While kids his age were learning to color within the lines, Tom Fish was quickly displaying an artistic talent far beyond his years.
“I think it started in kindergarten but even before that I was drawing pictures of my favorite stuffed animals,” he said. “I then started drawing animals like raccoons and then copying my favorite Saturday morning cartoons.
“Luckily, as I got older I had a lot of teachers who encouraged me and gave me a lot of opportunities to draw. I think I knew all along that I wanted to be an artist.”
Fish moved to Sedona in 2003 and began the second phase of his career as a self-employed artist. His work, which ranges from Sedona-area scenes and wildlife to golf courses, has been in local galleries and on display at Sedona City Hall while his mural work can be found in local businesses such as the Mary D. Fisher Theatre and Red Rock Cafe.
“There is nothing that compares to a beautiful, well-designed, custom-painted wall mural to transform a space and turn a wall into an experience,” he said.
Even though Fish said people like to talk about his current work, it’s what he did prior to coming to Sedona that is often the topic of conversation. While attending the Columbus College of Art and Design on a scholarship, he knew that the Disney Studios often hand-picked students to work as interns.
“When they looked at your portfolio, they often wanted to see rough drawings and your ability to capture movement in a quick way,” he said. “You didn’t have to have animation experience, they would teach you.”
Fish was one of nearly 5,000 students across the country who submitted portfolios for that spring semester his senior year. Not thinking that he would be chosen, he planned on going back home to Nashville where he had worked off and on as an caricature and an airbrush T-shirt artist at Opryland USA. That job had to be put on hold when he got a call from Disney offering him one of only 30 spots as an intern. Not only that, they wanted him to be part of the team working on a new project — “The Lion King.”
“It was a dream come true,” he said. “To get that type of experience was life changing. I felt like I was getting paid to get my master’s degree. The talent around me was so inspiring.”
Being that full-length animated movies could take upwards of five years to complete at that time, production on “The Lion King” was already under way when he started work at the Florida-based studio. And like any intern, he started at the bottom but would eventually work his way up to be an assistant animator.
“The Lion King” was released in 1994 to large audiences and rave reviews. Fish said there’s nothing like seeing one’s work on the big screen.
“I saw the finished product for the first time at the wrap party,” he said. “It was pretty exciting, especially when I saw my name scroll by. I later heard that my high school art teacher cried when my name went by during the credits.”
After a successful internship, Fish was offered a full-time job working for the studio. He quickly began working on “Pocahontas” and would later be part of features such as “Tarzan,” “The Legend of Mulan,” “Lilo & Stitch,” “Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition” and “Brother Bear.”
“From the day I got there I realized how fortunate I was,” Fish said. “I remember sitting there at a professional artist table and thinking to myself, ‘My gosh I have a great job where I get to work with all these young and talented people.’ It was such a great team of nearly 500 artists. Everyone was working together to make something we could all be proud of.”
Following the success of “The Lion King” Fish said that he and other animators felt pressure to top that. That would be nearly impossible to do since little did they know the film would eventually gross nearly $1 billion worldwide.
“We were always striving to put the best product possible out there,” he said. “There were a lot of long hours and even when we thought we were done, the studio could make changes at any time.”
As an example as to why animated films take as long as they do, Fish said for every second on screen, there are 12 to 24 drawings of that character or scene. So, a week’s worth of his work equated to just a few seconds on film.
All was going well at the Disney Studios as it continued to distribute successful movies. But then “Toy Story” was released in 1995 by Pixar. The computer-generated graphics took animation in an entirely different direction, Fish said. The success of “Toy Story” led to a sequel followed by “A Bug’s Life,” “Monster’s Inc.” and “Finding Nemo.”
Even though Disney would eventually purchase Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Fish said by the early 2000s the writing was on the wall as far as the direction animation was going.
“The [Disney] studio was no long green-lighting any traditional hand-drawn projects,” he said. “Then in 2003 we were told they were shutting down the Florida studio. I knew a little about computer animation but I decided I didn’t want to stop drawing. And since I had already purchased this place [home in Sedona] I decided to come here and do my own thing.”
Even though he was disappointed when he and others were let go from Disney, he said he looks back on that time with great fondness and no regrets. And now, at 46, he said life is about doing what he loves most — painting.
“There is a real satisfaction when people react to my work in a positive way,” he said. “There’s a real joy and satisfaction when you paint a picture that someone wants to hang in their home or business.”
For more information on Fish’s work, visit paintedfairways.com.
