What is your name and your current occupation?
Martin Cendreda. Unemployed. Drawing some comics that I’ve neglected for a long time.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing crazy, most of them have been boring. As a teen, I worked at the Vogue theater in Hollywood, and later I found out it was haunted. Sadly, I didn’t experience anything paranormal.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first job out of animation school was the first season of South Park. The following year I worked on the movie.  I also worked on my friend Amy’s show, “Making Fiends” at Nickelodeon. Sadly, it got relegated to Nicktoons and never aired properly on Nickelodeon proper.
How did you become interested in animation?
Like most kids, watching tons of cartoons on TV. Smurfs, Thundercats, Flintstones, Star Blazers, He-Man, G.I.Joe, Transformers, Robotech, all that stuff.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Los Angeles. Went to school for animation at UCLA. Got my first job from a school connection.
What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
At my last job on Problem Solverz, I juggled a bunch of stuff: editing the current episode, outputting quicktimes for the next episode, making episode flyers for the show tumblr blog, doing retakes (swapping out bgs, small animation tweaks, etc.), making the credits, editing dialogue, outputting audio/video for record sessions or final delivery.
What part of your job do you like best? Why?
On my last job, it was making the first assembly of an episode. It’s neat to be the first one to see all the finished animation scenes come together into an episode.
What part of your job do you like least? Why?
Waiting to hear about the next pick up.
What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis?
Mac G5 running Final Cut Pro, Flash 8/CS3, Compressor. For comics, Photoshop, InDesign. Oh and Firefox. For “research” (procrastinating).
What is the most difficult part for you about being in the business?
Job security. Worrying about that next pick up.
Any side projects or you’re working on or hobbies you’d like to share details of?
I do comics on the side, and I’ve had some stuff published here and there. Working on a book-length comic now that I might startserializing on the internet. Not sure how to go about that yet though.
Any unusual talents or hobbies like tying a cherry stem with your tongue or metallurgy?
I can juggle 3 balls with 2 hands, then switch to 2 balls with one hand, then back to 3.
Is there any advice you can give for an aspiring animation student or artist trying to break into the business?
Hmmm, I guess 2 things: have patience and persistence. Oh, and always work on something personally fulfilling outside of work. It’ll help keep you sane during the ups and downs of the day job.
