Walt Disney’s Secret Sauce – How to Train an Animator

In December of 1935 Walt Disney sent an 8-page memo to Don Graham, a Chouinard Art Institute animation instructor, with suggestions on how to train animators to be prepared for the intensive Walt Disney Studios animation process. This missive helped elevate Disney’s product to the next level and would allow it to create the masterpieces we all enjoy today.

If you’re an aspiring animator, this is an essential read; for everyone else it’s a wonderful insight into the development of the Walt Disney Company and a look at the philosophy of Walt Disney himself. Either way it’s an inspiring and important read.

Read the whole thing at Letters of Note.

Interesting fact: Chouinard later merged with a music school to form the California Institute of the Arts, aka CalArts, which supplies the current animation world with much of its talent.