By Sarah Hendrix | Staff Writer

Renato dos Anjos is an award-winning animator who works for Disney and was the head of animation for the Academy Award winning feature “Zootopia.” In his 30-year career in animation, dos Anjos has worked for Disney for the past 10 years. He will be coming to KCC to do a free public lecture on Wednesday, November 15, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in ʻOhia 118.

This is dos Anjos’ third visit to KCC and he will be holding a five-day animation workshop for students involved in the New Media Arts program. He explains the benefits of learning from one another in animation and he loves seeing the creativity and ingenuity of future animators.

“I’ve really enjoyed seeing what people are doing … animation for me is a shared experience where everybody can learn from everybody,” said dos Anjos in a telephone interview this week.

Dos Anjos is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and from a young age always dreamt of becoming a comic book artist. At the age of 14 he received an internship with a popular show in Brazil called “Mônica” during a school break in 1987. While working on the show, he developed a passion for animation and has continued in that career for 30 years.

Dos Anjos has worked on many films since his career began with Disney in 2007. Some of the films include “Wreck-it Ralph,” “Moana,” “Frozen,” “Tangled” and ‘Bolt.” Currently he is the head of animation for “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2,” which will be released in March 2018.

Before working for Disney, dos Anjos was employed with Sony Pictures Imageworks as an animation supervisor. While employed at Sony he worked on movies such as “Surf’s Up,” “Open Season” and “Polar Express.”

When dos Anjos was asked to give a word of advice to future animators, he explains the value of originality in the field of animation. A pattern he has noticed in the past few years from future animators who are applying to work at Disney is that most of their work looks very similar. He encourages new animators to keep their work as original as possible and to keep their personality in the work.

“I feel like there’s something of a pattern, especially the last few years where everybody’s work looks very similar to where I feel like people are losing an aspect of their personality,” dos Anjos said. “If anything, I know that in every school you go to they tend to kind of put you inside a format, they get everybody to look kind of similar. So in the process of learning your craft don’t lose your personality.”

One of the reasons dos Anjos continues working with future animators is because he receives inspiration from hearing students’ new ideas. As he works with students he wants to share everything he has learned in his career and in exchange be inspired by the next generation of animators. As he continues to come back to KCC and work with students, he values the time he spends with them creating new ideas in the world of animation.

“I’m really looking forward to sharing anything and everything people need from me. One of my favorite things to do is come and visit you guys and hang out,” dos Anjos said. “I’ve always come back fresh and rejuvenated with a lot of ideas of my own. Like I said, I really get a lot back from it and for me it’s a great opportunity too, to go there and get to talk to everybody.”