It is hard to believe in the modern world of ubiquitous portfolios, but Walt Disney met one of the most important animators that he would ever hire in an ice cream shop. Disney had first been impressed by the lettering that the young Clark had done for the menus. When Clark left the ice cream shop, Disney took him on, telling him that the gig might be a temporary one. However, that turned into the longest temporary job ever, going all the way to 1975, when Clark retired (“Les Clark”).
Given the vast amount of work that the Disney studios would churn out over the years, Clark was far from the only animator at work. He had other animators working with him on some of the more complex projects. However, one thing that differentiated Clark from the other animators who came in to work at the studio was Clark’s willingness to keep on learning. Disney recruited Donald Graham, a drawing teacher from the Choinard Institute, to come in and give the animators analysis of their work so that they could improve their skills. Some of the other animators in the studio had gone to art school, but Clark was self-taught. Because he was willing to take on the advice of Graham, though, Clark found himself ahead of animators who had gone through a lot more training. This is why he received such complicated assignments as the “Silly Song” sequence in Snow White (“Les Clark”). In this, there is a scene where Snow White appears alongside the Seven Dwarfs in a musical number, and Clark’s challenge (long before the days of CGI) was to remember these imaginative, caricatured dwarves alongside a Snow White who still had verisimilitude (Snow White). The discipline and diligence that Clark showed set him apart from the rest of the studio and put him on a course to be a pioneer in the field for his entire career.
Works Cited
“Les Clark.” 50 Most Influential Disney Animators. 25 July 2011. Web. 5 July 2016.
Snow White. Dir. William Cottrell, David Hand. Perf. Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell,
Lucille La Verne. Walt Disney Productions, 1937. Film.
