)

Tie Down by Kendra Baxter

 

Regular Show (TV Series)

Ep. 'A Regular Epic Final Battle' (2017)

"So JG Quintel asked me to animate a moment in the epic finale of Regular Show (actually, I pestered him to do something on it). Here's the rough animation."

Gravity Falls (TV Series, 2012)

"For the title sequence. Rough and then the tie down."

Adam and Dog (2011, Short)
Clean-Up by Kendra Baxter

Enchanted (2007) 

 

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

Road to El Dorado (2000)

"This is a pre-production test that I animated of Chel for El Dorado. 20 years ago! My friend Kristof re-shot it. Sorry about the sound quality, it was not done to production sound. She says, "Ooooo, Oh my! This is the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in!"

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

Here's a first rough of Moses returning to tell his wife that he just spoke to God and she needs to have a little sit down. Previous attempts had been made to write dialogue for this scene but it never really worked so they asked me to just pantomime it. It's the only scene I've ever been given with no time limit and the minimal direction of, "You know the situation, just animate something."

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1996)

"Here's some Quasimodo that I animated. The cut is slightly different from what ended up in the final film, with less time spent on the cut-away to the gargoyles. Plus the original intent was to just have them look sad, and not goof around." So here's a pencil test of the sanctuary shot from Hunchback of Notre Dame. The background of the cathedral was animated first by Mike Merell in 3D. Then that wireframe footage was printed out onto paper frame by frame. I then animated the characters over the top on paper. This is before the final sound mix obviously, and if you listen you can clearly hear Gary Trousdale, one of the film's directors, yelling "Ahh, you can't get her now Frollo!"

The Lion King (1994)

"My first rough of a Rafiki scene from The Lion King. Simba pose is by the brilliant Ruben Aquino (Simba still has his teenage hair, which was later changed)." "Here's three shots from The Lion King showing my first rough pass compared to my tie down pass. In the first two shots Simba is animated by the brilliant Ruben Aquino. You can see that my first sketches are really scribbly."

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Other Works

A character animation test from 2018. 

A piece of rough animation for a demonstration during a lecture on quadrupeds at DreamWorks.

"A CalArts lecture test from a few years ago. I never finished it so you can see some parts where it is my first scribble pass."

"This is another one of my animation demonstration lecture pieces. I think this one was for USC. The students gave me the sound file and this is what I animated for them live in the lecture."

"This is a test that I did at the tender age of 20 in 1987 while working as an assistant on Roger Rabbit and wanting to become an animator."

"This is a test that I animated for a lecture at Laguna College of Art and Design."

"This five second test took about three hours to animate. I did it for a demonstration lecture for the students at Cal State Fullerton. Below, you can find the full three hour demonstration."