Randy Fullmer, extremely creative effects animator, visual effects supervisor, art coordinator, and producer has contributed to films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Little Mermaid And Lion King at Walt Disney Animation Studios, passed away. He was 73.
Fullmer died July 10 at his home in Woodland Hills after a long battle with cancer, his family announced.
From 1983-84, Fullmer worked for Don Bluth Studios, creating special effects for dragon’s lair And Ace, the first video game to be produced on a laser disc. He then worked at John Dykstra’s live-action special effects house Apogee and at Filmation, where he handled animation for TV shows like happily ever after, BraveStarr, She-Ra: Princess of Power And horror movie from 1985-87.
In 1987, Fullmer was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation (now Walt Disney Animation Studios) on a three-month contract to animate the Toon Town portion of the series. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The job would turn into an 18-year career at Disney.
His anime credits include animation effects on Oliver & Company (1988) and Little Mermaid (1989); surveillance effect on Rescuers below (1990); monitor visual effects on Beauty and the Beast (1991); art coordinator on Lion King (1994) and The Hunchback at Notre Dame (1996); and manufacturer on The Emperor’s New Trench (2000) and Little chicks (2005).
After retiring from the animation industry, Fullmer founded Wyn Guitars in 2006. He is the founder and sole builder of the company and has built hundreds of unique guitars for musical talents including Abraham Laboriel, James LoMenzo, Jimmy Haslip, Isaias Elpes, Stewart McKinsey, Robin Zielhorst, Maurice Fitzgerald, and Fernando Vallin, Adam Johnson, Jerma.
After a performance by Wyn Guitar fans at the 2011 National Association of Musicians convention, Fullmer became the subject of the Mike Enns documentary. recover (2014). The film focuses on Wyn Guitars’ amazing impact on the music industry, leading to a waiting list of nearly 200 people yearning for a custom bass guitar.
Randall Wyn Fullmer was born on April 27, 1950 in Richland, Washington. His father is a nuclear physicist and his mother is a physiotherapist.
Fullmer learned to play the trombone at the age of 6, and when he was 12, he asked his parents to buy him a 12-string guitar to complement his 6-string electric guitar. When they refused – he already had a guitar anyway – Fullmer made his own 12-string.
Over the next six years, he built about 30 guitars by hand, taught and mentored by an old West West violinist named Tom.
Fullmer formed several rock bands with friends during his youth, including one called The Isle of Phyve that toured the Pacific Northwest on weekends, summers, and holidays while he was in high school. (Fullmer also plays piano and percussion instruments.)
While studying architecture at Washington State University from 1968-1970, he took a class in film and became fascinated with animation. He applied to Cal Arts, was accepted into the school’s animation program and graduated in 1974, then spent about seven years running his own animation business, where he produced educational films, television commercials, and segments for Sesame Street and Saturday morning programs.
Fullmer is also an accomplished artist when it comes to plein air painting, stained glass, jewelry, bronze forging and woodworking including extended furniture projects, framing, custom live edge hewn, and mid-century modern chair restoration.
“Most people are good at one thing in their life. Randy is good at a lot of things,” said Don Hahn, former Disney animator (Beauty and the Beast, Lion King) said in a statement.
“He can draw and paint beautifully, but he has the mind of an engineer and the heart of an artist. He’s very good at animation; good at film production. He was at the center of the Disney renaissance in animation, then when he needed a new chapter in his life, he set out to craft the sophisticated and sought-after bass guitars with the same engineering mind and artistic soul that he brought to Disney’s animated films.
“His masterful woodwork radiates from his love for the ethos of the craftsman working with mind, hands and heart. I miss him, but I carry his passion and joy with me every day. Will always.”
Survivors include his wife, Diana; stepchildren Becky and Nick; Cathy’s sister; and stepbrother Scott. Donations in his memory can be made to Doctors Without Borders.
His family says that “Fullmer’s energy is currently flying across the universe and he would love for others to use it as inspiration to take their own creative risks! In honor of him, [we] hopefully people will consciously treat others as he did with kindness, compassion, generosity and humour.”
