Bernard Garbutt

The animal expert

In The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston describe how the animators frequently relied on Bernard Garbutt’s unique gift—his deep understanding of animal movement. Whenever questions arose about how an animal should walk, turn, or react, Bernard was the one they turned to. They even recalled how he would sometimes flip his drawing board upside down so his colleagues could follow along more easily as he explained a pose or action. Before long, he was teaching art classes at the studio.

Naturally, his expertise proved invaluable during the production of Bambi. But even earlier, he had already left his mark: he animated most—if not all—of the deer scenes in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

His assistant animator for all sequences was Lynn Karp, except on sequence 14E where he was apparently assisted by Jack Bradbury.

Over the years, much has been said about how stylized the deer in Snow White appear when compared to the realism achieved in Bambi, a point notably mentioned by Eric Larson. What is less often acknowledged, however, is that this was exactly what Walt wanted. He specifically instructed Garbutt to make the deer “graceful and cute,” rather than strictly realistic.

Garbutt continued to be closely associated with productions featuring believable animal animation. He animated the mare, colt, and calf in Farmyard Symphony and served as one of the lead animators on Ferdinand the Bull. After his intensive work on Bambi, he moved on to Columbia and later to Walter Lantz’s studio, where he worked alongside Grim Natwick, Dick Lundy, and Shamus Culhane. He also went on to publish several books with his wife, Katharine.