Born: Floyd E. Norman
Birthday: June 22, 1935
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, U.S.
Alma mater: Art Center School
Occupation: Inbetweener, Writer, Director
Years active: 1957-present

Floyd E. Norman’s love for animation started began when he saw Disney’s Dumbo and Bambi feature films. While still in high school, he began his artistic career as an assistant to Bill Woggon on the comic book series, Archie.

Norman majored in illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After two years, Floyd was invited to become an apprentice at the Walt Disney Studios. By the end of the program, he was kept on full-time by the studio in 1957, beginning his journey of becoming the first African-American artist to remain at the studio on a long-term basis.

As an inbetweener for Sleeping Beauty, he worked on scenes with the three fairy godmothers, but following the film’s completion, Norman was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. When his enlistment ended however, Floyd returned to the studio in 1960 to work on One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone. He also contributed to the sequences for 1964’s “Mary Poppins.” Once Walt Disney saw some of Norman’s inter-office sketches made to entertain his co-workers, he reassigned Floyd to the story department to work with Larry Clemmons on The Jungle Book.

After Walt Disney died in 1966, Floyd left Walt Disney Studios to co-found Vignette Films, Inc. alongside animator and director Leo Sullivan. Their studio was one of the first companies to make films about black history, producing six animated films including “Paul Laurence Dunbar: American Poet,” “George Washington Carver,” “Thurgood Marshall: Mr. Civil Rights,” and “The Right to Legal Counsel.” Norman and Sullivan’s other projects also included segments for Sesame Street and Villa Alegre, the original Soul Train animated logo, and Bill Cosby’s original Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert television special.

Unfortunately, Vignette Films, Inc. collapsed after seven years; being unable to make the leap into the mainstream industry. Floyd briefly returned to Disney to work on Disney’s animated Robin Hood feature film.

Norman moved on to storyboard and supervise animation layout at Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. He worked on Scooby-Doo, Jonny Quest, The Flintstones, The Smurfs, and several other animated television programs.

He wrote for Disney’s comic strip department in the 1980s and was the final scripter for the syndicated Mickey Mouse comic strip before its end.

After a decade’s absence, Floyd returned to Walt Disney Studios’ storyboard department in 1990. He was also invited to work at Pixar and received special permission He remained employed by Walt Disney Studios, but as was on loan to Pixar Animation Studios to work on films from time to time. During this time Norman worked on Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dinosaur, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. He continued to apply his talents to both studios until his retirement in 2000.