Disney animator Peter Raymundo

It's an especially *animated* episode because Mark welcomes talented animator, illustrator, and author Peter Raymundo on the show! The two of them rewind to the '90s and early 2000s when Peter was an animator at Disney, working on classic hit films Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Emperor's New Groove, and more! Learn how Peter was plucked out of college to work for Mickey, and he explains which roles did what work in the drawing room. Plus, Peter's recent graphic novel, Lucky Scramble, is a hit with kids, and he's about to release his ninth children's book, Moby Duck, out next month! You can often find him at conventions, just like Mark did earlier this year. https://www.raymundoarts.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Straw Hut Media.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey everybody, thank you for checking out Release Date. Rewind
a podcast that celebrates memorable films and TV shows when
they're having big anniversaries, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to
chat with a special guest who makes those movies. So
you are all in for a treat with this episode.
I'm your host, Mark J. Parker, a film lover and
a filmmaker, And thank you for listening to this indie

(00:27):
self produced AI Free show, which is part of the
straw Hut Media Network and the Run Podcast Network, or
watching this episode on YouTube. Hi, if you were a
kid thirty years ago in the summer of nineteen ninety five,
like I was, you were super aware of what Disney
was making and releasing. Honestly, thirty years later, we're all

(00:49):
still very aware of what Disney is making and releasing now,
with it being obviously one of the biggest, most major
movie studios ever. Right, duh. But my guest, Peter Raimundo,
who was an artist, animator, illustrator, writer and honestly super
nice guy, was helping make the biggest Disney movies in

(01:10):
the nineties and two thousands, from Pocahontas, which just turned
thirty this year to Leelo and Stitch, which just had
a very successful remake a few months ago earlier in
twenty twenty five, and even more so, I don't want
to give too much away because this is such a
cool chat about animation artistry, skill, talent and working for

(01:30):
the most famous company in the world. Pretty much, right,
So grab your animated friends, wear your cartoon shirts, and
get ready to marathon these movies that were about to
discuss on Disney Plus there are a lot. All right, everybody,
we are pulling up to the castle because it's time
to rewind everybody. I had Peter Riemundo on the show today,

(02:04):
and I am so nerding out. I'm so excited because
I met this fine gentleman at nineties Con earlier this year.
Have you done a lot of conventions, Peter, Like, I'm
sure you just bounce around to all the big ones.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
So yeah, only the last couple of years, though, I
started doing. My first convention was called Collective Con. It's
in Jack's I live in Florida and so and it
was totally by chance. Someone else couldn't make it. They
had similar background as me and asked me if I
could do it, and I went. I had no idea

(02:38):
what to do, or I mean I had been to
me there's a really big convention year in Orlando called
mega Con, where I like eighty hundred thousand people come.
But this was not that. This is more like a
I guess at ten to fifteen thousand type person con.
But still I didn't really know what to do. And
I had some of my picture books and this is
about again six seven years ago, so I less played
like one or two books out with Scholastic, and I

(03:00):
didn't know they really wanted to do Disney stuff or
what did I mean.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
This is before I.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Didn't even know what a funko was, Like, yeah, such
a thing. So I went and we like talked to
people and made me some good some friends. There was
a great experience, but I only did one convention a year.
For two I came remember as eighteen or nineteen, and
then not in actually twenty twenty, I did do one,
but it was in very like February, so the whole

(03:24):
shutdown thing had not occurred quite. And then the following
year we did on but it was like only one,
and then I grew the same organizer had another one
a different area, so I did two year up until
about like two years ago. Two two years ago, one
thing started the steam roll where I believe it or not,
it was the funk Gos. It sounds so small, but

(03:45):
the fact that somebody was like, you know, you have
ever drawn on a funk go or like autographed the stuff.
And I was like, no, like you know, and they're like,
you have many, many, many characters that you've worked on,
you know that people. Well, I just didn't realize it
could be an income at all. Yeah, that was odd,
but I didn't realize that at all, let alone a

(04:07):
significant income.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
And so.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's what kind of got me wrong. By about like
two years ago, I started to really say, okay, how
can we refine this and what do people want from
me when they come to meet me? And I started
to realize there's a big like I often have a
couple line, like a line for a couple of hours,
oh yeah, talk about various things, movies and when we

(04:31):
got autographs and stuff like that. And I just didn't
even realize that was a factor. I just didn't know
that that kind of demand was out there. But now
I do. Probably like last year was really big, My
biggest one probably at least thirty, like thirty.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Wow, oh my gosh, you did thirty cons in one year. Yeah,
good for you.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
And this year we started to be like we've been
all over the place in a different like one of
the probably one of the more dynamic ones was going
to Hawaii, uh, which was great because you imagine lead
on stitches like enormous out there, and I believe very
rare fact not no one had ever met an animator
from the movie there.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Yeah, that was pretty pretty good.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
That is so cool. I love your life. I mean,
what do you what do you love the most doing
about doing the cons? Do you love meeting the fans?
Do you love? Right?

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Okay, so there's yeah, that's the probably, Oh, there's there's
there's a bit of an income to it, right, so
I would It's not just I'm not just flying for
the heck of it, right, A lot of ways, so
there is there is that.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
I mean, I spent a lot of time preparing and
stuff for it.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
But besides that, knowing I'm getting able to make a
little bit of money doing their art right and like
and talking about Disney and it and I think that
howbut simply yes, the fans, right and so, but when
you're working when I talk with other creators from an
animation or just entertainment, you when you're working on show

(06:00):
or what movies and stuff, it's you know, you love
what you're doing. You want to make great stuff, you know,
especially when you're Disney back especially back then, you know
it's like this legendary stuff, like you're so proud of
what you're doing, and you're connected to this legacy of
great movies and all, but you and you hope that
it can be long lived. And you know that when
you're doing everybody there basically knows that this could be

(06:23):
go on forever, your names and these credits forever. But
it's still kind of work, right. But then when you now,
I'm in this position where a lot I meet fans
where they are like eight, nine, ten, when some of
these bigger movies came out, and now they're like twenty eight,
Planet thirty and Mark, I can tell you, I mean,
it's even emotional for me to say. If I can

(06:45):
tell you quite a few people grown adults at every show,
I would say ten percent. Literally they're waiting in line
and they come up to me and you literally cannot
speak and just start crying. Oh yeah, yes, because not
that I'm anything, not because they're like, oh who, They
don't know who I am. They just know what I've
worked on how much those movies and I would say,

(07:07):
specifically like Lelon and Stitch is was so valuable to
their life as a child, and not just for entertainment,
but the kind of deep meetings that were in that
movie in particular, it helped I mean, many of those
say they help, this helped me get me through. It
helped people get through tough times. And they can't even

(07:32):
to be like, wow, you're gonna actually need somebody to
help make this thing is yeah, it's kind of uh yeah,
I mean, and there's other other deeper stories I can't
even repeat without kind of tearing up because they're like,
you know, movies, these are big family movies, right. So
when you say family, sometimes families, especially if we're talking
about span of twenty thirty years now, they aren't forever, right.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
People don't live forever, right, So.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Sometimes this is this is the last movie, the first
movie they saw with somebody, sometimes the first and last
movie they saw with somebody.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
And or you know things like that. I mean, and
they're there and they want.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
To tell me this, and they went to express me
to me. And so when you hear I need this
every single show, and so when you're there, you know
you for one, I didn't expect that, but you man,
you know they say, don't meet your heroes like you'd
very be really humble and understand. I was lucky to
be a part of that and just let them say
what they have to say and appreciate that, you know,
I was a part of something like that, or that

