In case it wasn't already painfully apparent, I love The Lion King. And, most of all, Scar.

This was another "on-hold" sketch spending a few hours each week for my "day job" seems to be the standard these days. Which is fine considering I have time to draw.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the series, the drawing depicts Sarabi (Simba's mother) arguing with Scar, who has taken on what we can only assume to be a new queen, Zira. Aside from the stubby legs, I like it.

I often wonder what I could have done had I been trained in animation. The things I do without training seem pretty solid.

But I'm learning to never say never. I'm hoping that 2012 is going to be amazing in terms of my art.

Recently I discovered that I was linked to one of my idols, in a closer way than I could have imagined. 

At an event for work, I overhear the wife of one of my co-workers talk to someone else about how her mother was an animator for Disney. Given our proximity to Burbank, the idea that I may run into animators had crossed my mind. I quickly waltzed over to her with my wine and hijacked the conversation. I soon found out that her mother had worked on Scar in The Lion King. I asked if she knew Andreas Deja and she affirmed that she had met him and was surprised that I would know the name.

Andreas Deja is one of my inspirations in life. The moment that I saw Scar appear on screen as I viewed The Lion King in theaters, I knew that animation is what I wanted to spend my life doing. Everything was so slick and subtle. I loved the way Deja moved his mouth, the way little things like eyelids and cheeks made the difference. I was in love.

Of course, animation never happened for one reason or another. Most of it was the monetary issue of going to a good school. The other was the fact that I had to work to make ends meet. It's kind of heartbreaking to know how good I can be in the field and yet can't even muster enough motivation to come up with everything required of a demo reel. Motivation or fear of rejection, however you want to put it.

One thing that I can finish and consistently feel good about it storyboarding, the process that lays down the path for an animator. Below is a storyboard for Benny the Baboon, a play that was originally pitched to children. Music is by Pumashock and Lyrics by Molly Summer:

The best bit of animation I have is for a run-cycle I did several years ago as reference for a voluneer-produced short film, Wolf: