The Walt Disney Archives' newest exhibition, 'Capturing Life, Creating Character', is a captivating exploration of the art of live-action reference in animation. This limited-time exhibit, hosted by the Muzeo Museum in Anaheim, California, offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Disney brings characters to life. With 60 images and 18 original artifacts, costumes, documents, and art from the archive, the exhibition showcases the meticulous process of creating realistic fabric, movement, and animal performances in animation.
The exhibit is structured around key themes that highlight the essential role of live-action reference in animation. It offers an in-depth look at how this technique enhances fluid movement, establishes a cohesive and balanced setting, captures realistic clothing and fabric, creates believable character performances as they interact with props, and ensures accurate proportions and behaviors for animals. These elements work together to add depth, personality, and realism to Disney’s animated stories.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the exhibition is the use of live-action reference to create costumes. The exhibit features various costumes used in the live-action reference for several classic Disney films. The type of clothing a character wears can change how they move, while the material properties of the fabric affect the behavior of the fabric itself. Costumes help the live-action performers step into their roles as the animators study the movement, silhouettes, and material behavior to create believable clothing.
The exhibit also showcases the use of live-action reference to create movement. Sometimes the simplest actions, like walking, can be the hardest to draw. Using live-action references can help animators more closely study the weight, balance, timing, and tiny asymmetries of movement that impact the realism of an animated scene.
Animal characters, the cornerstone of Disney Animation, are also some of the most complex to animate. Animals behave and move differently than humans, so animators brought in experts like biologist, zoologists, and anatomy specialists to understand their behavior. Emotion inspired by subtle traits in nature as well as the voice actors’ performances can then be added to the characters to bring them to life.
The exhibit also explores the use of set pieces and props for scale and composition of a specific scene. Using props encourages a more natural performance and allows animators to see how an object interacts with an actor.
Finally, the exhibit showcases the final animation stage of development. After live-action reference footage has been captured, animators get to work on drawing the action frame by frame. After the drawings are refined from rough sketches to clean-up, they are sent to the Ink & Paint Department, where artists trace the lines onto clear sheets called cels (short for celluloid). After color is added by hand, each cel is put in order, photographed, and edited together. The combined effort results in a scene that appears to move.
Overall, 'Capturing Life, Creating Character' is a must-see for anyone interested in the art of animation. It offers a unique insight into the creative process behind some of the most beloved animated films in history. The exhibit runs from August 8, 2026, to November 1, 2026, and is a testament to Walt Disney's vision of elevating animation into an art form and pushing to achieve greater levels of personality in his craft.