(08:28):
was maybe part of something to help the world a
little bit. But yeah, that's that's that's that's some deep stuff, man,
you know, and it bigger than just like the shows.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
Every single person or makes it every single show.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
When me and my Dorothy were usually drive sometimes you
fly places, we'll always talk about like, well, what was
like the top moments, you know, and it's always just
a person we met, right, one or two people that
we met. Sometimes just somebody that works there and an
organizer was really kind or something like that. But usually
it's like, oh, man, that one girl or that one

(09:04):
person that was really special. Yeah that's the fans, and
there's I have so many stories, you can bare there's
a couple of stand out.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
But that really is that's so sweet.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean your designs, the art, the creations you
have made with I'm sure a big team of people
through the years, right, but the things you've made are
part are not only big movies, but now they you're
sor right, They're part of families, They're part of memories,
They're part of people's personalities, you know. So that's got
to be so wild and cool and probably a little

(09:38):
overwhelming at times for you to be like WHOA, Okay,
like you know it was it was work for you.
I'm sure you loved all of it. I hope you did.
We'll talk more about it in detail soon. But but yeah,
then seeing like I'm sure you meet people with like
your designs on their bodies in.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Stitch stattooes, Oh my god, I mean it kind of
kind of just though that not to split hairs something
like I was an animator.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
I did not design like Stitch.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
To be totally clear with that, Yeah, the real designer
was more like Chris with Iron or like maybe like
Alex Cooper Schmandla. So like the supervising animators, directors, character designers,
they designed the characters. Because you're using that word, I'll say, like,
I didn't design any of.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
The this is this is so helpful, this is great.
This is exactly why I wanted you on the show
because we talk about movies we love and all the details.
So so, yeah, can you because I've seen on your
IMDb and you've worked on massive movies, right, Mulan Leelo
and Stitch Pocahontas which just turned thirty. So yeah, what
can you explain because you've had I see like breakdown artists,

(10:44):
clean up artist. Can you kind of run us through,
like what are the differences with these different roles that
you've had.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
I think the easiest way might be just a very
basic pipeline worklow.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
So in general, Leland is a little bit different because
there we have the writers, directors, storyboard artists, designers were
kind of the same people, but usually they're a little
bit more distinct. But in general, you'll have, you know,
the Disney back then, you'd have often two directors, we'll say,
the directors and producers, so that's kind of the headhead
people and then writers. So often you'd have like screenwriters

(11:20):
as well, and then then storyboard artists and like heads
of story head of story meaning head of storyboard, and
that would mean, well, they're the best story words basically
for the heads of the storyboards. So those main people,
and then and then also a team of like the
supervising animators. And at Disney that's a big term when

(11:41):
you say a supervising animator, that's like the big big
like Glenn Keane and like if you know who that is,
like Andreas, like the top top supervisors, and they'd earn
those positions. They're not there just for the heck of it, right,
But those few people will more group beat out the

(12:01):
whole movie in general with maybe an editor.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
Or something like that.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
But like we're talking, I don't know what the right
number is, but like twenty thirty people like very few
will beat.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Out this whole what is the story?

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Right? You have the concept to say you want to
do American Native American story or beating Beasts whatever, and
they have the basic concept and they'll like put it
on what they call reel and the real is like
like like.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
A move like you can watch it, right, And so it.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
That'd be mostly storyboard sometimes whatever, you know, whatever it
takes to make the whole reel. So it'd be like
scratch music, meaning temporary music, temporary dialogue, sometimes even parts
of other movies or something, just to get the point across, right,
And so that's just something to say, this isn't in
ninety minutes. This is what we're kind of talking about.

(12:49):
And the character design and all that stuff kind of
goes into casting of the voices and stuff.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
But then it gradually, you know, morphs into an actual film.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Okay, this is the basics or we have and then
but things might change, but we know these are the
main songs, these are the main characters, and you can
pitch it. Really, this is really what it is. Gradually
things it more and more like that. Okay, So then
like someone like me, I'm not even on a movie.
Most animators you're not even on a movie for like
a year or two, like right, you're working on the
you're they overlapped basically, and so you'll have because you

(13:23):
need the story. Like it goes from story storyboard, voice recording,
and then that can even be scratched, but like at
some point you can't get the animation until you have
the actual voice. And so then from there you go
from like storyboard to like layout. Okay, so then there's
a couple phases of layout, which ends up with like,

(13:45):
that's like the actual background, it's not painted not the
background is the pained background, but the layout is the
actual drawing of that painting. Okay, And so then all
that can be put into the reels I can work
booked into like these are the actual key poses and
the timing in a real so you know, this is
the exact voice, the exact timing, the exact kind of

(14:06):
poses in a way that that is in this shot.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
Shots make up the scenes and the scenes make up
the sequences.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
But all that gets kind of locked down into the layout,
and the clean up layout is like locked in, and
then that can go into like with the supervising animator
usually or animators then would rough out like the key
this is really the motion going on here, and then
from from rough animation and it goes into the cleanup animation.

(14:36):
That's where I was in. I was a cleanup animation,
that character animation, and this is before effects animation. But
the so the difference between rough animation and cleanup animation
in a general sense, when you're like in that realm
back then people would refer to like if you say
I'm an animator, that means rough animation will be right back.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
For over seventy years, the Walt Disney Studios has won
the hearts of audiences with the most jacting, delightful, and
lovable characters the world has ever known. The tradition, Hey.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
That's not sim.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
Character cleanup.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
That became really important once this was referred to as
the cap system. This is the coloring system because like
a Mulan is a good example where those lines need
to close really well because of the way it's tapped
to color fill it. But cleanup became super, super important
and very tedious. Is probably one of the more expensive
processes because you have all this movement, but it's got

(15:46):
to look exactly like the character all throughout. Like, so
the drawings are on screen, those are like my drawings,
Like the clears are cleanup drawings.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Cool, Okay.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
It'll go from rough to clean up to effects and
then to some version of coloring, which is kind of
complex because you have the backgrounds and then you have
the color and they their color do the backgrounds on
some level of the match. I don't know if that
said correctly, but like it goes from like clean up,
then to color and then again into reels and then

(16:16):
there's effects that and there's not a lot The movies
I worked on did not have a lot of CG effects,
but they did have some, like in lilowh. I don't
know how much I can say about there was, but
there was a lot of a certain amount of CG effects,
you know, interesting and even beating to be so, I
think was had a certain amount of it, like the
I think everyone knows that the Hyena or I mean

(16:38):
the will to Bees and line King, you know where
all those are CD. This is really way back then.
It is amazing what they did because physics that they
had going now was spece of cake. I mean, you
can almost do that on home computer, but back then
it was the cutting edge.

