Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521473
10 KEYFRAME T H E C L I M B It's only spring, but Joe Moshier is already dreaming about the winter holidays. In fact, he's vicariously living them while working on the animated musical Margie Claus. "It's a Christmas movie," says Moshier. "It's awesome and fun. I love Christmas, so it's right up my alley." As a kid, Moshier was also passionate about sports, aspiring to be a professional baseball or soccer player. But fate—in the form of the long-time host of The Popeye Show—stepped in to quite literally "draw" him in another direction. "At some point in junior high, I fell in love with art," recalls Moshier. "There was this guy [on TV], Tom Hatten, who could draw Popeye like nothing, like it was breathing. I'm like, 'Okay, this guy's a magician, and he's doing magic in front of my eyes.'" Moshier grew up in San Diego next door to his Italian nonna, whose paintings inspired him, as well. For his own art, he started out drawing portraits of the people on his baseball cards, eliciting raves from his mother. Fueled by that validation and by a copy of Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair given to him by his father, he began ramping up his art skills and changed his career trajectory from ballplayer to professional animator. Sports' loss has been cinema's gain. The kid who envisioned himself becoming a Supervising Animator at Disney did indeed reach the House of Mouse, but as a Character Designer on such films as The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little, and Lead Character Designer on Home on the Range and Meet the Robinsons. "I never thought I'd be a Character Designer," Moshier admits. "Like every other geek at CalArts, I admired Glen Keane and Milt Kahl and all of [Disney's] Nine Old Men." He focused on designing his own characters for his shorts and segments because he assumed that all the great Supervising Animators were doing this, and he thought that would help him become a solid animator. ACCORDING TO LEAD CHARACTER DESIGNER JOE MOSHIER, REALITY IS KEY TO THE MAGIC OF ANIMATION. SWINGING FOR THE FENCES FOR THE FENCES this page: Moshier's artistic passion dates back to an early age. opposite page: The Hunchback of Notre Dame crew pose for "The Reservoir Dogs of Disney Animation." (l to r) Sean Jimenez, Clay Kaytis, Raul Aguirre, Joe Moshier, Dave Pimentel and Bobby Rubio.