Author Archives: Laura

One Comment

Spartaco Margioni

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Spartaco Margioni- freelance artist/animator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
 sold water purifiers door to door.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
 Well, many, but working on SpongeBob Squarepants was extremely fun. I was primarily responsible for main characters and some of those sound files, would really make you laugh. Also, working on Dr.Seuss books and making old classics into multimedia projects was very eventful and fun.

How did you become interested in animation?
 I have always been able to draw since I was small and just truly enjoyed the old animated classics growing up. Once in school, I started to gravitate towards animation after trying Continue reading

No comments

Kevin O’Neil

  By

What is your name and your current occupation?
Kevin O’Neil and currently a freelance special effects animator.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Being a bank courier, picking up bank checks from all the big banks in downtown Chicago, for Jet Courier services in Chicago, back in the 80’s. I worked at Midway and O’Hare airports in the middle of the night, 1 am to 5 am. Also before that, I taught guitar for 6 years, and played in a few bands in Chicago. I was a full time musician before going back to art school at age 28. So I don’t know if they were exactly crazy, just jobs.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favs was Iron Giant at Warner Feature, and Hercules and Mulan at Disney Feature. Working at Disney TV on The Tigger Movie was also a lot of fun, and working with Jun Falkenstein was a great experience. I was glad I got to work at Disney if even for a short time. Brad Bird at WB, John Musker and Ron Clements at Disney. Great people if you ask me. Proud to be a part of those films. The caliber of artists at these places is just great. Actually the caliber of artists at most of the studios is great, it’s just too bad a lot of the stuff we saw in the studios is art that never makes it to the screen.  I also worked at Warner’s Classics back in the 90’s as a character animator. We did a lot of commercials. I worked with Keith Baxter, Jeff Siergey, Spike Brandt & Tony Cervone. The place was fun and I got to draw Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. How could that not be great?  More recently I had a lot of fun on the Priest animated prologue for Genndy Tartakovsy. I did most of the effects on that except a couple of shots. It was fun because it wasn’t your normal efx, there was a lot of blood and guts and I got to blow things up. I finally saw an unedited clip of the whole thing online. I guess for the movie, it was tamed down.

How did you become interested in animation?
I guess just watching and growing up with the usual cartoons like everyone else. I leaned towards Warners. But I got into rather late, in my late 20’s. I was undecided in art school whether to pursue Continue reading

One Comment

Larry MacDougall

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Hello. My name is Larry MacDougall and I am currently illustrating several children’s books although I have also recently been doing some visual development work and character design with Disney designer Harald Siepermann for Zipfelmutzen Film in Germany. They are working on a 3D animated feature.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well, I’ve certainly had a few odd jobs in my time. I’ve cleaned buses and I’ve worked in a steel mill. The steel mill gig was pretty horrible at the time but the memories of working in that extreme environment and some of the nutty people that worked there have been fueling my imagination ever since. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
A couple of recent book projects I’m rather proud of are The Secret History of Giants and The Secret History of Hobgoblins, both of which were written by Ari Berk. The Secret History of Hobgoblins is finally due out this fall after a rather long delay.

How did you become interested in animation?
Like most people in the animation business I grew up watching cartoons and always enjoyed drawing. I was a big fan of comic books and Mad Magazine as well – you know, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis etc.. Anyway, one day during my stint at the steel mill, just after I’d finished high school, I was introduced to Continue reading

One Comment

Dan Fraga

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
Dan Fraga. I’m the director of The Ricky Gervais Show.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
There have been a few. Comicbook artist, Storyboard artist, Set Designer, Visual Effects Supervisor, Second unit director. Burger King.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favorites was being part of the launch of Image comics in 1992. Designing the sets for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2008 was a hoot as you might imagine. I’m really proud of the work my crew and I did for The Ricky Gervais Show Season 3.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was a kid, my parents took us to this discount store. In it I found this Fisher Price Movie Viewer  and it came with a cartridge for Disney’s Lonesome Ghosts.  I’d seen the cartoon before, but I never had the ability to step through it one frame at a time like you can now with a dvd player of quicktime clip. This was the late 70’s early 80’s, so for me to see that animation was 24 drawings making up a second of movement was like learning the secret to the greatest magic trick. Of course afterwards I made flipbooks and what-not. I eventually discovered comics and took detour from animation. After working as a storyboard artist in feature films, I started noticing the changes and compromises being made from board to final shot and it was kind of a bummer. When I started working on The Hard Times of RJ Berger for MTV, it was the first time that I got to see what I boarded translated near perfectly to final shot. It’s intoxicating. I felt that magical feeling that I once got as a kid with that toy. I love all things animation and made it my mission to learn all that I could about the different kinds that are out there and the histories behind the masterpieces we all love.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from North East Bay Area by San Francisco. I got into the animation business through working on The Hard Times of RJ Berger. I was storyboarding the show and providing on camera artwork for the main character who was an aspiring comicbook artist. The creators of the show asked if I could Continue reading

One Comment

Jennifer Harlow

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Jennifer Harlow and I’m an animator at DreamWorks Animation SKG, where I’m currently working on “The Croods” which is due out March 2013.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Prior jobs have included working at Subway with the job title of “Sandwich Artist”—a fancy name for the not-so fancy job of making the customer’s order. I was also an assistant manager on Sundays, so I kept the business running from 6 a.m. until almost 9 at night when the other manager would take over. I also worked for 2 years at Target as a cashier, but I also spent time in the photo lab and behind the customer service desk. I have a lot of wild stories from my time there, ranging from encountering a homeless woman who was convinced Target employees like myself were stealing her freshly purchased toilet paper, the chaos that is Black Friday, to random strangers pulling my curly ringlet-like hair because they thought I was wearing a wig. A slightly crazier job was during the summer after my second year at CalArts, while staying at my home in Oregon I worked as a freelance caricature artist and this led to one memorable event where I was hired for a wedding. Nothing stranger than drawing tons of already self-conscious strangers for about 4 hours. Everything went very well though, the crowd was extremely nice, and I had a fun time—though I made it a point to make the caricatures a little more flattering than my usual style.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
It’s still pretty early on in my career to be able to state a specific project. I’m really enjoying working on my first feature project, “The Croods.” It’s been a really wonderful experience, and the crew is very supportive and awesome. But I’m proud of everything I accomplished during my time at CalArts and while my students films are less than perfect, I’m glad I have them. They were each a huge learning experience.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I always drew as a kid, even before I can really remember, my Mom likes to tell this story about how she found me in the living room drawing with a big red crayon on Continue reading

7 Comments

Thomas E. Richner

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Thomas E. Richner, Associate Professor of Animation at the Columbus College of Art and Design

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Its not too crazy, but I worked at McDonalds the summer before I started graduate school at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television where I studied animation.  I’m not sure why I decided on McDonalds, but I’m glad I did it.  I learned that I really wanted and needed to ‘make it’ in animation after that experience.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m very proud of episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ that I worked on.  Working on a high profile show is fun because you know a lot of eyes are on your work.  However, I’m also very proud of the smaller projects I’ve done, like a commercial I created a couple years back here in Columbus, Ohio.  Directing your own work is very rewarding as well.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I started off as a biology major in college, but half way through college I switched my major to art.  There were actually a number of us that migrated from the sciences to art that year.  I think there is definitely a connection between Continue reading