Speaker 6 (16:52):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, you were there at a time I'm sure where
you were seeing innovation and changes. Yeah, things right, because
from the nineties to the early two thousands, what an
interesting time for film in general, but especially yeah, animated movies.
You know.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
So just to finish that off is then you'll go
to final You can have like a final color, there
could be some rough in there still or even on color.
But then one of the final things this final sound,
which would be sound effects.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
And the score and then this final edits and stuff
like that.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
So there's like there's about three hundred people, like got
our Florida studios, about three hundred people, and they're in
these departments and yet you you you don't really go
outside of your department.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
You're a high specialist in what you do.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
And so one of the reasons I was able to
work on so many movies is because I was in
character cleanup and I was I will least say that
I think I was particularly fast, and I worked for
a certain number of years.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
I was really just a work machine.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
And that's how I got picked to kind of be
on certain helps because I would help out. Like so
we at the Florida Studio, we did the three big
movies everyone knows was, We did Mulan, lelo On, Stitch,
and Brother Beare. So those are the three that I
was on for a long periods of time. But in
between there I helped out on like I said, like

(18:11):
a six you know, movies on the shorts and stuff
and so like Tarzan was really Maine, I believe, I
don't know if it's made of France predominantly where Glen was.
I think it was like a there was a French studio,
but I know a lot of the enemies were in France,
but we helped out.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
I helped out on Jane for about about six months.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
And then so but like a Mulan or like Leilo,
I was there like three four years, a long time.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
That's realzing.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Like E's reproof, I was working on Cuzco, I worked
on Cusko Lama, but at the same time that Lelo
was still just starting. So I was on Leilo and
I go to Lilo meetings and do some scenes with that.
But I was on predominantly on Emperor's New Group until
I got finished.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Wow. So that's so interesting, Peter. So, yeah, you're mostly
working on those movies. Now, what about the earlier ones?
Because I see on your IMDb, you know, special edition
DVD editions. So was that the kind of thing where
you're working on like the theatrical movies, but because of
these old movies coming back on home video, then they
would pull you to do some tweaks.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Is that yes, Well, out of tweaks is quite the
right word, but Lion King, yes, that would be the
right word. So there's three movies that were I was
lucky to be have any part of where so it's
beauty in the bas Lion King and Pocahontas.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
So you know when it came out, this was Remember.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
You might actually just looking at you, I'm guessing that
you don't really remember first hand.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
Did you ever have vhs'?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Oh yes, that's I definitely did.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Oh yeah, So that was the big thing Lion King
did this day and probably forever will be the highest
selling VHS ever. I mean, nothing was unless there's some
fluke thing happens, nothing will ever touched what Lion King
did with the vhs. But that was the big thing
with these big you know vhs. Now, thinking about vhs,
those were great. But once the DVDs came, remember there

(20:00):
was a whole era and I love that there. I
missed that era of all this special edition DVD stuff
and you have all this behind the scenes and in
the artwork in the DVD packaging.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
That was all great. I love that stuff.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
And so Disney and their wisdom there was they saw
years ahead of time to say, okay, these movies are
gonna be re released in these different editions, including especially
a ten year edition.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
And it takes you imagine to say we're.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Gonna have, Okay, the biggest movie ever we're gonna put out,
and all these movies we need to be better, be good.
You know, you can't just put some slop out there.
What can we do to resell the same movie? And
so for Beauty and the Beast there it went to Broadway, right,
In fact, a lot of them went to Broadway and
won Tony Wards and stuff. So there was a song
that Alan Mankin had written that was it's called Human Again.

(20:48):
That was on Broadway, and they said, like, this is perfect.
It wasn't the movie actually almost mostly animated, but they
took it out for pacing reasons, rightly.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
So, but they're like, look for a DVD, this is perfect.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
We'll get the same patrioha, like the same voices, all
the same voices, we have the same crew. But then
we can add that song back in and then then
the release you can watch like a theatrical release of it,
I mean, are on DVD, but with the song in.
And so I worked on Human Again, and that which
was I mean, for me amazing because when I was

(21:22):
in college, when I came out as a freshman, in fact,
when in ninety one, when I came out, I totally
influenced what I was going to do in my life,
but to have like I have one of those some small,
but I have one of those jackets. I have a
crew jacket of that beauty. They're like bought like a
letterman jackets as by my name, you know, it says
beating the Beast on the back, you know, and it's
just like the only handful of people have those, you know, those,

(21:45):
And so I and.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
Then my names are beating the Beast.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
And so I worked on Bell and the Beast and
then some of the miscellaneous characters. And then kind of
partially because I worked on Bell on that, there's when
Leno and Stitch there was commercials when he went into
other movies, remember that he was kind of okay. So
I worked on Bell on that Beating the Beast when
they she he crashed down and she's like, I'll be

(22:08):
in my trailer.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
Wow, I guess I worked on Bell.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
That is so cool, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
Yeah, similar things with POKEMONA.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
So I worked on if I Never Knew You, That
was a song that they had the same thing and taken.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
Out and put back in. And I worked specifically just
on the character of Pocahontas.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Wow, that is really what a cool job to do,
where like you're adding to the film. And I agree,
I miss the days of all those special extras and
stuff on DVDs that now we don't, you know, a streaming.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
It's it's sad because I mean that was a big deal. Yeah,
so many behind the.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
Scenes I mean like things like you can kind of
get this stuff that you really have to search.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
But that was a selling point. How much extra stuff
could we get?

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh yeah, deleted scenes, bonus features. Yeah, so you were
enhancing the experience with them.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Don't even have it. It's almost not even a thing.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, it's sort of like, okay if they cut it whatever,
when it's like no, some of the some great stuff
is cut, you know. So that is really cool. Out
of all the films back then that you worked on
at Disney, I'm sure, I'm sure they're all great in
many ways, But what would you say was your favorite
to work on?

Speaker 3 (23:13):
So man, you know, it's funny to say if you
ask me that obviously all they but and.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
What was your least favorite? Oh, I don't know if
you want to go there, and I.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Wouldn't be able to say that but my favorite is
a tie, but for different reasons between Mulan and Lelo
and Stitch, And I would say Mulan. So when you're
working on these movies.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
You're on it for a couple of years, Yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
You have like you kind of don't really remember sometimes
the movie as much as what you were doing in
life while you're making that movie, right, And so.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
That's kind of what I think about when I think
about But.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Lilo and Stitch was it was I mean, I knew
that movie was special when we were making that movie.
Oh man, you just knew every screening was hilarious. And
I was on Lelo mainly and her voice was amazing.
Remember that this doesn't exist, right, there is no Leto
and Stitch, right, Mber hearing it scene by scene as

(24:22):
we're creating it. And so when you hear the dailies,
when you hear that girl deby, you know, just doing
this thing. I'm already in my room or like I
also worked on Lannie quite a bit, but like when
you just hear their line, you're like, oh, that's just
like so unique that the humor was so just a
little bit strange, you know, like when she says he

(24:43):
wanted me to join his Army of the Undead, and
she there's like this upshot of her vase and she's like,
I knew it. It's like it's so bizarre a line.
That was the thing that sums up a lot of
the humor Lelo and Stitch. You just knew special stuff
was going on with that.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, and that's cool that those two of your favorites,
because they're pretty different, you know, Lelo and Stitch is
a little funky for sure, and Mulan, Oh my gosh,
so classic, Like that's just kind of a good, straightforward,
more dramatic one, you know.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
So that's so on Lelo, I worked with that.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
I mean, at this Florida we had really a list
supervising animators. You had Rubin, you know, Mark there obviously
like Aaron's top top top guys there. Nice, but on
Lailo Andreas Deja was the supervising animator on Leilo, and
you know, I kind of I knew him, you know,
for a couple of years, and that was like to me,

(25:35):
like he was one of those if you're not an
the animation, you might not know who that is, but
in that world he's like one of the like he's
the Mount Rushmore. He's one of them, nice like Ja'afar
and Scar and Guest and so here he was and
when I first met him, and then you know, he's
even been to my house. I mean, it's just the
nicest dude, the nicest guy, super passionate. Everyone knows that

