If you're a fan of Adventure Time, you've probably seen a recent episode that features a ridiculous new character; James Baxter the Horse. If you haven't seen the episode, here's a quick wiki description of the character:
James Baxter is a horse who travels around the Land of Ooo, cheering people up by balancing himself on a beach ball and neighing out his own name, "James Baxter." He is voiced by, and named after the animator James Baxter. He seems to come out immediately after someone becomes lonely, depressed, or starts crying. When James Baxter is done for the day, he deflates his beach ball, folds it into a hat, places it on top of his head, and trots away.
I noticed right away that there was something different about James Baxter. There was something in the way he moved. The animation on this character alone was so much smoother than anything else around him. The flowing hair in his mane and the smoothness in his steps were so smooth. It contrasted so much with the usual animation of the show that he couldn't help but shine on screen. This perplexed me to end. Why? Why this horse alone?
I recently began the habit of listening to animation podcasts during the ludicrous amounts of downtime at my job as a dishwasher at a hospital. One episode actually featured an animator by the name of James Baxter! Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense! As it turns out, James Baxter is a well-known and much-loved animator that has been in the industry for quite a while.
This handsome fella' right here!
James Baxter both animated and provided the voice for his Adventure Time horse counterpart. Which explains why the animation on this one character was absolutely stunning. James has worked on a lot of amazing stuff. The very first film that he worked on was Who Framed Roger Rabbit! Can you believe that? First job as an animator and he's working on what later became one of the most well-known and much-loved animated features of all time! At the age of only 21! My envy is through the roof!
James Baxter later worked on a ridiculous number of great animated films! The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Curious George, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and far more than I am going to list!
Wow
I may be in love
But in all seriousness, this guy is nothing short of amazing! The three-part podcast that he is featured in spans a bit over 2 hours and is so full of great tips and insight on the world of animation. I felt so inspired by this guy's story as I washed dishes at the same age as he was when he worked on Roger frickin' Rabbit! If you're an aspiring animator or are just a fan of animation, I highly recommend you listen to the three-part podcast. The recordings are actually from a few years back! 2008, in fact! But the amount of things that I learned is just priceless and timeless!
If you want to take a listen to this great interview by The Animation Podcast, you can find them for free on iTunes. Thank you for reading, and God bless you.
