View source for Donald W. Graham

{{About|the artist|the Air Force pilot|Donald William Graham}}
'''Donald W. Graham''' (17 June 1903 – 19 October 1976)<ref>http://clan-graham-society.org/files/donwgraham-disney.pdf{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> was a [[Canadian-American]] [[fine artist]] and [[art instructor]]. An early graduate and later a professor at the [[Chouinard Art Institute]] (later merged into the [[California Institute of the Arts]]), Graham is best known as the head of the internal training and orientation classes at [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|the Walt Disney Productions animation studio]] from 1932 to 1940.<ref name="training">Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pgs. 84-86, 144-151. {{ISBN|0-19-516729-5}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.disney.com/insider/articles/2012/10/08/the-wonderful-world-of-walt-3/|title=The Wonderful World of WALT: Back to School with Walt Disney - Disney Insider|date=8 October 2012|publisher=}}</ref>

Assisted by Disney's top animators, Graham helped to document and establish many of the principles that make up the foundation of the art of [[traditional animation]].<ref name="training" /> he posthumously received the [[Winsor McCay Award]] for lifetime achievement in the animation field from [[ASIFA-Hollywood]] in 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://annieawards.org/winsor-mccay-award |title=46th Annual Annie Awards |accessdate=2007-11-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712035848/http://annieawards.org/winsor-mccay-award |archivedate=2015-07-12 }}</ref>

{{quote|Don Graham really knew what he was teaching, and he "showed" you how to do something&nbsp;– he didn't just talk. He taught us things that were very important for animation. How to simplify our drawings&nbsp;– how to cut out all the unnecessary hen scratching amateurs have a habit of using. He showed us how to make a drawing look solid. He taught us about tension points&nbsp;– like a bent knee, and how the pant leg comes down from that knee and how important the wrinkles from it are to describe form. I learned a hell of a lot from him!|[[Art Babbitt]]|''Once Upon a Time&nbsp;— Walt Disney: The Sources of inspiration for the Disney Studios''<ref name=Girveau>Bruno Girveau (editor), ''Once Upon a Time&nbsp;— Walt Disney: The Sources of inspiration for the Disney Studios'' (Prestel, London, 2006) {{ISBN|978-3-7913-3770-8}}</ref>}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*http://www.donaldwgraham.com/
*[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/06/how-to-train-animator-by-walt-disney.html ''Letter of Note'' reprint of interoffice memo from Walt Disney to Don Graham detailing the expansion of Disney's training course in 1935] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203073547/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/06/how-to-train-animator-by-walt-disney.html |date=2020-02-03 }}

{{Winsor McCay Award 1980s}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Donald W.}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian animators]]
[[Category:Canadian art educators]]
[[Category:Artists from Ontario]]
[[Category:Animation educators]]
[[Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios people]]
[[Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:People from Thunder Bay]]

{{US-animator-stub}}
{{Disney-stub}}