Rubén Procopio
Rubén Procopio, artist, animator and sculptor for over 25 years is a key relative contributor to the award-winning Walt Disney Classics Collection helping to translate beloved Disney characters and emotion into gallery quality three-dimensional porcelain sculptures.
Rubén credits his father, Adolfo, for master artistic instruction. A son of an Italian émigrés (also along with his wife and young Rubén moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960’s), Adolfo Procopio has enjoyed an acclaimed carreer with Walt Disney Imangineering for over 35 years, helping to develop some of the Disney Theme Park’s most famous attractions around the world. A veteran sculptor, Adolfo instilled in Rubén many artistic techniques and traditions – the two remain in a creative partnership today in Masked Avenger Studios, founded by Rubén. In addition to creative skills learned from his father, Rubén received scholarships from both CalArds and Art Center. Rubén’s sister, Vivian Procopio, has also been part of the Disney family for over fifteen years, currently as a Research Administrator with Walt Disney Feature Animation Research Library (ARL).
Multi-talented and multi-tasking, Rubén joined Walt Disney Feature Animations in 1980 at the age of eighteen, realizing a dream as a young man. Rubén was fortunate to study with Eric Larson, on of Walt Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men” as well as other Disney veterans. “It was such an honor to work with artists that created this industry,” says Rubén. “I never thought it was possible to make a living doing what I really enjoyed – drawing cartoons.”
In various capacities at Walt Disney Feature Animation in California and Florida, Rubén worked on more than 25 feature films as an animator, storyboard artist, character designer, artistic supervisor and department head, and master sculptor for animation models, which he coined as “manquettes.” Rubén is credited with brining back the maquette process to feature animated film productions in his work through out the 1980’s. Rubén’s Ursula maquette (from Disney’s The Little Mermaid) was recently added to the Smithsonian Institute collection. For Disney, Rubén’s extensive film credits include The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Co., The Rescuers Down Under, The Prince and the Pauper, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cranium Command, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Atlantis, Home on the Range and Lorenzo. A number of the movies on which Rubén worked received nominations for Academy Awards®.
Rubén has been a key contributor to the tradition of Disney artistry and authenticity found in the Walt Disney Classics Collection since the very inception of the line – first working as a consultant in the early days over seeing the accuracy and artistic integrity of the sculptures as the “expert” in Walt Disney Feature Animation. Recently, Rubén’s contributions to the Collection include the sculpting of such releases as Elastigirl and Edna Mode from Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles and Yen Sid based on the famed sequence from Fantasia (1940) in which Rubén employed both his considerable 2-D and 3-D skills – Rubén re-animated the brooms pitching the pains of water progression before sculpting the sequence.
