Singapore-born visual effects artist Francis Leong brings Moana’s hair to life in box-office hit

SINGAPORE – You have seen his work in the cult comedy Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010), Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and animation feature Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023).

Born and raised in Singapore, Walt Disney Animation Studios artist Francis Leong can now be seen applying his craft in the animated musical Moana 2, currently showing in Singapore cinemas.

The way protagonist Moana’s lustrous locks flutter in the sea breeze and how her skirt billows as she runs through the forest is down to the efforts of a team that includes Leong.

In live-action films, the Vancouver-based artist worked in visual effects. For animated projects such as Moana 2, he handles character effects, ensuring that the characters’ hair, clothes and fur look and move as they should.

In an e-mail interview with The Straits Times, Leong, 41, explains that he helped make the hair and clothes of Moana 2’s characters behave naturally while fitting within the film’s artistic universe.

“Creating appealing shapes and silhouettes of a character’s hair while maintaining the organic motion produced by physical simulation is a challenge in Disney’s very stylised animated worlds,” he says.

The sequel to Moana (2016) has been a global hit. As at Dec 2, it has grossed US$389 million (S$523 million) globally, making it the second biggest opening of 2024. It is behind Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which made US$444 million globally over its opening weekend in July.

Leong’s journey to Disney began at Singapore Polytechnic, where he studied electrical and electronic engineering.

“I’ve always loved art since I was young and I remember doing more drawing than writing in primary school,” he says. Prophetically, his first jigsaw puzzle was of Steamboat Willie, the 1928 animation short that marked Mickey Mouse’s debut.

At Singapore Polytechnic, he attended a talk by Singaporean visual effects expert and animator Hillary Yeo about working on The Lord Of The Rings film series (2001 to 2003) at New Zealand-based visual effects and animation company Weta Digital.

“That talk inspired me to believe that I could have a job related to computer graphics and digital painting,” says Leong.

After earning a diploma in animation with a specialisation in digital visual effects from Egg Story Digital Arts School in Singapore, he worked at several studios, such as Animal Logic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Image Engine, ILM and Double Negative.

In 2016, he moved to Montreal, Canada, to join Framestore as a creature effects technical director, working on films such as Paddington 2 (2017) and Lady And The Tramp (2019).

In 2017, he relocated to Vancouver, where he lives today with his wife, who also works in animation. After a stint at Method Studios, he joined Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Vancouver division in 2023.

At Disney, he employs advanced physical simulation systems to bring life to costumes and highly stylised hairdos.

He says: “The system gives character effects artists the flexibility to manipulate hair in hyper-realistic ways, to create the strong silhouettes required for character animation. It has enabled a wide range of complex hairstyles in animated feature films.”

Leong particularly values learning from veterans such as Alex Kupershmidt, 64, a 2D technical animator with 42 years’ experience at Disney’s animation arm. He is known for his work on Aladdin (1992), Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Zootopia (2016).

“I got to learn so much from him, in creating visual appeal in cloth and hair motion performance,” says Leong.

For aspiring animators and visual effects artists, his journey illustrates the value of persistence. He advises finding one’s interest early, whether in computer programming for technical directors or artistic skills for storyboarding and visual development.

Fifteen years ago, he started as a matchmove artist, painstakingly matching computer-generated scenes with live-action footage to create a convincing whole.

His advice? “Don’t give up just because you didn’t land your first dream job. Remember what you love and truly enjoy doing, then slowly work your way up.”