Bill Perkins
After Bill Perkins graduating from Art Center College of Design in 1980, he pursued his career in fine art. The lure of plein air painting and traveling drew him first to Mexico to paint for his first one man show. Soon after he was accepted into galleries in the Esther Wells gallery in Laguna Beach, Ca. and Shriver gallery Taos, New Mexico, his work was exhibited at the Springville Museum in Utah in 1984, and the 65th annual National Watercolor Society show the following year. Before his 30th birthday, the Monterey Museum of Art held an exhibition for he and three other artists based on their painting trip abroad through France, Italy, and Spain, following the footsteps of great impressionists and plein air artists. The following year Bill became a founding member of the PAPA, Plein-Air Painters of America, where he painted and exhibited his work annually for the first 5 years.
With the economic recession in 1985 and galleries struggling, he joined the Walt Disney Animation Studio as a layout artist and eventually art director. For the next nine years he worked on a string of hits including Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and art directed Aladdin. He went on to work on many other animated and live action films such as Shrek, Space Jam, Tangled, Frozen, and Zootopia, Mary Poppins Returns, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Marvel animated series. During his 37-year film making career he worked on over 32 films and TV shows. Throughout his years in the animation field, Bill has continued to paint and teach drawing, painting, color and composition through the New Masters Academy and is currently teaching at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena California, along with open plein-air workshops.
Biography
Bill grew up in Glendale California and found his love for plein-air painting in 1979, painting watercolors through California, Arizona, and Utah. Soon after he graduated Art Center College of Design in 1980, he went to Mexico to paint in preparation for his first solo gallery show the same year. For the next five years he painted continually expanding to oil painting to focus on studying the effects of light and color mixing. In 1983 Bill began exhibiting his work at the Shriver, and Ester Wells galleries. He organized a group three-month painting tour through France, Italy and Spain and was asked to write an article for American Artist magazine in their travel and education section which released in February 1985 which followed their journey. The groups work was exhibited at the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art in 1985. He had a watercolor accepted into the National Water Society and an oil painting exhibited in the Spring Salon at the Springville Museum in Utah.
The following year Bill became both a founding member of the Plein Air Painters of America and joined the Walt Disney Animation studio. He was an integral contributor to Disney’s Renaissance of Animation from 1986-1994. Bill started as a layout artist, then art director composing thousands of shots and designing imaginative worlds. On the Little Mermaid he designed the last and only two multiplane styled shots Disney would do, and the first digitally composited shot in Feature Animation. As a layout lead, he was involved in the creation of a workbook process which pushed the boundaries of animation cinematography. As Art Director on Aladdin, he designed the first Style Guide to unify the style of the background design with the character designs to give the movie its distinctive look. During his time at Disney, he had access to the animation research library where he studied the evolution of the most visually successful films and characteristics that made them visually timeless. Over 37 years Bill worked in the animation and film industry on over 34 films, TV shows, DVDs, short films, and video games with Warner bros., DreamWorks, ILM, DNA Productions, Character Builders, Disneytoons studios, 9th Ray Studios and Paramount. In 2007 Bill rejoined Walt Disney Animation Studio and worked on Bolt, Prep and Landing I and II, Tangled, Frozen, and Zootopia.
His involvement in the film business did not slow his appetite for painting which he did regularly. He began teaching composition and painting at art schools in the evenings and found it to be a great way to share his knowledge and continue growing himself. Bill retired from the animation industry in 2024 and continues to follow his passion for painting and sharing with his students.