Once Harald Siepermann wrapped up his work on the silverback Kerchak for Walt Disney’s Tarzan, he quickly moved on to Kala, the mate of Kerchak, and the protective and caring mother of Tarzan.
In contrary to Siepermann’s designs for Kerchak with a lot of straight and angular lines, Kala consisted of curved lines and round shapes, and with big eyes that expressed her warm motherly emotions. To incorporate the warm emotions, Siepermann found inspiration close at home, “I was very lucky that my daughter was born half a year before I started on Tarzan, that was perfect reference, not only visually but also emotionally,” he commented. “It helped a lot finding that warmth and get it into Kala’s eyes and attitude. I paid great attention to warm, friendly, round lines. Can’t find a better way to say it, you have to feel it, when you draw it. At least I have to.”
Russ Edmonds was the Supervising Animator for Kala and made the final design. “I was given his designs by the directors as a jumping off point for animation,” commented Russ Edmonds about Harald Siepermann’s work. “I took his beautiful designs and created a version that could be turned in space and animated. He drew many different variations and was given freedom to explore the heartfelt connection between Kala and Tarzan. I tried to capture Harald’s emotional renditions in my animation.”