(25:56):
about and Dre's he's like so passionate about animation, a
work machine.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
And uh, that was really a big highlight of my
whole career was just to kind of work with them.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, oh that's amazing. Yeah, I'm sure you worked with
so many great talented people. So now with Leela when
you were working on Lilo, so that wasn't clean up,
that was breakdown. The same thing though, the same thing.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Yeah, Okay, the general.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Term, Oh okay, god, I got it.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Okay, you have rough and clean up, and there's like
a hierarchy of supervisors top on down, like the so
the super and rough this it is called a supervising animator.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
And then I don't know what you.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Call it that going downwards, Okay, there's like rough in between.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
The lowest probably of rough animators.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Would be a rough in between, okay, and then maybe
there's like a lead animator or a key animator or something
like that.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
But they're all like rough and then then clean up the.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Top supervisors called a lead key and that's those are
pretty big. They can make or break your whole career. Man,
they're the supervisor of these characters. And they all I'll
say this again, they all earn that spot like there's
not like never would you say, oh, man, what's that
guy doing there? They are the best in the world

(27:09):
that spot. So like Dan, it was like the lead
on like Lailo or on you know one, Dan is
like he's so good, or.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
Like I worked with Tom Fish, this guy.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
I went to college with him too, on three different movies,
and I mean we went to the same college. But
Tom is god meantime. I mean they're so good. They're
so good at doing what they did.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
I would hope. So I mean with Disney's legacy, right,
ten out.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Of ten good like you often and I'm no slouch
really when I'm doing and I'm telling you, there's so
many days you're just literally looking forget the animation, just
looking at the drawing and saying, wow, this is amazing.
And so yeah, I mean, by anyway, clean up, there's
a whole hierarchy within that too.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Wow, this is so cool. So yeah, so films back
then and maybe even still today with animation, they take forever,
you know. But back then, yeah, you're like you said,
you're on a film for like three years. Were there
times when they were like, okay, we need more time,
like we're gonna extend you, or or less time the opposite,
like okay, deadlines approaching faster? Now, like what was the timing?

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Like, I don't think they in the movie. I was
there and I was there for a while. I don't
think they ever moved it back because they say the
release date like a couple of years ago, right, But
I will say, okay, so I imagine from an outside
you might not be aware of this, but so there is.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
There's a term in animation, at least back then, it
was referred to as crunch time. Crunch time.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Every animator knows that crunch time is two thirds about
two thirds of the movie is done in the last
one third time. And the reason for that is because remember,
remember I said, only a few people are on at
the beginning, and you have to work out the scenes
so you know, like exactly the shot, right, it's very

(29:01):
very It's not like in live action where you just
film stuff and you cut it together. It has to
be drawn and it has to be exactly so. You
can't even have animators on a scene if you don't
have the designed out yet. You can't have even the
supervisor do it or any animators do it if the
layout's not done. And so by the time they like
say the last third move of the movies, it's around
that time frame everything is right. I mean, you can

(29:24):
have all hands on deck because the pipeline is is all.
There's room for everyone to be working in this pipeline.
Super organized I mean very very organized pipeline of what
to do. And so I would say that the hardest. No,
I don't know if they've ever moved it back. I've

(29:44):
never seen, not all those times, but they do.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
You do have to do more hours.

Speaker 7 (29:55):
I've heard a great deal about you, But soon the
world we'll know the great things you have done.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
The hardest was Mulan, for I mean, anyone who worked
on Mulan. If they weren't listen, you guys, listen to this.
Maybe I remember about a year out that's when it
started to get from They say that there's an in
the candidate that in the can means it's like really
it's done right from that in the candidate about a

(30:31):
year out you started to do it, just start to
do overtime. So over time you did your work like
Monday to Friday, I think it's nine to six or
something like that, and then it would start to have
like eight hours like during the week, and then kind
of like eight hours mandatory. Now when you see eight
hours and for what I did, I mean it's very scheduled.

(30:52):
You can't be like there's amount you have to do, right,
so like you're just there doing nothing. So and then
gradually get where it's like maybe fifteen hours and then
maybe twenty hours, and then and then gradually a mandatory
sixth day, and now it'll be for a while overtime
plus the sixth day. And then on Mulan, though I

(31:12):
don't want to know how much I can say about
like oh what we do, but that there's a lot
of overtime. You go to where you can go seven days,
and Mulan was like, but it was the most it
was the most work.

Speaker 4 (31:25):
I mean it was a lot. It was a lot.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
But then the funny part is once you when you're done,
it really is done. I mean you're going from seven
days for a while. I mean all day, you're there
all day and you can only your brain can only
handle so much. You can't, mind you the quality is
Disney qualities, not like that you can slop something out right,
But then when you're done, you'd have like literally nothing

(31:48):
to do that your your scenes are done, and you
have a couple of months sometimes just kind of like
working on smaller projects or whatever. But just there's a
funny thing where even now I work kind of like
seven days a week, but I can I make my
own hours.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
And stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
But like then when you're you're you have to be there, right,
you know, working on these scenes seven days a week,
and then when you don't have anything, it's it's funny,
even one day off is so refreshing.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Oh I believe it. Oh I know.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah, weeks like that under really tremendous I say, pressure,
but the quality level is very high. Yeah, for every
single drawing, right, I mean it's every hour you pump
out like these wrongs, like every hour, and then you
know it's it's gonna be pretty good. That's pretty hard.
That's pretty hard that move on with tough. I'm sorry

(32:41):
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, No, that is fascinating. Yeah, your your brain, your eyes,
your your hand, like everything must have just been so exhausting.
But I hear you. Yeah, you're going from seven days
NonStop for a while. So then once it's done, it's
kind of the other extreme of now, like all right,
I don't really have a ton going on, so it's
it's kind of you know, but that sort of film
in general too, you.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
Know, like yeah, yeah, when focus was done, is done.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Yeah. The only thing I will say is that these
these I have a lot of flashbacks as I'm saying
that in many days of doing that. But you have
complete trust and all of your other I guess coworkers
you could call them, but the other the other people
on your crew, you know, other animators and stuff. You
have total trust and their ability of us. These people

(33:26):
they only hired about ten people a year Disney Wow,
and for years, so I mean we're talking they have
the best of the best people. Yeah, and I was
one of those people. I was like, I was like
one of my intern my group they call them these internships.
For quite a few years. It actually wasn't ten, it
was eleven, but I mean, Dawn, this guy. Man, they
were so good. I mean all the I just can't

(33:48):
say enough about the level of work, ethic and ability
of animators, of artists in Disney animation in the nineties
is I don't know, it's a ten out of ten.
You cannot there is no flaw and in the ability
of the artists that were there.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I believe it absolutely. It was like an iconic time.
I mean, Disney's always been iconic and will always will be,
but especially in that era. I mean, wow, oh my gosh,
you guys were great people.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Man. I can go on along, but just like the
people don't they're unsung. A lot of them they don't
even know. But I saw, like, I don't say so
many supple names because I don't, you know, if they
want me to say a name. But there's this one
guy that did when I saw his test on brother
Bear of the rough animation of that mother bear roaring
and daily irish sight. First of all, bears are kind

