James Baxter

James Baxter is a British character animator known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*, Rafiki in *The Lion King*, Belle in *Beauty and the Beast*, and Quasimodo in *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*. After *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, Baxter moved to DreamWorks Animation, where he worked on films such as *The Prince of Egypt*, *The Road to El Dorado*, *Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron*, *Shrek 2*, and *Madagascar*. In early 2005, Baxter left DreamWorks and became an independent animator. He founded his own studio, James Baxter Animation, in Pasadena, California, where he directed the animation for the 2007 film *Enchanted* and the opening credits to *Kung Fu Panda*, for which he received an Annie Award. By the summer of 2008, James Baxter Animation had closed, and Baxter returned to DreamWorks Animation as a supervising animator.

Baxter has also worked on *Tummy Trouble*, *How to Train Your Dragon*, and *The Croods*.

In May 2013, Baxter was a guest animator for an episode of *Adventure Time* titled "James Baxter the Horse." The episode's story centers 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. Baxter provided both the horse's animation and voice, with the episode's title card featuring a drawing of the horse drawing a horse on a beach ball while sitting at an animation table.