Joyn Webb Smith was an American animator and writer, who worked at Disney Studios in the 1930s and is often credited for the innovation of the storyboard concept for animation.
Smith was born in West Liberty, IA and became employed by Walt Disney in the animation department. It was here he began refining a different approach to storytelling. Rather than use word by word descriptions of the scene and then drawing it, Smith decided to draw a rough sketches of the scene with notes on the side and posted them to a bulletin board. This proved to be less time consuming for the animators and allowed them to "see" the story unfold and rearrange elements to improve the flow of the narrative later. This technique would be used by many writers and animators both at the studio and other companies to better their own processes.
His innovation helped him secure jobs within Disney in the Silly Symphonies and other shorts. It also helped with the early production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which allowed the crew to refine the background and character designs and solidify the narrative without wasting time and resources. Smith would also work on Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. Walt also selected him along with several employees to join him on his Good-will tour of South America as part of story research for new features based on the land and culture. This trip would lead to the fruition of Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.
Smith left Disney later in 1942 and joined fellow writer Otto Englander to move to MGM where he worked under Walter Lantz. There, he contributed to shorts related to Tom & Jerry and most notably, Woody Woodpecker. He died on March 16, 1951 at the age of 64.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Mickey Cuts Up | Story - uncredited |
| 1932 | Babes in the Woods | Story - uncredited |
| 1933 | Birds in the Spring | Writer - uncredited |
| 1933 | Three Little Pigs | Writer - uncredited |
| 1933 | The Pied Piper | Story - uncredited |
| 1933 | The Night Before Christmas | Story - uncredited |
| 1935 | On Ice | Writer Animator - uncredited |
| 1936 | Three Blind Mouseketeers | Writer - uncredited |
| 1937 | Don Donald | Writer - uncredited |
| 1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Story Adaptation |
| 1938 | Mother Goose Goes Hollywood | Writer - uncredited |
| 1940 | Pinocchio | Story Adaptation |
| 1940 | Fantasia | Story Development: "The Pastoral Symphony" |
| 1941 | Dumbo | Story Development |
| 1942 | Saludos Amigos | Story research |
| 1942 | The Olympic Champ | Story - uncredited |
| 1942 | How to Swim | Writer |
| 1943 | Victory Vehicles | Writer |
| 1944 | The Three Caballeros | Story: "The Flying Gauchito" - uncredited |
Gallery[]
.jpg "Disney staff 1931 (1).jpg (65 KB)")
Seated, from left: David Hand, Ted Sears, Dick Lundy, Burt Gillett, Walt Disney
.jpg "Disney staff 1931 (2).jpg (64 KB)")
Seated from left: King, Lundy, Sears, Ferguson, de Tremaudan, Jackson, Clark, Gillett, Lewis
