James Baxter is a British character animator. He attended the West Surrey College of Art and Design before working for Walt Disney Animation Studios, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
After The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Baxter moved over to DreamWorks Animation working on films such as The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek 2, and Madagascar. Early in 2005, Baxter left DreamWorks and set out on his own as an independent animator. He became the head of his own studio, James Baxter Animation in Pasadena, California where he has directed the animation for the 2007 film Enchanted and the opening credits to DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda. In 2008, Baxter closed his studio and returned to DreamWorks as a supervising animator. While at DreamWorks, Baxter worked on films including Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Croods. In 2017, Baxter left DreamWorks once again and went to work for Netflix.
Filmography Year Title Credits Characters 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Animator 1989 Tummy Trouble (Short) Animator The Little Mermaid Character Animator Ariel 1990 DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp Character Animator The Rescuers Down Under Character Animator Joanna, Rescue Aid Society Mice, Insects, Wilbur 1991 Beauty and the Beast Supervising Animator Belle 1993 The Making of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (Video documentary) Additional Animator 1994 The Lion King Supervising Animator Rafiki 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Character Designer/Visual Development / Supervising Animator Quasimodo 1998 The Prince of Egypt Animator Moses 2000 The Road to El Dorado Senior Supervising Animator Tulio 2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Senior Supervising Animator Spirit 2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Supervising Animator Sinbad 2004 Shrek 2 Supervising Animator 2005 Madagascar Additional Supervising Animator 2006 Curious George Animation Supervisor: James Baxter Animation 2007 Enchanted Animation Supervisor: James Baxter Animation 2008 Kung Fu Panda Animation Director: Dream Sequence, James Baxter Animation Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five (Video short) Special Thanks 2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Animator 2010 How to Train Your Dragon AnimatorKung Fu Panda Holiday (TV Short) Animator 2011 Adam and Dog Animator 2012 Gravity Falls (TV Series) Additional Animator – 2 Episodes Rise of the Guardians Concept Artists – Uncredited 2013 The Croods Head of Character Animation and Animator: 2D Sequence Adventure Time (TV Series) Voice / Animator – 2 Episodes and Character Designer – 1 Episode James Baxter the Horse 2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 Supervising Animator Valka 2016 Trolls Additional Animation 2017 Regular Show (TV Series) Additional Animator – 1 Episode Samurai Jack (TV Series) Additional Animation - 1 Episode 2018 Mary Poppins Returns Animator2019Steven Universe (TV Series)Additional Animation - 1 Episode KlausAnimator2020 Close EnoughMain Title Animation WolfwalkersAnimator2021 Vivo2D Development CentaurworldAnimator - Uncredited2023Once Upon a StudioAnimatorBelle, the Beast, Quasimodo, Rafiki2025The Wonderfully Weird World of GumballAnimator
Awards and honors Baxter received an Annie Award for character animation on Kung Fu Panda at the 36th Annie Awards in 2009.
In 2018, Baxter, along with fellow animators Stephen Hillenburg (months before his death), Amanda Forbis, and Wendy Tilby won the Winsor McCay Award at the 2018 Annie Awards.
In popular culture In May 2013, Baxter was a guest animator for an episode of the 5th season of Adventure Time entitled "James Baxter the Horse". The episode's story focused on the lead characters trying to emulate a horse who can cheer everyone up by neighing his name (James Baxter) and balancing on a beach ball. Both the horse's animation and voice were provided by Baxter. The episode's title card features a drawing of the horse drawing a horse on a beach ball, while sitting at an animation table. A second episode focusing on the character's origins, "Horse and Ball", aired during the show's eighth season with Baxter once again animating and voicing the character.
Personal life Baxter is married to Kendra. They also have two children.
References
External links
James Baxter's visit to CalArt's Character Animation Program (Spring '06)