So, as a character designer, I am given a script.
And what I do is I sketch on top of it,
trying to get ideas.
For inspiration, I tend to go out into the world and study people.
[no audible dialogue]
I study how they move, what they're wearing, what's in right now.
I see all this joy, and that joy transfers into the sketches that I'm drawing.
I grew up in El Salvador.
I had a really good childhood, despite the war and chaos
and everything that was happening around me.
I remember escaping into a world
of fantasy or magic, which was cartoons.
Cartoons were a big part of my childhood.
I remember watching a documentary on TV
about Disney and Disney animators.
There were people actually making these cartoons.
So, I remember that day, right away, I began to draw Mickey Mouse.
I remember taking it to my mom and saying,
"Hey, one day I'm gonna work for Mickey Mouse."
My mom said, "Yes, you will."
[Abilia, in Spanish]
[Jose] My mom had a dream
to give us a better future,
and, of course, get us out of the harsh reality of war.
And so she migrated to the United States when I was 10 years old.
So, drawing as a kid was creating my own reality.
The cartoons I watched completely inspired me.
Fox and the Hound.
Robin Hood.
Dumbo was another one that was just amazing,
about this elephant losing his mom.
But then he had this power to fly and get anywhere.
Perhaps close to his mom again.
[Abilia]
After two years, she sent for us,
and we came to this land of opportunity.
So then I pursue an art career, a career in animation.
I didn't know if I was gonna be successful.
I didn't know if I was gonna make any money.
I had no idea.
All I knew was that I enjoyed to draw, and I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.
I went to art school in Santa Monica for a year.
Disney recruiter came, they looked at my portfolio,
and then they called me for an interview.
I got hired. And I remember it being the happiest day of my life.
Picking up the phone right after I got hired
and telling my mom.
"I got hired at Disney."
To me it was such an unattainable dream,
and then now, I get to be part of the magic,
be part of these stories that are so positive
and helped me out so much through my childhood, you know.
As a character designer, I'm responsible to design the style,
the look and feel of the character.
After the script, I begin to sketch on it and gather ideas.
Those sketches then go to the board artists.
Now the board artists do the comic book version of the film.
Once their characters get approved, then I clean up the characters.
Then a talented color stylist gives them color and brings them to life,
and then it goes onto the animators.
When I first began my career here at Disney as a character designer,
I started on a show called Recess, which was an incredible show.
It had to do with kids and school.
And that's when I learned everything I needed to know about animation
and being a character designer.
And then my second show was Lilo and Stitch.
I love Stitch because you don't know if Stitch is gonna be the kind of character
that's gonna hug you or bite you.
There's, like, that edge, right?
I always keep on learning.
Like, for instance, for Lion Guard,
I dived into the animal world.
"What does a cheetah look like?"
So then I look for reference on a cheetah.
-Simba? -Dad? Is he all right?
Sorry, Kion, I... I couldn't tell.
Kion, go. We got this.
Thanks, Fuli.
Another thing that character design has given me
is to have love for people and people's differences,
'cause in people's differences
is what separates all the characters that I get to do
to create this world and this dynamic between them.
To give this character life.
How you do that is with expressions.
You start thinking, "What is this character about?
Where does he come from? Where is he going?
What is his weaknesses and strengths?"
This is, like, a rough of Bunga.
You gotta put his big teeth too.
My favorite character that I've created is Bunga.
Bunga is now this cute honey badger that is, like, the bravest of them all, right?
But he's got this cute voice.
If Simba just listened to me... [grunts]
You know, it's almost like you're creating something from nothing
that then goes all over the world,
and we have voice actors that combine their talents.
[Mickey] Heads it is. Goofy, it's your turn.
The stories that we do need to have, like warmth and heart and family.
These films were there to kinda teach me how to be positive,
how to have hope in the middle of the chaos.
How, at the end of the day, things were gonna be okay.
Just like how I used to feel with these cartoons, now I'm part of that,
and have that responsibility to put a little bit of that,
"Everything is going to be all right. Dreams do come true."
[Abilia]
[speaking Spanish]
[Jose] You know, as I grow older,
I realize more and more the sacrifices my mom made,
and I'm thinking about having children, I'm married,
and what it would be like to leave your children behind for a better future,
to give yourself, to sacrifice, makes me appreciate her more and more.
[speaking Spanish]
I am so grateful,
you know, and understanding the meaning of that is just--
It's very real for me.