An Evening with Gabriel Arnold: 30th Sept

Join us for one of our "Evening with..." events at Escape Studios on Monday 30th September as we welcome MPC artist Gabriel Arnold, to talk about the making of The Lion King.

Gabriel Arnold was Groom Lead at MPC, leading the team that created the breathtakingly realistic and believable muscle systems and fur on the creatures who made up the blockbuster Disney re-make. 

Realism and believability

Lion King (2019)

The animal animation in the latest re-boot of The Lion King feels so believable that you forget you're watching animation; as you slip into a David Attenborough world so realistic that you are seldom aware the entire film is just pixels.

Gathering Reference
To make the film, MPC first sent a crew to Kenya for 3-4 months, gathering reference footage. The brief for the film was that it needed to look completely real - like a David Attenborough documentary.  The team also went to zoos to learn as much as possible about the animals, and how they behaved. Many hours were spent gathering reference.

CG Environments
There were no matte paintings in the film; everything was a full cg environment. The environments were vast, arguably they are "the biggest star" of the movie.  The MPC artists built over 150 square kilometres of super-detailed set, including over 60 discreet set environments.

This event builds on the success of the “Evening with El Suliman”, in which MPC lead animator El Suliman explained how the animation team brought the animals to life.

Book your free space
You can book your free ticket by clicking on this link.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2020, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.