Jin Kim (김상진) is a South Korean animator, a character designer, and a visual development artist, who worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios since the 1990s.
As a child, Kim wanted to be an artist but was forced to major in Economics while in school in South Korea. Eventually, he embarked on a career as an animator where he drew cartoon strips for Korean newspapers. Kim was initially hired by Disney through Kennedy Cartoons where he worked on Disney Afternoon shows such as Goof Troop and Darkwing Duck. In 1995, he was hired directly to the studio, their first Korean animator, and mentored by Glen Keane. He has since contributed features such as Hercules (film), Tarzan (film), Meet the Robinsons, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, and Encanto.
In 2016, Hong Sung-ho, president of Locus Studios, persuaded Kim to return to South Korea to work as executive creative director of the Korean feature animated film Red Shoes. He returned to Los Angeles in 2018 to work on Pearl Studio/Netflix's film, Over the Moon, which was directed by his mentor Glen Keane.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Goof Troop | Animator - 15 Episodes |
| 1993 | Bonkers | Animator - 4 Episodes |
| 1994 | Aladdin | Animator - 12 Episodes |
| 1997 | Hercules | Animator: Amphitryon and Alcmene |
| 1999 | Tarzan | Additional Animator |
| 1999 | How to Haunt a House | Animator |
| 2000 | Fantasia 2000 | Animator: Rhapsody in Blue Piano Concerto No. 2 Pomp and Circumstance The Firebird Suite |
| The Emperor's New Groove | Animator: Kuzco/Kuzco Llama | |
| 2002 | Treasure Planet | Animator: Jim Hawkins |
| 2004 | Home on the Range | Animator: Buck |
| 2005 | Chicken Little | Animator |
| 2007 | Meet the Robinsons | Animator |
| 2008 | Bolt | Character Designer |
| 2009 | The Princess and the Frog | Animator: Charlotte |
| 2010 | Tangled | Character Designer |
| 2012 | Wreck-It Ralph | Character Designer |
| 2013 | Frozen | Visual Development Artist |
| 2014 | Big Hero 6 | Character Design Supervisor |
| 2016 | Zootopia | Additional Visual Development Artist Character Designer |
| Moana | Visual Development Artist Character Designer | |
| 2017 | Sheriff Callie's Wild West | Animation Director |
| 2018 | Ralph Breaks the Internet | Additional Visual Development Artist Character Designer |
| 2019 | Frozen II | Additional Visual Development Artist Character Designer |
| 2021 | Raya and the Last Dragon | Visual Development Artist Character Designer |
| 2021 | Encanto | 2D animator Visual Development artist |
| 2022 | Strange World | Character Designer Visual Development artist Art Director |
Gallery
Trivia
- Kim suffers from color blindness, which is the reason why he only draws with pencils and doesn't use color.
- His life dream is to create a Disney animated feature film focusing on Korea.
