You could power the entire Walt Disney World Resort with the passion that was captured in this podcast episode.

My plan for this episode was simple: Get these two living legends in a room and press RECORD.

And that’s all I had to do…

John Pomeroy started animating at Disney just a few years after Walt died. He worked under the three most well-known Nine Old Men: Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl and played a key role in the formation of the Don Bluth studio.

Tom Bancroft was a lead animator on Mulan and basically created the character of Mushu. Tom was part of the original creative team at Disney Florida and wrote the inventive new book Character Mentor.

I can’t begin to describe what it was like to listen to these two highly accomplished, talented animators light up with creative passion so you’ll just have to listen to the recording and experience it for yourself.

Here are just a few of the topics covered in the interview:

Appealing Character Design.

The old days at Disney and what it was like to work for Frank Thomas.

A first-hand account of the infamous origins of the Don Bluth Studio.

The origins of Steven Spielberg’s contribution to feature animation.

The formation of the Disney Florida studio.

If you want some powerful fuel for your creative fire, click through and PRESS PLAY.

“I think that when you’re in love with something and you’re passionate, you never measure the cost. You just do it automatically.” -John Pomeroy

John Pomeroy on IMDB

John Pomeroy on Wikipedia

“One of the Ink & Paint ladies at Ralph Bakshi Productions told me ‘If you want to get married and have kids, don’t go into animation.’ I had just finished my freshman year at CalArts so it was devastating to hear that stuff. But then Roger Rabbit came out and it reignited the whole industry.” -Tom Bancroft

Tom Bancroft on IMDB

Tom Bancroft on deviantArt

Listen To The Interview:

[ download the mp3 ]

Further Research:

Creative Character Design for Animation, Games & Comics

Tom Bancroft’s Character Mentor

The Illusion Of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

The Frank and Ollie Documentary

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Dream On Silly Dreamer

Chris Oatley’s interviews Tina Price

Chris’ reaction to the John Pomeroy/ Brad Bird/ Floyd Norman/ Andreas Deja Tribute To Milt Kahl (2009).

Here’s a video from CTNX where Don Bluth and Gary Goldman discuss the formation of the Don Bluth Studio:

Peek Inside The Magic Box:

Learn HUNDREDS of Digital Painting Pro Techniques, Workflows and Time Savers in The Magic Box, a new course from The Oatley Academy.

Now It’s Your Turn:

What did you learn while listening to the interview with John Pomeroy & Tom Bancroft?