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James Wood
What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is James Wood. I am currently employed as a freelance animator under contract with a major Canadian animation studio creating character animation for a tv show.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One summer I got a job working in a hospital as a photographer’s assistant. One of the duties required me to take photos in the operating room during surgeries – usually done on Fridays. On the day when I was “indoctrinated” into that task, I was assured the surgeon was doing “just a little operation on someone’s hand. It shouldn’t be very extensive” he said. Little did I know, they were doing an elbow reconstruction. When I walked in, I thought the patient was lying on their stomach with their elbow bent out behind them. Then I realized the patient was lying on his back, and their elbow was opened up and bent (urp) the wrong way. I didn’t hurl, but I was mighty shaky – not a good state for taking pictures. Every Friday for the rest of the summer… I hid out in the darkroom!
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I was fortunate enough to work with the highly-skilled, very clever, fun, very hard-working people at Weta Workshop animating Dragon and other animals on the tv show “Jane and the Dragon”. It meant I got to spend a year in New Zealand which was pretty interesting. The work was quite demanding, but I think the end product was pretty darn good.  Also, in the summer of 2012 I did a short for an animation contest. We were given sound tracks and six weeks to animate whatever we wanted. Just a few weeks before the contest I’d finished programming an autorigger, so I whipped up a character model, rigged it, modeled and rigged props and created a location, animated like crazy, added sound effects to the audio and posted the thing about two and a half weeks after starting it.  Sure the model is crude, and the animation is far from wonderful, and even though I didn’t win the contest (no comment) I feel very proud of my work. The autorigger worked great (it took about an hour to fully rig the character), the animation is serviceable, and the whole thing tells more story than what was conveyed by the audio. I realized how do-able it was to create a reasonably good short and it was great to hear how well it was received. I’m eager to do more.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?Â
I’m from London, Ontario in Canada. When I was a kid, I was always drawing and making Continue reading
Andrew Dickman
What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Andrew Dickman, I’m currently a storyboard artist
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before I got into the industry I took a lot of freelance jobs doing flash animation for several clients who liked my work. I remember taking a job in Hollywood to do flash animation for a studio I can’t remember the name of. It felt even though I was an amateur coming into the studio, I was teaching them how to prepare everything for flash animation. My job there was very short lived and I felt they didn’t know exactly what they were doing. I have no idea if the project went through but it was a very odd moment for me. Around the same time I did an animated music video for a band in Germany, which I heard made it to television over there but there’s little I really know for certain. I seem to have done a lot of flash animated music videos at the time for both myself and other clients, it seemed to be a thing I wanted to do until I found my Continue reading
Erin Hunting
What is your name and your current occupation?
Hi, my name’s Erin Hunting and I’m currently a freelance illustrator.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing too crazy or exciting to pass on I’m afraid. I have read people’s tarot cards in the past though.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve always enjoyed drawing up character designs and one of my favourite jobs was one I did for EatYourLunch.com where I was given alot of freedom to discover the characters, both in their physical design & how their personalities reflected that. Designing some vinyl toys for a fast food franchise some years ago was super fun too.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Melbourne, Australia and it’s been a slow journey going freelance after studying fine art for Continue reading
Derek Carter
What is your name and your current occupation?
Derek Carter. Current occupation ? Hmm that’s a little difficult. Basically I’m a humorous illustrator and artist. In animation I was a background designer and art director if you need basic labels.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well, naturally the craziest job I had was getting into animation. I did stints as a mail room clerk, box boy in a supermarket, working in construction and doing ad campaigns for film enthusiasts group and a tailor’s shop.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
While I’m proud of working as the Background designer on Disney’s “Gummi Bears” and “Winnie the Pooh’s Grand Adventure, the Quest for Christopher Robin” there are projects that I enjoyed just as much only to see the final results turn out as total duds. I’m proud of the work I did, it was such a let down to see some of the final results.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m English from just south of London. Came home one afternoon from my first regular job in an exhibition design studio and caught Halas and Batchelor’s “Tales of Hoffnung ” series (shorts based on the cartoons of Gerard Hoffnung ). As I was looking for something a tad more challenging than making large felt covered plywood figures of British policemen and Yeoman Warders I thought animation looked interesting so I Continue reading
Axel Ortiz
What is your name and your current occupation?
Hello my name is Axel Ortiz…I am a Development Artist based in Los Angeles. I mainly do conceptual work not only in animation..also in video games, theme park and live action. I also work on my own projects as well.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well, I wouldn’t say my past jobs were crazy….more like working with mentally nutty people. Worked Sears in the kids dept…dealt with crazy customers. I worked at a Pioneer Chicken for two weeks so I can make enough money to buy a comic book back issue. Before heading out to school to the Art Center….I worked at the airport down in the ramp…where I would get passengers’ luggages into the plane. In all of these places I worked with colorful characters…I would always be drawing in my sketchbooks during my breaks….or on the clock. 😛
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
There’s a few projects that I liked working on…like Big Guy and Rusty show from Sony Animation was very cool to work on…I’m a fan of the Geoff Darrow and Frank Miler book that the show is based on. I also liked working on developing characters for pitches for clients as well…getting the chance to create something new is always fun…I’ve done stuff for Nickelodeon, Bento Box, Midway, Activision, Animax and others. Lately I’m excited to be developing characters for two animated show ideas for two clients of mine. One will be pitched to Disney…let see how that goes?
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from the greater Los Angeles area of the South Bay….not far from the beach. I got into the animation just by chance…Sometime after I graduated from the Art Center College of Design…I was doing freelance jobs and working on my own project at the time…I got a call one afternoon from Continue reading
