Growing up, I always wanted to be able to draw. Sure, I’d doodle in my notebooks and on my jeans but I was always envious of those who would be able to draw really well and bring characters to life. One of those amazing people that brings art to life? DisneyToons Studio Story Artist Art Hernandez!

It was so exciting to walk into a room, sit down and learn from Art on how Disney’s Planes was created. I was interested to find out that the story artists work out the whole movie like a comic book. There can be about 50,000 panels that are drawn and 8-9 story board artists work on each film.

Just 6 years ago, they were drawing story boards on paper. Now, it’s all digital.  It’s amazing to hear that now the story artists hand drawn everything on the computer using a stylus.

Then, we got to hear Art “pitch a scene” to us as he would the director. This was such an incredibly fun experience. Art explained to us that he is usually an introvert, but working at Disney he’s had to become a bit of an extrovert especially when pitching a scene. During this he will act out the entire scene, giving each character a different voice and explaining his vision of the movie to the director. His favorite character from Planes? El Chupacabra {who seems to be almost everyone’s favorite character}!

Then came the time for Art to show us step by step on how to draw Dusty ourselves! I’m a terrible drawer but I have to admit it doesn’t look THAT BAD!

Due to a glitch in the computer, we actually got to watch Art draw El Chupacabra using a pencil and paper which I have to say was also an amazing experience. He was so incredibly fast too – he drew the character in under a minute with so many details!

Art had a lot of great words of wisdom for aspiring artists…

It’s not about your grades or where you went to school or even graduated, it’s about how you are as an artist.

If it wasn’t for great teachers, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

During his work on “Disney’s Planes,” Hernandez studied a vast array of aerial footage from classic films to documentaries. He became a virtual aviation expert and learned to incorporate the actual mechanics of planes into the personalities and actions for the film’s colorful plane characters. In addition to his current role as a head of story at Disneytoon Studios, he is also in the process of directing a new short.

When asked about watching his movies, Art replied,

There’s nothing like sitting in a theater with people you don’t know and hearing them laugh or shed a tear at something you drew.

Have you ever wanted to be an artist? Can you draw?

Fly with Planes Online – In Theaters August 9th!

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Disclosure: Disney provided an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.