Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Well, local cartoon artists Gerald Gaitan and former Colton High art teacher, Dave Salas found their courage. Their love for art and their passion for drawing led them to the wonderful world of Walt Disney.
Gaitan began drawing at the young age of 5-years-old. He picked up a stick one day and began drawing in the dirt and just fell in love with it. In the 5th grade, his school was having an art contest and he decided to enter. After watching his brother work magic with charcoal, he drew and shaded a beautiful moose with the same material. A few days after his submission, they called him into the office and told him, “you didn’t draw this.” Crushed, Gaitan took the drawing and threw it away never to pick up a piece of drawing charcoal again.
Although his talents developed at an early age, he never entered another contest. “I didn’t let it deter me from my love of cartooning,” Gaitan explains. “If you got a talent, pursue it.” Ultimately, he found another medium to express his ideas and talents.
Gaitan and Salas have been friends for 30 years now. Salas was teaching at Bloomington and Gaitan was on the crew that took care of the grounds at the school. Since then, the two have shared a passion for art and an interest for the work that goes into movies and shows that have filled our lives.
Salas was an instructor for beginner art courses at Bloomington High School.
In one of his projects, he instructed his students to come up with their own interpretation of Mickey Mouse. Various sketches were made and of course some classics, but one student, turned in such an unique sketch that it always stuck out to him. The student turned in a gentleman from the shoulders down to his knees, just his body and his arms next to his side, with his pants portraying two gold buttons. This was exactly what he was hoping for from his students, their own artistic interpretations.
Gaitan remembers walking down Disneyland and roaming the various shops. He came upon Disney’s featured artist at that time who was sketching out Tinkerbell at the time. Gaitan began talking to the artist about how he knew the original creator of everyone’s favorite fairy. By happenstance, the artist said his former high school teacher knew the creator too. Turns out, it was Dave Salas’ student from years before! How amazing it was to hear about a student following their dreams and it taking them to a world far beyond their expectations.
This is just one of the various projects and stories that Gaitan and Salas shared with City News Group.
Through the years of teaching and the various adventures they experienced at Disney, Salas expressed, “Our hope is that what we show them what we do, and telling them our stories, that maybe it lights the light and gets them going.”
Gaitan loves to teach kids, “it's not your eyes that see, they’re just windows, it’s your brain that sees.” Gaitan uses this metaphor in his teachings so his students can let the talent and creativity come out of the imaginations of their brain. This was a lesson given to him by Richard “Dick” Bickenbach, legendary layout artist for Hanna-Barbera studios. Another lesson from Bickenbach to Gaitan was, “If you can draw a circle without using your hand, you’re off to becoming a good cartoonist.” Bickenbach was responsible for creating Pebbles Flintstone, and Bandit (the dog in the Johnny Quest series.) Bickenbach was also responsible for helping create the Jetsons and is credited for creating the first Yogi Bear model sheet, which is a set of drawings of a character in different angles and positions.
From sleeping beauty to a house with seven dwarves and from a Tinkering fairy to a prince charming. These are the stories that many of us have grown up admiring. The helpless princess overcoming her fear and standing up for what she believes in, the stoic prince that travels through snow and mountains to get to his true love, even the little cricket that guides you from wrong to right. These are the characters that we relate to and cheer on! They persevere and they teach us valuable lessons. If you haven’t guessed it by now, these are the infamous characters that were created in the world of Disney.
We make our way to the theaters and we enjoy a show of action, love, fight, and inspiration, but did we ever stop to consider what exactly goes into these wonderful creation? Who writes the stories? Who comes up with the characters? Most importantly, who is responsible for sketching out our favorite characters frame by frame, movement by movement, blink by blink?
These two artists let their passions guide them to the creators that have given us years and years of pure joy and entertainment. Their passion led them to Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” The original animators and creators of many of the characters we know and love. While they were not able to meet all nine of Walt’s Old Men, they had the honor of meeting and befriending the last four animators, along with the infamous Alice Davis, wife of Marc Davis. Marc Davis was the creator of Tinkerbell, Maleficent, Cinderella, and many more.
Gaitan had a friend from an animation art gallery who decided to gather various animators to come together and place their hands in cement to be displayed, such as Disney and Hanna Barbera. At Gerald’s request this friend provided him with numbers and addresses of some of the 9 Old Men. After obtaining this precious information, Gaitan reached out to a few then handed it over to Salas and told him, “it's up to you to get us in.”
Upon his quest, Salas reached out to Ward Kimball, who was the creator of everyone’s favorite cricket, Jiminy Cricket and his inspirational words, “Always let your conscience be your guide,” Jaq and Gus (in Cinderella), and the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat (in Alice in Wonderland). Upon first contact Kimball was a bit jaded. He was cautious when people would reach out to him and request to see him or ask for an autograph.
To be continued...