Randy Fullmer

Randall Wyn Fullmer (born April 27, 1950) is recognized as a talent in both the world of animation and in the realm of guitar-making. After a successful eighteen-year career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Fullmer launched his own business, Wyn Guitars, through which he handcrafts bass guitars of his own design, often in close collaboration with the intended instrument owners.

Early Life

Randall Wyn Fullmer was born on April 27, 1950 in Richland, Washington. His father was a nuclear physicist and his mother was a physical therapist. While Fullmer always had artistic and musical inclinations—drawing, painting, building and playing musical instruments—his parents were not convinced that such creative pursuits were ever going to amount to anything, hoping that one day he'd "get that out of his system.” Nevertheless, Fullmer continued to proceed along an artistic path and made a name for himself in several creative circles.

Education

Fullmer studied architecture for two years at Washington State University (WSU), from 1968 to 1970. During his second year at WSU, he took a film class and became hopelessly hooked on animation, which motivated him to apply to California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). Fullmer was accepted into the animation program at Cal Arts and graduated in 1974 with a degree as a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

In the World of Animation

After graduation from Cal Arts, Fullmer spent roughly seven years running his own animation business producing works such as: medical, scientific and other educational films; segments for Sesame Street; television commercials; and Saturday morning television programs. In 1983 and 1984, Fullmer worked for Don Bluth Studios, creating special effects for Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, the first video games to be produced on laserdisc. Fullmer also worked at Apogee, John Dykstra's live action special effects house, and he then moved on to Filmation, where he animated on both television and theatrical features from 1985 to 1987.

In 1987, Fullmer was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) for a three-month contract to animate on the “Toon Town” section of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a job that turned into an 18-year career at The Walt Disney Studios. Fullmer's animation film credits include: effects animator on Oliver & Company; effects animator on The Little Mermaid (1989 film); effects supervisor on The Rescuers Down Under; head of special effects on Beauty and the Beast (1991 film); artistic coordinator on The Lion King; artistic coordinator on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film); producer on The Emperor's New Groove; and producer on Chicken Little (2005 film).

In the World of Music

Fullmer started taking trombone lessons at the age of six, but his arm wasn't long enough to hit all the scale notes until he was eight. By age ten, he was taking guitar lessons, and within a year, he appeared on television playing a duet of Malagueña with his guitar teacher.

At the age of twelve, Fullmer asked his parents if he could buy a 12-string guitar to complement his 6-string electric guitar. When they said, “no, you already have a guitar, you don't need another one," Fullmer asked if he could purchase the wood to build his own 12-string instead. His parents were so thrown by this bizarre request that they acquiesced. Over the next six years, Fullmer proceeded to build approximately 30 guitars, craftsmanship that was both self-taught and mentored by an old country western fiddle maker named Tom. (Fullmer continued to build guitars throughout his life, but this task was relegated to hobby status while his animation career took precedent.)

Fullmer formed several rock bands with friends throughout his youth, including the rock group "The Isle of Phyve" which toured the Pacific Northwest on weekends, summers and holidays while Fullmer was in high school.

Wyn Guitars

Wyn Guitars was established in 2006. Fullmer is both the founder and sole luthier for the company and has crafted guitars for musical talents including Jimmy Haslip, Abraham Laboriel, James LoMenzo, Ben Jones, Stewart McKinsey, Robin Zeilhorst, Maurice Fitzgerald, Adam Johnson and Ethan Farmer, among others.

Wyn is Fullmer’s middle name, given to him as a tribute to a Welch uncle who also happened to be musically inclined.

Filmography

Year	Film	Position
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Effects Animator: Additional Animator
1988	Oliver & Company	Effects Animator
1989	The Little Mermaid	Effects Animator
1990	The Rescuers Down Under	Effects Supervisor
1991	Beauty and the Beast	Visual Effects Supervisor
1994	The Lion King	Artistic Coordinator
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Artistic Coordinator
2000	The Emperor's New Groove	Producer
2005	Chicken Little	Producer