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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1024013_glenkeane_800.jpeg]]
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3->''"I never drew for the sake of drawing. I drew to make the paper go away."''
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5Glen Keane (born April 13, 1954) is one of the most famous modern animators and arguably ''the'' most respected living artist in hand-drawn animation.
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7The son of ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' creator Bil Keane (who actually used him as the model for Billy in the strip), Glen applied to the Illustration school at the California Institute of the Arts, but in a lucky twist of fate, his application was accidentally sent to the Film Graphics school, where he was mentored under UPA veteran Jules Engel.
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9Keane graduated from [=CalArts=] in 1974 and became an animator at Walt Disney Productions. The studio's animated feature ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' would be his first assignment, working on the characters of Bernard and Penny alongside famed veteran [[Creator/DisneysNineOldMen Ollie Johnston]]. Afterward, he animated Elliot for the otherwise live-action film ''Film/PetesDragon1977'' (under the supervision of Creator/DonBluth) before being promoted to supervising animator on ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', where he animated Tod's climactic showdown with [[BearsAreBadNews a ferocious bear]].
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11Throughout his career, Keane designed and animated many of the leading characters for Disney's films during the studio's "Renaissance" era, from slender, athletic and charming characters like [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]], WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}, WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}, and {{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} to unkempt, bulky brutes like [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast the Beast]], [[WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective Ratigan]], and [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet John Silver]]. Afterward, he was to be a director of the studio's CGI feature film ''{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}}'', but due to "non-life threatening health issues", he stepped down and became an executive producer.
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13On March 23, 2012, Keane resigned from Walt Disney Animation Studios after 38 years of service. He has since started his own animation studio, Glen Keane Productions, to pursue more personal projects, and joined Motorola's "Advanced Technology and Projects Group" to create interactive hand-drawn animation. In 2014, Keane premiered a new short film ''Duet'' at that year's Website/{{Google}} I/O conference as the latest in the company's "Spotlight Stories" of interactive shorts made exclusively for mobile devices.
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15In 2018, Keane directed an animated rendition of [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] superstar Kobe Bryant's poem ''WesternAnimation/DearBasketball'', which earned both many awards, including the MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestAnimatedShortFilm.
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17In 2020, he directed the animated feature, ''WesternAnimation/OverTheMoon''.
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19Apropos of nothing, but he's also insanely good at doing impressions of his mentors, Creator/DisneysNineOldMen.
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22[[folder:Filmography]]
23* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' (1977): Animator (Penny, Bernard)
24* ''[[Film/PetesDragon1977 Pete's Dragon]]'' (1977): Animator (Elliot)
25* ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'' (1981): Supervising animator for the climactic fight scene with the bear. Also did some animation of Vixey.
26* ''WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol'' (1983): Animator (Scrooge [=McDuck=], Willie the Giant, Goofy).
27* ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' (1985): Animator (Eilonwy, Gurgi, Hen Wen)
28* ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' (1986): Supervising animator for Ratigan. Also provided animation for Basil and Fidget.
29* ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'' (1987): Worked on the film during his time as a freelance animator.
30* ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1988): Supervising animator for Georgette, Fagin and Sykes.
31* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' (1989): Co-supervising animator (with Mark Henn) and co-designer (with Dan Haskett) for Ariel.
32* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (1990): Character designer, and supervising animator for Marahute.
33* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (1991): Supervising animator for the Beast.
34* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' (1992): Supervising animator for Aladdin.
35* ''{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}'' (1995): Story artist and supervising animator for Pocahontas.
36* ''{{WesternAnimation/Tarzan}}'' (1999): Story artist and supervising animator for Tarzan.
37* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' (2002): Supervising animator for John Silver.
38* ''{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}}'' (2010): Originally to be the film's director, he became an executive producer, animation director and story artist, as well as supervising animator for Rapunzel.
39* ''{{WesternAnimation/Paperman}}'' (2012): Character designer. His last work for Disney.
40* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Did early visual development for Sgt. Calhoun.
41* ''Duet'' (2014): An animated entry in Website/{{Google}}'s Spotlight Series of interactive shorts for mobile devices. Directed and animated entirely by Keane himself.
42* ''WesternAnimation/DearBasketball'' (2017): AnimatedAdaptation of Kobe Bryant's 2015 farewell poem to basketball.
43* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheMoon'' (2020): Directorial debut.
44* ''WesternAnimation/TrashTruck'' (2020): Executive producer of this Netflix series created by his son, Max. The Keane family also voice several characters in the series.
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