
Born: John Foster Pomeroy
Birthday: March 26, 1951
Location: Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
Alma mater: ArtCenter College of Design
Occupation: Animator, Writer, Producer, Storyboard
Years active: 1970-present
John Pomeroy had been drawing since he was seven years old. Around the age of 13, he tried to make a perfect reproduction of Pinocchio. Needing good photo references, John went to the Los Angeles Public Library and found a copy of the 1942 book “The Art of Walt Disney” by Robert D Field. It was filled with pictures of Pinocchio and Bambi and described how the artists animated Walt Disney’s films. Pomeroy read the book about 10 times, and determined he wanted to be a Disney artist.
He learned all he could about animation, teaching himself how to paint backgrounds and ink cels. He majored in illustration at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California beginning in 1971. After his third time applying for work at Disney, John Pomeroy was accepted into their training program in 1973.
Pomeroy wanted to be a background artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, but he was hired as an animation trainee. John was told he’d be a better background artist if he knew animation’s fundamentals, and he was willing to do anything to become a background artist.
Once in the program, he was mentored by Eric Larson and trained by Milt Kahl on the basics of animation. When John saw his drawings move in his first pencil test on a Moviola, he was amazed, and abandoned all interest in becoming a background artist. Seeing his rough drawings moving and coming to life, he decided he wanted to be a real animator.
Pomeroy was promoted out of the training program as an animator after about six months. His first assignment was to animate a 110-foot (two and an half minute) sequence near the end of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too under the supervision of his new mentor and veteran animator Frank Thomas.
John went on to animate Penny on The Rescuers under the watchful eye of Ollie Johnston. Johnston taught Pomeroy acting skills for his characters.
At Disney, he met fellow animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, and began working with them on an independent short film project, Banjo the Woodpile Cat. During the days, they animated Pete’s Dragon, The Small One, and The Fox and the Hound.
Growing disagreements with the studio heads over story and production values, drove John, along with Bluth and Goldman, to resign from Walt Disney Productions in 1979 to form their own independent animation studio, Don Bluth Productions.
After leaving Disney, the team produced The Secret of NIMH. An American Tail was their first collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, begun in January 1985. Released in November of 1986 it grew to be highest-grossing animated film up to that time, heralding a new era of success for full-length animated features.
Gary was a producer on the highly successful animated laser disc interactive video games Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp.
Amid the studio’s financial difficulties, Morris Sullivan, a mergers and acquisitions expert, created a corporation, Sullivan Studios to allow the three animators to continue producing films.
In 1986, Sullivan moved Goldman, Bluth & Pomeroy, and their entire operation of 87 employees and their families to Dublin, Ireland. Their third feature film, The Land Before Time, was their first production created primarily in Ireland.
The weight of the Producer’s role for thirteen years wore on John, and he missed his time drawing as an animator. In 1992, Pomeroy sold his share of the company and was convinced to return to Disney by Don Hahn to work on the 1995 feature Pocahontas as the supervising animator on John Smith. Following that, Pomeroy provided animation for Fantasia 2000, The Tigger Movie, Treasure Planet, and served as lead character designer for Milo Thatch on Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Pomeroy left Disney again in 2003 during the period when they briefly shut down their traditional animation department to train their animators in digital 3D animation. He took on freelance work, animating for Curious George, The Simpsons Movie, Space Jam: A New Legacy, several Tom and Jerry films, Disenchanted, Planes, and was storyboard artist for three Swan Princess movies.
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