Constable: Fulfilling dream, Aurora animator takes 'One Small Step' to Oscars

By Burt Constable

When Andrew Chesworth was a boy, his grandfather predicted the little artist would work for Disney someday. Chesworth did. Now the 33-year-old animator who grew up in Aurora will be in the Academy Awards audience Sunday to see if he wins an Oscar for his short animation about a little girl who makes good on her dream.

"Whenever you create something, you put a lot of yourself into it," Chesworth says, noting that "One Small Step" blends his experiences with those of co-director Bobby Pontillas and producer Shaofu Zhang. It is the first film created by that trio and their Taiko Studios crew, but not the first Oscar moment for Chesworth.

Hired by Disney in 2011 to work on "Wreck-It Ralph," Chesworth helped animate Oscar-winning films such as "Frozen," "Zootopia," "Big Hero 6" and the animated short called "Feast," which starred a canine character based partly on Lucky, the Chesworth family's Jack Russell terrier.

"I videoed my dog doing as many things as I could," Chesworth remembers. That footage helped him animate a realistic dog, "so we can say our dog won an Oscar," Chesworth quips.

As a director, Chesworth's vision molds every frame of the seven minutes and 40 seconds of "One Small Step." During his six years with Disney, his best moments were just a thread in an elaborate tapestry.

"That's how these movies are made. It's all just people working really hard," according to Chesworth, who says an animator might produce anywhere from four to seven seconds of a film in a week's worth of work. "It's such a meticulous handmade product."

He pointed out his work in "Frozen" to his parents, Frank and Wendy Chesworth. "You know that part when Princess Anna punches Prince Hans off the boat? I did that," he says. His website, artofandrewchesworth.com, contains reels of his work for Disney and on his own.

He remembers working on a Disney short called "Get A Horse" when it dawned on him that he was just 28 years old and living his dream. "I was working on the character of Mickey Mouse," Chesworth says.

There is a moment in "One Small Step," when the little girl character, Luna, watches a rocket ship take off on TV, her eyes grow big, and she believes she can become an astronaut.

"It reminds me of being a 3-year-old and watching 'Dumbo,'" Chesworth says. "It's that moment the spark ignites."

As a student at Granger Middle School in Aurora, Chesworth took a basic computer class, where he discovered an interesting piece of software. "You could do a doodle and actually animate it," he says.

As a student at Waubonsie Valley High School, he sang in choirs, played tennis, ran track and cross country, did well in classes and got lots of support from art teacher Carolyn Steward. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but a movie gave him direction.

"I just got my driver's license, so I drove my girlfriend to see 'Monsters, Inc.'" Chesworth says. "I loved it. I could see myself doing that."

In an effort to save money and be able to drive home from college, Chesworth bypassed top-rated animation schools on both coasts to study at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He graduated with a fine arts degree and worked for MAKE, a Minneapolis design studio that gave him lots of responsibility. "I directed my first commercial when I was 21," says Chesworth, who was hired by Disney six years later.

"You look at yourself as an actor being cast," Chesworth says, noting some animators are better at comedy or action or drama, and they all work together to make a film. "It's a difficult task and a team sport."

Chesworth's fiancee, Julie Shin, was an animator who enjoyed designing the outfits for her characters so much that she now works as a fashion designer, Chesworth says.

With Pontillas, Zhang and fellow artists at Taiko Studios in California and Wuhan, China, the goal is to create films that connect with all people.

"I'm fundamentally a storyteller," Chesworth says. "You have to have experiences. You have to explore and travel and interact with people who are different from yourself."

The five films vying for the Oscar in the best animated short category are all worthy, Chesworth says. He's posed for photographs with Oscar statues won by Disney, but he'll get one to take home if "One Small Step" wins.

"All you think about is how you got there, and for all the people who helped you get there," says Chesworth, who has worked on a 15-second speech just in case he finds himself on stage holding that statue. "It's very brief, and very sweet."

Just like his film.

The 91st Academy Awards

• The awards show airs at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, on ABC. The show will also stream at <a href="http://abc.com">abc.com</a> and through the ABC app.

• Live coverage of the red carpet begins at 5:30 p.m. on ABC.

• Preshow and red carpet coverage on E! begins at noon.