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Drawing with a real pencil on real paper is how ‘traditional’ animators like to describe themselves, in this modern era of computers. Working as effortlessly on his Macintosh G4 as he does on paper, Animator Dean Yeagle creates some of the most exquisite pinups and gag cartoons, many of which find their way into the pages of Playboy magazine. But there is more to him than what meets the eyes of his countless fans, who cannot take their glance from his Pinup Galleries...
After seven years at Zander, Dean moved on to be on his own and began freelancing. He worked for most of the NY animation studios before he started an animation studio, Caged Beagle Productions, in 1986, with Nancy Beiman as partner. Caged Beagle is still up and running and produces TV commercials, CD-ROMs, subcontracts or consults on features and character design for all sorts of clients. His wife Barbara is also an artist and musician. They enjoy traveling and keeping in touch with their daughter Becky and her husband Nick, in Pasadena, CA. In the midst of his busy schedule, ArtYears caught up with the Animator who puts the smiles into Playboy, with the hope of finding out more about the artist and his work. He surprised us with his wealth of experiences, along with his advice to the budding animator, hoping to break into the big world of animation art.
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Dean
Yeagle has produced work for most of the top animation houses in
the United States and has produced, directed, designed and
animated innumerable TV commercials and CD-ROMs. He has also done
assignments for corporate clients across the United States and
Europe, which include designing characters for various products,
contributing cartoons, designing toys and working on a continuing
series of children’s books. In fact, he will take up anything
that sparks his creative senses. His client list include Walt
Disney Productions, Warner Bros., MGM, Blue Sky Studios,
Hanna-Barbera, Animus Productions, Hahnfilm, Swan Studios, Rick
Reinert Productions, Playboy Enterprises, Western Publishing,
JuniorNet, Nestle, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble, Saatchi &
Saatchi, Grey Advertising, Wallace/Church and The Coleman Group to
name just a few. In animation, Dean has worked as designer,
animator and director. His work has earned him the Animator of the
Year Award of the National Cartoonist Society. After high school,
Dean went to art school for a year (they hated cartoons there). He
began his career in an animation studio in Philadelphia, PA with a
summer job. Being a small studio, he stayed on and began to do a
little of everything and learnt the business from the bottom up.
He was in the Navy for four years during the Vietnam era and then
took up a job in NYC at Zander’s Animation Parlour, working for
Jack Zander, who once animated on the old Tom and Jerry cartoons
for MGM.