(34:40):
of hard to draw, but just seeing that bear when
she stands up and just like that roaring, like the
quiver of the lips, I just started thinking, like man
like and seeing it in his office like this, he's
flipping through that.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
I was like, dude, this is like unbelievable stuff.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
So if you like it, no matter who you talk,
no matter where you go, you were seeing somebody working
on Moushue or like Cobra bubbles or whoever.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
They're like all so good, you know, and you see
that everybody's scenes and I'm going on. But like it's
like people often ask like, you know, what was it like,
and it's like you're just it's like the greatest of
the great.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, you're just among really great company. That's amazing. Well, Peter,
in our in our remaining time, I want to hear
what you've been doing more recently, because I know you've
also illustrated and written books, children's books, So tell me
about that. You got You've got some cool stuff going on.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
I do, Luckily, I so.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Quite a while ago I started, I basically was able
to get at these partners, and I was able to
have a.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Books published, picture books.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
So I one of my my main passion actually isn't
really drawing or even animation, it's it was it's storytelling really.
And then you when I knew me for a long time.
I enjoyed writing a lot, probably more than drawing. I
feel that that's kind of more of my knack in
a way. But anyway, I got into doing these picture
books early while ago, and that's that's a hard endeavor

(36:06):
to get into be a published author on a big scale.
It is difficult, but I was able to do it.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
I have a kind of a.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Really pretty prestigious agent and literary agent, and so this
happened when I get that about about ten years ago
or so, and my picture books. But then one of
my bigger breaks was I have a I wrote and
illustrated a chapter book, two chapters for Scholastic, like they

(36:34):
have classic book fairs right course, And so that was
really to go from picture books where I was mainly
they didn't have many words in it, and I was
mainly the co writer and illustrator, and so they go
to be the writer illustrator of an actual chapter two
under page chapter book and they're all illustrations throughout.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
But that you're like more considered like a writer after
that point.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
And that was a total game changer as far as
my writing kind of career goes. And they were in
every book Fair, you know, America, and so then I
had sequel from that, and then.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
My these are the Monkey Banas.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
Those are the picture books.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Those are the picture books.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
Okay, Scholastic books.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Are called third Grade Mermaid Series, and then there's book
one and two. But so basically my editor as Scholastic
kind of left Scholastic and it went to Random House
and she's kind of one of the main I don't
know her title is at this point, because she's one
of the top editors at what's called Dial Books for

(37:34):
Young Readers.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
And that's like imprint of Random House Penguin. Random House.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Imprint means just like as a division based and they
focus on certain things. So Dial Book for Young Readers
and Nancy is like one of the the main people there.
Incredible editor. I mean, I just Nancy. If you have
a great The thing about great editor is they they
can pick a book that they know, they can see
the book out, but they're like they know it's your vision,

(38:03):
and they're like they understand what you're trying to do,
understand your humor. And I have kind of the humor
that I have in my in general, I think especially
my writing is this kind of sarcastic, a little bit humor,
like like the reader should I do a lot of
play on words like and then and I so like

(38:23):
that in the same in kind of a sarcastic way
sometimes and so anyway, Nancy really gets that, and so
now I.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Have I think my fifth book was with them.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
And so my last my last book came out last
year was my kind of probably my it might be
my biggest selling the third and Mermaid did pretty well.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
But uh it's called Lucky Scramble and I.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Was I see the poster behind you.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, I don't have a lot of people. Wait, oh,
I do have one. So this is my So this
is my first graphic novel, right, so actually it's called
a hybrid defic so there's a lot of words in
there too. But this took a long time.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
My books are generally based off of something that's kind
of in real life, Like the first one of the
Monkey ones were not those were more really a collaboration
between these three, these two other partners of mine at
the time.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
So those are not as much mind artistically.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yeah, but like storywights know, but third grade Mermaid on
so thir Gray Mermaid. Yeah, I mean it's mermaid, but
all the ocean, her friends and a lot of stuff
that's in the ocean is all really highly researched. I
mean there's there's real creatures that I didn't know about
until I started researching. Well how do I like, what
kind of friends would she have in the ocean and

(39:35):
stuff like that and the places she goes and things
like that that make it very ocean oriented. And then
like the I Am on a Fish is really about jellyfish,
really about this this jellyfish who has this kind of
an identity crisis because.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
He's called something he's not meaning a fish, and he's.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Talking to it's talking to an underwriter group, a support
group made up of starfish, like the same problem. But
then us the Mysterious Sea Bunny is really just about
a sea bunny, which is actually a sea slug. And
they look and me, if you've ever seen such a thing,
they really look like little bunnies.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
Are like that big wow.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
But it's just talking about following the sea bunny and
this one kind of a you never see them on
on the page, But like this loud kid is talking
to like a teacher sounding person and he's just describing
all these things about like what makes the sea bunny?
What's so magnificent? And so then my from that one,

(40:31):
it took me a little bit of like what are
they going to do after that? But this book is
really in many ways, it's many years in the making
of even the getting to this. But my son, way
back in like twenty twenty ish now, was really in
the speed speed cuby, right, so it's like solving Rubies cubes.
Oh yeah, ubiscube, but that's the brand name, but they're

(40:52):
the speed you're like cubes and you go to competition
stuff like that, and so this is how like sometimes
books can be even made. So we were at the ALA,
which is the American Library Association. They have this annual
meeting and it's big, big Bailey, so it used to
be really big. And I was there for signing books,
and my agent was there and he met me on

(41:13):
the health outside.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Of this is in Washington, d C. And my son
had a cube just holding it.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
And you know, most people have probably never even seen
somebody solve one for real, let alone solve one fast.
So generally Dan asked him, as my agent, if Andrew,
if he could even could you solve that?

Speaker 4 (41:33):
Yes, I can so Andrew at the time could solve
it in.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Made ten to fifteen seconds around there, and so when
he saw that, Dan was pretty blown away and asked him,
you know, what's is there? Is there a fastest time
or is there Like He's like, well, yeah, at the
time it was three point four nine seconds. And Andrews said,
but I think that guy had a lucky scramble. And
right there Dan was like, wow, what a title. Lucky

(42:00):
Ramble And that's kind of was the real basis of it.
And that was early twenty twenty or no, yes, twenty
twenty or twenty nineteen, but uh yeah, I got the book,
the actual book deal, like my so my editor was
there on the heads of like random House and stuff
were there, wo they love the idea. I mean, I
was uniquely placed to be able to do a graphic
novel and have this knowledge of this speedcubing world that

(42:22):
the combined had never been done. And that's the result,
you know, was this book and bat next week I'm
going to the World Championships, which happens to be in
America this year in Seattle.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Oh cool, and.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
So and I'm kind of like no, basically like no,
on a friendly basis, like some of the top top
top people in the world.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Wow, no way, that is so cool. And so you'll
be there with.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Your book, I am yeah, but they sell the book, Yeah,
go ahead, I signed books nice.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Absolutely, yeah. Oh that's so cool.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
And I have to say, I mean because everybody, if
you haven't been to Peter's website, it's Raymundo Arts dot com.
Really cool stuff, great like sample images of your books.
And I love that each book has its own You've
you've been able to illustrate each one differently so that
it like stands out in its own way. Like your

(43:12):
your styles are very diverse. You know, uh, the Mermaid
ones a little more like round and kind of more youthful,
whereas more of the graphic novels are a little bit
more kind of excuse my, but you know, a little
more like kind of boxy and shadowed, and you know,
and that's really cool. So that, yeah, you have all

