David Derrick Jr.
David Derrick Jr. is a storyboard artist and illustrator. He has worked as a storyboard artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios on The Lion King and Moana. He sought the opportunity to work on Moana because of his ancestral ties to Samoa.
He told the Deseret News: “I made this movie for Simea-fua,” Derrick said, referring to the ancestor whose picture hung above his desk throughout his work on the project. “My goal was to celebrate the Polynesian culture in a way that we haven’t seen yet.”[1]
He was with DreamWorks Animation previously and worked on Flushed Away, Bee Movie, How to Train Your Dragon, MegaMind, and Rise of the Guardians. He also worked on the TV series Turbo FAST and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
He illustrated I’m the Scariest Thing in the Jungle, Animals Don’t So I Won’t, Sid the Squid, and Scrambled INK. He is the author and illustrator of Play with your Food.
During 2020, he presented “Live Drawing with David Derrick” on Instagram and participated in Disney’s “Draw with Disney Animation” series.
Derrick grew up in Farmington, Utah. He is a graduate of the University of Utah and the California Institute of the Arts. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
