ryu–chan:

cartoonnetwork:

Go, James Baxter, go! 🐴 

I’m seeing a lot of comments wondering why James Baxter the horse’s movements are more fluid than everyone else’s. There’s an answer!

He’s based on, voiced by, drawn by, and named after James Baxter the animator. James Baxter is known for his very fluid animation, most famously the ballroom dance from Beauty and the Beast. You know that really smooth sequence in the Gravity Falls theme song where Dipper drops the candle lantern, and then Mable rubs cheeks with Waddles the pig? That’s James Baxter’s work.

With this in mind, rewatch his two Adventure Time episodes. In the first, James Baxter the horse makes people happy with his art (rolling around on a ball), which inspires Finn and Jake to do it, too. But they learn that they can’t just copy his style, they need to find their own thing. In the second episode, James Baxter loses his ball. He deals with the pressure of everyone wanting him to roll around on balls again, but in the end, decides to do something else. Something that make himself happy.

Anyway, these two episodes are great advice for artists, whatever you’re doing. But it’s also funny to know that one of the most legendary living animators is doing a horse voice and shouting his own name in a microphone.