(43:32):
different styles, which is so cool.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
And I do and I would I'm first to say
that I'm not very good at a character design. That's
I give a lot a lot of credit to that
what she's referred to as the designer, but she's kind
of like the art director at at random house where
or at dial for my books, the last three or
four of my books, and she you know, So when

(43:55):
you're doing a book, part of the process, much like
a movie, is you have this story, like you.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
Could have a whole books written.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
Yeah, but then part of the process is designing the
characters and you'll learn to have a lineup of this
is what the characters And that was actually a whole process.
So in this book, you have like five main characters
really that are all so it's about five very different
characters all converging on a national championship. And so what
do they look like? If they're all so diverse, what
do they look like? Right, what do they kind of

(44:22):
talk like? And that's all that was. Listen, there was
a lot of debate that goes back and forth on
the names too. I mean, it's all got it. They
don't have meaning, there's no nothing is not looked at.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Hey, Rewinders, isn't Peter's career so cool? I'm pausing our
chat for just a moment to say thank you and
to shine a light on another podcast that's part of
the U Run podcast network, and that is Paranormal Misfits,
hosted by Chrissy and Nino. Check that show out, especially
now that it's spooky season. It features your favorite besties

(44:53):
fearlessly exploring the paranormal, uncovering enigmatic mysteries, unraveling mind bending conspiracies,
and sharing their thoughts on horror. Of course, prepared to
be spelled bown with new episodes every Saturday evening. I
commend them for doing that weekly. I don't have that
kind of discipline on this show. Uh, all right, everybody,
let's go back to Peter Raymundo. Right after the break.

Speaker 6 (45:19):
Pocahontas. For the first time ever, Disney's animators are creating
a feature length motion picture inspired by a true American heroine.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
The most challenging part of drawing Pocahontas is going to
be trying to capture who she really is, even when
it's your idea. These are your books, Yeah, of course,
when you're working with you know, Random House, Scholastic, all
these big companies. Yeah, it's a group effort, but probably
not nearly as big of a group as as those
Disney movies. I would hope, right, God, that's really.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
One of the big big pluses. Yeah, Nah, miss my
own art ego going into it. But like this book books, absolutely,
the Bes doesn't say Peter Muando. It says Disney's be
the Interbe's. And that's one of the things about this
is these books are mine. They're made to a great

(46:11):
amount of input with my editor, agent, editor and art director.
But in general they're coming out and they're guiding what
is my book? Yeah, so that's a big thing. And
a lot of times people with that work in animation
and working movies is it's one thing you want to
get into that world. But then a lot of people
are kind of like, well, well, what do you do?
What's your thing? Right, And especially as a writer and

(46:33):
someone I write a lot, I'm happy to say like
that's my books.

Speaker 4 (46:36):
I mean I have.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
My next book comes out in October. It's called Oh
it has It's called Moby Duck. It's a it's a
picture book, and it's about basically this boy's very epic
adventure to find his lost rubber ducky, a giant rubber ducky.
But it's it actually all takes place in his bath
up and so we go back and forth between his
imagination and reality, and it has this I can't say

(47:01):
right now it has a very potentially very large endorsement,
but I can't really.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
See what for a couple of months, but I hopefully
will be uh do well.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
That's amazing, that's exciting. Wow, Okay, good, So you got
that book coming out in October? What what? What did
you say? Is your latest book that just came out?
That was Lucky Scramble? Okay, yeah, that was.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
The Seed Bunny and so and so.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Writing wise, I don't have, gosh, I have a couple
of different ideas, so my process of writing, I will
have like five or six sometimes very different ideas. If
he knows, all my books are pretty different. I did
have the ocean stuff going on, yep. But so I
do like animals a bit a bit more. And there's
a couple of reasons to be perfectly honest with you
know this thing about like the Twilight Zone, Like I

(47:49):
love the original Twilight Zone series.

Speaker 4 (47:51):
I'm are you familiar with that?

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Oh yeah, uh huh?

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Rod Serling you know in that group or maybe Rod
Serling is the writer producer. So it was is able
to parody or speak on social issues in a very
dangerous time. I mean, gosh, you could, I mean this
was the whole red Scare stuff going on, I mean,
blacklisting was going on, but he was able to point
fingers at American social issues by saying, all those are aliens, right,

(48:19):
this is this is on another planet somewhere, right.

Speaker 4 (48:21):
This isn't the future, not now right, this is the future.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
And so people can get away with that a lot
easier to be a little bit more say, this is animals,
This isn't the jungle, this isn't America, or this isn't
the world.

Speaker 4 (48:34):
This is I'm talking about jungle. And so you can
talk about social issues in a lot of ways a.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Lot easier if it's animals and so or robots or
whatever thing like that. And so that's one of the
reasons I do kind of prefer animals doing animals. So
my next couple of books will probably have have animals
as to make characters.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Yeah, were you the kind of kid, Peter where like,
were you drawing a lot growing up?

Speaker 4 (48:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, so you've been doing this basically your whole life?
Would you say yes, y?

Speaker 3 (48:59):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean it was and I wouldn't say
it was good, but I liked it a lot, and
I wrote I've always written a lot like a lot,
a lot, and so I would have I remember even
in first and sixth grade, I have and I still
have some of them out. I love comic strips back then,
and I would make my own comic strips. I'd say them,
cut them from the Sunday you could only get them
in the Sunday paper, and I would cut them out

(49:20):
every Sunday. And I had a whole collection of Garfield
or I Lois or whatever, and that was my how
I made my own books. And then I would write
my own comic strips. And then I loved comic books,
and then I never really got in. I thought I
was gonna be a comic book artist, but it's just
I don't really draw quite like that.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
And I think those guys are home on the level
on the way, but like and I yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
I've always loved drawing. I mean I could make good,
make or break me, you know, like my day would
be good or bad if I had a good drawing.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
Oh yeah, I hear that. Would you do you ever
see yourself in the future, you know, working for Disney again,
or working on a on a comic book like with
like like for an ip that's already popular, or do
you feel like you found a great lane for yourself
because you have so many ideas just kind of coming
up with more of your own original stories.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
Well, I think probably both.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
I wouldn't say, you know, I'm in my fifties here now,
and I mean I've worked on I think I had
a certain plan, a certain amount of goals when I was,
like say, going out of high school and going out
of college, and I did want to originally anyone of
the people knew me back in Disney, mean, I did

(50:29):
want to be a writer direcord. That was kind of
a goal, and for various reasons that just kind of
didn't come to be. And instead of I found that
like to pursue that it's a man, that's a big
world Hollywood, and right, you better really want it real bad.
And I kind of was able to get into being

(50:49):
a writer illustrator. And I feel it's a lot simple,
Like I said, I do with three people, and it's
I probably will never go into doing movies, but fully
satisfied doing books.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
I mean that was act one of my goals too.
But I could say that.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
I mean, like I also I don't know if I
guess you might have know spastors did stuff for Marvel,
Like I did fifteen books for there's a show it's
called Spidey and his Amazing Friends, kind of a popular
kid show.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
It's on Disney Junior and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
Nick Nick, It's on the Disney streaming channel. But there's
books of those episodes, and I did all the pencils,
I mean, all the drawings of those books.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
For probably fifteen of them or so nice. So that
work for more actually see the thing coming from Marvel.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Right. So that said, I've kind of want to say
that for myself, I've kind of done.

