Hades (Hercules) by Nik Ranieri, Sacramento 2017

      Nik Ranieri was a supervising animator for Disney Animation Studios. I've seen him walking around at conventions, but my first chance to see him set up at a con was at SacAnime this month. I sent a message via Facebook to confirm his appearance and made the two-hour drive to Sacramento. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie of the 1980's and 1990's period when the studio was under Eisner and Katzenberg. I loved the animation of the character Lumiere by Nik and the vocal performance by Jerry Orbach. However, Nik was drawing a Lumiere for the only other sketch collector on Friday morning. He would start with pencil and finish up with a fine point Sharpie. Nik was able to do the entire process as we watched and waited. She allowed me to get one after hers and I asked for a Hades from Hercules, a Ron Clements and John Musker project. She got an Ursula from Little Mermaid and I asked for Lumiere for my second piece. I finished up by buying Nik's book The Great Elephant: An Illustrated Allegory. I'm happy when they charge and you get the chance to get another.

Grayson Ponti on Nik Ranieri