Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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Andrew Chesworth

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Andrew Chesworth, and I am an animator at Walt Disney Animations Studios.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Guidebook illustrator, Subway sandwich artist, bookstore clerk, and phonathon caller for my college’s alumni office.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My favorite project I’ve ever worked on was a traditionally animated film noir short entitled Palm Springs, which was used as a festival opener and promo for the Palm Springs International ShortFest in 2010 as well as 2011. It was a perfect storm of timing, directorial autonomy, an art style I thoroughly enjoyed, getting to write playful words for remarkably distinct voice actors to speak aloud, and working with a tight-knit team of artists and friends I’d known since college and developed a very familiar rapport with.  I would rank Disney’s Get a Horse! as another high point for me, getting to animate the iconic Ub Iwerks Mickey Mouse in classically mischievous and outlandish scenarios. Working with veterans of the industry like Lauren MacMullan, Eric Goldberg, Dale Baer, Alex Kupershmidt and Mark Henn was a really privileged and rewarding experience. Wreck-It Ralph will have a special place in my heart for being the first Disney feature I got to animate on. It was interesting how much that experience encapsulated my nostalgia not only for the video game characters of my childhood, but for Disney as well. A tremendous first film to work on, with a strong and clear voice from Rich Moore.  I’m proud of every project I’ve worked on at Disney, truly. Frozen, Big Hero 6, Feast. It’s such a healthy time to be at the Disney studio. The artists are young, hungry, and full of vitality. Something is in the air there these days.

How did you become interested in animation?
I was never not interested in it, to be honest. As soon as I was old enough to comprehend what I was watching, I was hooked and attempting to draw. I will say there were Continue reading

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Chris Houghton

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Chris Houghton and I am a Storyboard Revisionist at Nickelodeon.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve been lucky enough to always have a decent job. Even as a kid, I enjoyed my jobs: cutting lawns, babysitting, farm work. In High School I worked at a small gym for a couple of years but it was a cake job that allowed me to draw most of the time.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’m most proud of the comic book series my brother Shane and I have created called Reed Gunther. It’s published by Image Comics but before that we self-published the series. We’ve poured our heart and soul into the comic over the past few years. Every small success the comic has gained, we’ve felt 10 times over.

How did you become interested in animation? 
I’ve always enjoyed animation but I became interested in animation as a career when I was Continue reading
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Warren Leonhardt

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Warren Leonhardt, story artist at Blue Sky Studios

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Worked as a logger, prep cook at a truck stop, janitor at a hospital and a shoe repairman for a day. I thought about going into amateur kickboxing in 1993 or 94 after being invited by my coach to train in Thailand, but I’m too darn lazy when it comes right down to it.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
It’s not so much the gig as the folks I’ve been lucky enough to work with. I’ve been on great crews such as the one we had at Red Rover studios up in Toronto in the early ’00s. We had a blast making Puma, Mexican Gerber commercials, and concert videos for R. Kelly when he was just on the cusp of going completely bonkers. I had to draw his recently deceased mother as an angel who talked to him, which was awkward, to say the least. As far as movies or recognizable credits go, I’d have to say those guys at Sony who made ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ were really awesome for the short time I was on that movie. Still pals with a few of em. But there were fun crews in Ottawa, Copenhagen, LA, or Toronto that I’d like to gather together in a room again anytime, regardless of the job.  Of course I have high hopes for the movie that I’m working on right now. The crew at Blue Sky has some really bright and eccentric people here, which is always awesome to be around. Makes for good comedy bits.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Same as anyone else, I guess. Television reruns of classic Looney Tunes and Disney shorts, mostly. There was one Disney special every Sunday evening when I was a kid. I was also a “Saturday Morning” kid, but I really liked waking up really early weekday mornings and watching original Tom & Jerry cartoons, Looney Tunes on Saturday morning and these Disney specials on Sundays. On one of those behind the scenes things, Walt Disney revealed that real live people made these cartoons with pencils and paper! I decided to try to become one of those guys even if it meant I had to figure it out myself. I’d have made a crappy chemical analyst anyway. My dad’s job was not for me. I got my hands on Preston Blair’s book and copied stuff from that and comic books.  And there was this other thing, too Continue reading
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Jean Texier