Speaker 4 (51:47):
It all that I wanted.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
I mean, I wanted to be work at Disney movies
and have my name on the credits and work on animation.
I work on nine of them. They won Academy Awards.
I wanted to be a writer, and I'll straighter. This
movie Duck is my ninth published book illustrator. I've done
at least thirty books for Disney, Hyperion or Marvel. Yeah,

(52:10):
I've written short films. You know, I've kind of done
it all.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Right, So yeah you prod to I saw, yeah, yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
On a smaller scale. But yeah, my primary goal is
to uh I told you I was teaching a little
high at these camps and stuff like that. That's gat
somehow it starts off with teaching. My primary goal at
this point is giving back.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
I don't know if that sounds.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Like cheap or none beautiful, I hear you.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
I mean, I look, I wish I had someone like
me when I was younger. I didn't.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
In fact, I had. I was surrounded by naysayers, basically,
And so you and I learned early on. And I
have a very deep faith to myself, like unshakable faith
in myself basically, but that I think came to be
because of such doubt around when I was younger and where.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
I was like, if I'm going to make it happen,
I got to make it happen.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
And I just wish there's little things, pits and pieces
of information like saying some motion or drawing and stuff
like that that I wish I would be a little
bit further along quicker I had some instruction from somebody
who knew and someone who knew it was possible to
make it. And so that's why I do like the
film clubs, or do these camps, or do the teaching

(53:38):
that I do. It's because it's not for the money.
It's it's because I really want to. When you see
somebody get better and you see somebody say that, you're like,
then I've worked with some talented kids and they're like,
this is what I want to do. Man. That's and
you know, everything that's good in my life, everything has

(54:00):
come because of drawing. Everyone. I mean, I mean I
got a full four year scholarship to college because of drawing.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
I was hired. I didn't graduate in college.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
I went straight recruited from Disney to start a move
On because I will I could draw.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
You were that good. That's amazing.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Wow, most people in the nineties, by the way, that
was most people. Even yeah, I won't going up, but
that was most people. We were that good.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Yeah, that you could. Why would you lay?

Speaker 4 (54:29):
Of course? You know they're going to offer you a job,
work on a movie or get a degree.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Of course, yeah whatever, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
But everyone, I all, my friends, my wife, I mean,
everything that's come, everything I have is because of the
books being published. I traveled all around the place, I
speak to people all around the world, all because of
my ability to draw, to draw pictures.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
I mean, it's.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
Almost hard to believe really and so if I but
I tell people that, yes, you can't do that. If
you like drawing, you can have an incredible career. You
can travel over you can influence people, can make people laugh,
you can influence people's lives just with being a mastery
or craft. And so I just try to get into

(55:12):
scenarios of speaking. That's one of the reason I said
to do in the cons is like the primary thing
is I'm speaking to people a lot of students who
are they want advice usually like you know, and I
never talked.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
I talk about a little bit about drawing and stuff,
but merely I just talk about the.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Psychology of succeeding and not being afraid to be obsessed
with that thing and stay clear on that thing. And so, yes,
I could see myself working at Disney if it was
the right movie and project and the right I mean,
you would really have to be the right project. Others books,
I doesn't want to do books right, because that's I

(55:47):
love writing, and I'm definitely first we're going to make
more books. I want to have my books made into
movies and stuff like that. Oh yeah, but all that, man,
I mean that's just cherry on top. I mean it
sounds so small. And there's a couple wander a hundred
other people that I know that I worked with the
Disney But I don't ever forget when I was in
college dreaming of maybe one day having my name on

(56:13):
the Lion King or on I remember seeing the Lion
King of theater like there's a little mouse. I know
the guy did the mouse now lit, but Andreas did Scars,
so Scars picking up the mouse. I remember thinking to myself,
Oho is that like they're doing that mouse?

Speaker 4 (56:27):
If I could just do a little part of it,
just like a mouse my name.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
You see all those names going on those credits when
I was in college, you know the line when Disney
came to re created, it's hundreds and hundreds just at
my school tens. Everyone knows it's spected tens of thousands
of portfolios and I are ten.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
It's like, I remember what that was like, and I've
already done it. I've done it, and.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
So anything else I'm just thankful for and just trying
to like live the dream like that. I mean, I
don't want to be I don't. I'll say I don't
have any more goals. I have goals, just like what
else can you want. I don't yeah, better other people's life.
My life's already what it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Oh yeah, you've already touched so many people. And I
would think I totally agree with you. Once you're creating
your own stories and you're getting them published and you're
writing that wave, I mean, that's like the dream because
then that way, I mean, sure you might have people
to brainstorm with and talk to, you know, but that's
your vision, that's yours, you know, like no one else

(57:28):
to be like you know, So that's a man. And
I love that you teach teaching is so, but do
you ever do you ever do classes for adults because.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Let me know sometimes yeah, no, I do sometimes, Okay,
even like paint teach painting and stuff. It's yeah, you know,
I just kind of touches. I'll just presently brief on this.
But in entertainment, there is, right, there's and I'm super
competitive in general, but there's kind of an ego, an
element of egos in entertainment, and it's very easy to

(57:58):
think of all that person got is doing this, So
that person, oh man, his movie was bigger than mine,
or you know, I started with so and so and
now they're doing this or whatever, and I just I
the reason I say about what I'm doing, I have
to get past that in a way to be like
does that better the world?

Speaker 4 (58:15):
Does that?

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Does that help anybody to be envious? Or if it
drives you to for better?

Speaker 4 (58:20):
Great?

Speaker 3 (58:21):
But like.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
I like, for now, I'm very very satisfied with what
I've done.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
I think I just really if I never had another
thing published or made again, but I could help one
hundred people start their careers, then that's I would choose that.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Yeah, yeah, and maybe who knows, maybe you'll have your
own studio with like your own group of animators or something, right,
your your camps and your classes can like start to
funnel them into I don't know.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
It's impossible.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
I mean I've done stuff where like you get people,
you give people little breaks too, Like so I do
my book trailers sometimes, Oh cool, and I'll have sometimes
kids do the voice and they're actual, like literally actual trailers.

Speaker 4 (59:03):
So smart manomus are scholastic.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
This girl that did the thirty Mermaid trailers like a
lower actress now and like and she was when you're
like ten, I think maybe second graders from my dad. Wow,
she was amazing doing this the trailer, but that was
not her break. But it was like they can always
go back to this thing that it was an actually
nationwide thing and they just saw them in.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
A talent ship.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Oh that's so cool. That is so smart and so cool.
I love that. See. Yeah, you never know, you never
know how what brings you to other people and how
you can work with each other, even if it's just
like a fun little thing that then becomes something like
that's all so cool. I love it.

Speaker 6 (59:46):
Now, the Walt Disney Studio is preparing its thirtieth full
length animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast, and we
have a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and
see firsthand just how the meant. It's me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Hi, I'm Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios.
At Disney, we set out to make an animated feature.
The first thing we look for is a very special
story and unforgettable characters.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Look, I ain't get starstruck.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
These are the big dogs, right of they say, He said,
like Jodie Benson. Everyone knows who that is, right, people,
No one knows who that is. And I'm just I
was just like a cog right, but like she's the
voice of Eric.

