Ruben Procopio
WDCC Sculptor
Ruben Procopio is an animator, sculptor, character designer and comic-book artist whose career has crossed both two-dimensional animation and three-dimensional character art.
A major contributor to the Walt Disney Classics Collection, he brought decades of firsthand Disney animation experience to some of the collection's most ambitious character sculptures and limited editions.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Discover the artist behind the sculptures
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1961, Ruben Procopio moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of four.
His father, Adolfo Procopio, became a sculptor for Walt Disney Imagineering, giving Ruben an early connection with three-dimensional Disney art. His artistic development included regular drawing exercises guided by his father.
At just 18 years old, Procopio joined Disney animation, where he trained under veteran artists including Eric Larson, one of Walt Disney's legendary Nine Old Men.
Ruben Procopio & WDCC
Work for the Walt Disney Classics Collection
Ruben Procopio became a key contributor to the Walt Disney Classics Collection, bringing his experience as both an animator and animation-maquette sculptor to collectible art.
His WDCC portfolio includes an extraordinary range of subjects, from Walt Disney and Oswald in True Originals to Genie, Ursula, Chernabog, Maleficent and characters from Mickey's Christmas Carol.
He also created some of the collection's most ambitious limited editions, including Magical Maelstrom, featuring Sorcerer Mickey, Yen Sid and the enchanted brooms from Fantasia.
NOTABLE WDCC CREATIONS
A selection of sculptures created by Ruben Procopio
BEYOND WDCC
Other projects and collectible lines
Procopio spent more than two decades working across Disney feature animation as an animator, character designer, story artist, supervisor and maquette sculptor.
In 2003, he founded Masked Avenger Studios, expanding his work into comics, animation, storyboarding, sculpture, visual development and illustration.
- Feature animation
- Animation maquettes
- Character design
- Storyboarding and illustration
- Comic-book art
- Masked Avenger Studios
DID YOU KNOW?
A little story behind the artist
Ruben Procopio helped revive the use of three-dimensional character maquettes in modern Disney feature-animation production.
His maquettes of Belle, Beast, Gaston and LeFou helped the animators of Beauty and the Beast study their characters from every angle — and his Ursula maquette from The Little Mermaid later entered the Smithsonian collection.