Chris Harding, Animator

He's a Good Monkey

Chris Harding. Photography by Jeff Evrard.

The popularity and scope of animation has grown as a storytelling form, evolving in step with technology and permeating pop culture at all levels. The style, characters, and production of animation have evolved since the earliest sketches of The Mouse drawn by Walt Disney, one of Kansas City’s most famous animators and storytellers. The ancestry of animation has a long, varied lineage, spanning the collective work of Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes, Japanese anime, Disney, Dreamworks, and Pixar, to name a few. Independent animation has produced contemporary pop culture gems including The Simpsons, South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Adult Swim, Robert Smigel’s pointed commentary on Saturday Night Live’s TV Funhouse, and Pale Force on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Ultimately, no matter how slick the technology behind the animation that appears on the silver screen, television screen, or computer screen, the power of a tale relies on the strength of the story to entertain viewers for a few minutes or hours.

Local animator Chris Harding grew up in Arizona and now resides in Prairie Village, Kansas, with his wife. He moved to the area to work as an illustrator with Hallmark and started a comic for Universal Press; he no longer works with Universal Press. Later, Harding founded the animation studio Goldhouse Creative with two partners. The partnership developed promising work, but was subsequently placed on the back burner after the partners moved to other cities. When asked why he remains in the Kansas City area, Harding responds with the same biting wit and reason that is found in his creative work.

“I like the idea of living away from the mainstream of the animation industry,” says Harding. “It lets me do my own thing and keep it informal. A lot of my family is still in Arizona, so I miss them. Otherwise I really like it here. Except for the god-forsaken winters, which are unbearable. I would ask you and everyone in Kansas City the same question: What the hell are we doing here?”

Still images from Learn Self Defense.

He has written and animated several shorts over the past five years with some success. One of Harding’s films, Learn Self Defense, has played in over 100 film festivals worldwide and earned several awards including Best Professional Film 2005 at the Bradford Animation Festival sponsored by the British National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television. The film also earned awards at the Oxford Film Festival, Irish Animation Festival, and Arizona International Film Festival.

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