Speaker 7 (01:00:25):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
And I met her when I was at the studio's
way way back. But she came to the studio a
couple of times, and it was it's funny, almost more
confident than talking to her, you know, like I was,
I was anand mayor and there. But like I met
her at the show a couple of times now, but
like i'ming a nervous talking to her.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
It's like and I feel like I know how people
get to talking to me, but I'm like, you have
no idea like that. When I saw the making of
The Little Mermaid in like nineteen eighty nine, it changed
the trajectory of my entire life. And I you know,
I made sure someone like her hears out all the time.
But there she is right there in front of me, man,
and I make sure I know that they give them

(01:01:04):
the respect that is due. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Oh, yeah, she's she's just as iconic as as you know,
the the animated aerial. I mean she she the voice
and right, Oh that's so cool.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
I've had the honor of meeting quite a few people. Yeah, Oh,
I believe in studio you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Meet quite a few people. They're part of my Disney family. Yeah,
oh forever.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Oh I love that absolutely. I mean, like we said,
you guys have made iconic movies that I mean people
just love like well, like it goes back to how
we started. These movies are part of not only like
the upbringing of kids, but like just hold special memories
in people's hearts and minds. So that is really cool.
So your name and those credits that means a lot,

(01:01:48):
not only to you, but to all of us that
like are just in all of these great movies, you know,
great stories.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Yeah. I have a son. He's almost nineteen, but he
was born after I was done with Disney. Oh wow, yeah,
I mean it's kind of like I think I was
working on Princess and the Frog actually okay, yeah, like
the main run and so like he does not know
what it was like to go through that time. I

(01:02:16):
remember when The Lion King came out at ten years
there was a number one movie. Again when I first
came out, and we were there, we saw it. My
name you know, goes by and it's like you just
kind of see it as this thing that I used
to do. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Isn't that so wild Meanwhile, I was there seated in
the theater, jaw dropped, you know, growing up seeing these classics.
But yeah, it's you know, that's cool, that something dad
used to do. And as he gets older, I'm sure
he'll find it even cooler and cooler because these movies
will last the test of time. You know, the things
you've worked on, that's amazing, Peter. Any last things you

(01:02:53):
want to say before I let you go, Any advice
for any young animators, you know, designers out there, anything
you want to share.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Yeah, you know, I do.

Speaker 4 (01:03:02):
And it's not artistically, I don't they know what to do.
I think we're the world has changed, technology has changed
a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
Master your craft, and I think that you know, just
I think in life, I've found that the people who
succeed in art or in anything, they just stay focused
on what matters.

Speaker 4 (01:03:21):
I'm focused on what they're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
And it's also how many times do you hear anybody,
even people who've made it, they're famous, they're super successful,
and their whole lives or careers are ruined by something
that is not only unsavory maybe, but just something.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
That has nothing to do with their career. Right, It's
totally different. Their career.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
And one thing I've learned a long long time ago
is just i mean, stay tunnel vision on that goal
and on just doing that. Don't let anything sidetrack you
from like work hard, live simple, save your money, you know,
be obsessed with what people are going to respect later

(01:04:00):
in life, help others.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
And and that's it. I mean, that's all.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
I mean. It's a little bit easy for me to
see because I've kind of I've learned through life and
I'm older and I've kind of made it and I
can just work on stuff and i know I'm going
to get paid to do it and stuff. But it's
just stay focused on That's the only thing I ever
think about is just work. That's all I want to do.
That's all I've ever wanted to do was just draw.

(01:04:27):
I wanted to go to to make it to college.
I wanted to make it to Disney, I wanted to
get books published. I wanted And that's there's a stay
focused on that and you'll be okay.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
You know, eventually you'll make it. But just the world
is just filled with all.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Kinds of negativity and noise and it just comes and goes.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
You know, just stay focused on your goal and you'll
make it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Yeah, that's beautiful. I love it and it helps me too.
I've been procrastinating too much, so we got to focus. Everybody,
we got it, got to stay focused and make good stuff.
I love that. Well, Peter, thank you so much. This
was amazing and I knew you'd be an inspiration. And
I'm sure all the fellow nerds out there will love
this episode just like I did because you've You've made
some really cool stuff. So we appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
Thank you very much. I'm glad. I'm glad you reached out. Yeah,
are you. I'm so glad we met.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
I'm in New Hampshire, so I'm even more north. Yeah,
but I I went down there and that's how we met.
Nineties count and I remember you were I think you
were drawing scar. I think I have a video of
you and I was like, oh my god, and seeing
the posters like wow, like this is this is cool
like some of these some of these celebs, I'm like, okay, sure, hi,
but no, I was like, wow, mister Ramunda, Oh my gosh, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
I appreciate.

Speaker 4 (01:05:44):
I like, I like your sign, look at what you're doing.
Thanks here. How long you've been a year years for
this pod.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
This will be five years this fall, yeah, which is crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
All different kinds of movies, you know, no, no specific genre.
I like. I like them all, you know so, and
I don't get to talk too much about like animated stuff,
so I thought this could be fun to have you
on and uh and to celebrate just these great, you know,
movies that no one hates. If anyone hates any of
these movies you worked on, I'm like, I don't trust you, right,

(01:06:14):
something's wrong, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
I actually well, of course they wouldn't tell me probably,
But now I never heard somebody say no.

Speaker 4 (01:06:21):
I don't like Mulan.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Oh my god, I never heard someone say that or crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
Yeah, that low quality exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
God like literally the opposite, right, the Lion King is.
I mean, I just love that you were part of that.
It's so cool.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
I'm going to be in another nineties con in INMB
oh okay?

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
Good?

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
Is that the one where they do they do two
a year?

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
I think nineties con right?

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
Three?

Speaker 4 (01:06:45):
Wow? So I two or three?

Speaker 2 (01:06:48):
Cool?

Speaker 4 (01:06:48):
I know that The next one I'm scheduled to be
at is in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
Oh good, okay, Christmas con it's not quite as nineties
as the one I.

Speaker 4 (01:06:55):
Met you at in March. Yeah, but anyway, I like that, right,
you've been there. That's incredible, that's a great.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Yeah, that was really fun. That was my first time
finally going. But friends I went with had gone and yeah,
so that was a good one to be at it.
And I remember you were right next to other some
other illustrators and designers.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
Yes, covers of goosebumps.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:07:19):
I'm going to reach out to him and see if
he wants to come on to.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
Remember I said my very first con, he was next
to me, all fun and so that's when we first met,
and he we've seen each other evolved.

Speaker 4 (01:07:29):
You've seen me evolve into it by like I was like,
you know who's next to me?

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Is that's so cool?

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
You know I mean the dummy?

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
Yes, oh yeah, you both have created like some iconic
images in pop culture and film TV.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
Dude, he's a totally normal dude, yeah, tim Oh yeah,
well I don't actually only see him at the cons,
but just the nicest guy. This is nice.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Oh I love that. See you got your your got
your con friends.

Speaker 4 (01:07:58):
I love that my confriends.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Yeah, right, that was special. Talented guest Peter Raymundo taking
us on a ride through the wonderful world of Disney
and more of his awesome creations. So thank you very much, Peter,
and thank you out there for listening or watching this

(01:08:20):
episode of Release Date Rewind. Tell your friends and fellow
Disney fanatics about this episode, leave a rating or a
review or a thumbs up on YouTube, and follow me
on Instagram. At release date rewind to see more footage
from this conversation and from Peter's work. Thanks Drawha Media,
the You Run Podcast Network, Kyle Motsinger, and the Portland

(01:08:42):
Media Center in Maine. Coming up next on this show,
we are totally bugging because school is back in session
and it's time to finally celebrate Clueless and in the
parting words of Pocahontas.

Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
No matter what happens, I'll always be with you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
Forever. The Basting

Speaker 4 (01:09:05):
Based in