Employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1996, Smith has served as the supervising animator for Kerchak and Baboons & Baby Baboon in Tarzan, Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog and Piglet, Kanga and Roo in Winnie the Pooh.
[4][6] In a 2022 retrospective interview, Smith said that the "big old tree Afro" with lips (when Eddie Valiant enters Toontown) is a caricature of himself that he drew while working on the film.
[6] In 1997, Smith served as a scenic artist for the film The Peacemaker[14] and was an animator for The Indescribable Nth and Garfield in the Rough.
[2] Also in the early 1990s, Smith was selected by produced Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang) to direct the Paramount Pictures animated film Bebe's Kids.
[15] In years that followed, he was credited as a character designer for Ted Turner's A Cool Like That Christmas,[16] The Pagemaster,[17][18][19] as well as the television series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.
[17][4][34][35] Smith's character design ability led him into visual development for the studio's subsequent projects, namely Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.
[17][36] In 2015, he served as part of the senior creative team for the direct-to-TV film Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast.
"[47] Smith also argued that the series is "blazing a path...[in] this animated sphere," saying it has parts of the horror, sci-fi, and Western genres.