When Harald Siepermann started on Walt Disney’s Tarzan in July 1995, his first task was to explore visual possibilities for the gorillas and their relationship with a young Tarzan. This was still early during the production while the story and visual language was still in development. Once that started to get shape, it was time to narrow down the characters, and by the end of 1995, Tarzan-directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck asked Siepermann to make designs for all the main characters.
One of the first characters he picked up were Clayton and Kerchak. Both characters were actually considered villains at some point during the production. “Since Clayton – our real villain – enters the movie pretty late, we had to sell Kerchak as the villain of the first act,” commented Siepermann. “But actually he is just an austere father, trying to protect his tribe.” Below are some of Harald’s first explorations from March 1996. While he often drew Kerchak with a calm and observing expression, yet he managed to incorporate his strong and dominant personality in the designs.
After his first explorations he put the character aside to continue with the characters Professor Porter and Clayton, and start with Jane Porter and Tantor as well. But later that year, in October 1996, Siepermann made additional designs for Kerchak. After exploring different shapes and sizes for the gorillas, “We agreed to base Kerchak on a square,” commented Siepermann, “which is why you will find many straight lines and angles in the sketches. The rest was work and patience till you find the right balance and attitude.”
Below are designs from November 1996, in which Siepermann incorporated a more angular approach.
After a lot of exploration, Harald Siepermann hit upon a design that the directors liked, and what was handed to Supervising Animator Bruce W. Smith, who created the final design of Kerchak. Siepermann’s visual development was a great help in the right direction. “Until my work on Tarzan, I never had any animation assignments that required realistic drawings of animals,” commented Smith, “so I really gravitated to Harald’s takes on Kerchak. His knowledge in the drawings helped me tremendously.”