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What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is Jean Texier. That’s French, so it’s not Jean as in JeanHarlow, but Jean as in Jean-Claude Van Dame. I’m living and working in France and  I’m what you call a story artist, or a story-boarder. I also occasionnally do designs and illustrations.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
A long time ago, I worked as a bell-boy in a big parisian hotel. The high-point of the job was a conversation I had in an elevator with Burt Lancaster and I also remember serving a hot chocolate to Kim Wilde at 2 in the morning. Prior to animation I worked in a Fish n’Chip shop in Dublin, Ireland, which was great fun.  One could write a sit-com on the goings-on over there.
How did you become interested in animation?
My dad used to take us to see old Disney flicks in the cinema, and  as early as I can remember I was being very selective about what artwork was good and what was less good. Also in France there’s a Continue reading
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Ta-Wei Chao

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Ta-Wei Chao, and I did this animation with my wife, Tsai-Chun Han.
We are both freelance artist, which we work together as a team.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
We don’t really have any crazy job before…I worked as a part-time librarian when I was in college, and Tsai Chun used to be a comic artist assistance.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
We did a series of history Illustration book about tree Asian cities, Taipei, Tokyo, and Chang’an. I learned a lot of historical knowledge myself in the process of drawing the book.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business? 
I was born in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and graduated from Continue reading

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Wildseed Studios and Tricon Kids & Family to co-produce new animated comedy series Counterfeit Cat for Disney XD EMEA and Teletoon Canada

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Max and Gark image

Wildseed Studios and Tricon Kids & Family to co-produce new animated comedy series Counterfeit Cat for Disney XD EMEA and Teletoon Canada

Bristol, UK / Toronto, Canada – April 2015: Wildseed Studios and Tricon Kids & Family announce they are co-producing a new animated TV comedy series Counterfeit Cat (26×30′, 52×11′, plus 11 x 2′ shorts), targeted to 6-12 year-olds for Disney XD EMEA and Teletoon Canada. The UK-Canada co-production is starting production at Wildseed’s newly launched Bristol studio which will also handle the shorts and pre-production. Tricon International will handle global distribution across all platforms.

Counterfeit Cat stars Marc Wootton, the English character comedian who provides the voice for Counterfeit Cat “Max”, and Kayvan Novak, the British–Iranian actor and comedian best known for co-creating and starring in the comedy series Fonejacker, who provides the voice for “Betty”.

The show’s executive producers are Miles Bullough and Jesse Cleverly for Wildseed Studios, and Andrea Gorfolova, Jon Rutherford and Frank Saperstein for Tricon.  Creative producers are Sarah Mattingley (Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja) and Ashley Rite with Heidi Madsen and Christine Davis line producing for Wildseed and Tricon. The series is story edited by Reid Harrison (The Simpson’s), storyboard supervised by Celine Gobinet (The Amazing World of Gumball) and directed by Ben Marsaud (The Amazing World of Gumball.)

Counterfeit Cat is the story of Gark, a naive 9 year old alien with uncontrollable superpowers and destined to save the universe and Max, an anxious but vain housecat who’d prefer to save himself.  Sent for training off-world, Gark mistakes Max for a tiger who can teach him to be a hero so he can fulfil the ancient prophecy and save the universe. The problem is Max doesn’t know much about being brave: he knows about watching TV, knitting and coughing up fur balls.  But Gark’s adventurous instincts force Max, albeit reluctantly, to act like the tiger Gark believes him to be.

Wildseed Studios’ Creative Head Jesse Cleverly said: “We’re proud to be working in partnership with Tricon on this entertaining and comical new animation which will capture hearts, minds and funny bones of all ages around the globe. Counterfeit Cat draws on some fantastic production talent around the world and demonstrates our dedication to providing audiences with fresh, original content.”

“Tricon is thrilled to be in partnership with Wildseed Studios on our first original animated co-production for Disney EMEA and Teletoon.  The creative team that has been assembled is top notch.  Counterfeit Cat is an outrageously funny and witty character driven comedy that is sure to appeal to global audiences of all ages, for many years to come,” said Frank Saperstein, Executive Vice President, Tricon Kids Family & Animation.

About Wildseed Studios www.wildseedstudios.com

Founded in 2013 by Miles Bullough & Jesse Cleverly, Wildseed Studios is a new type of Entertainment Company based in the UK whose mission it is to help bring creative projects to life through nurturing, developing and financing talent. Wildseed Studios is dedicated to providing audiences with fresh, original content from the next-generation of creators.

About Tricon Kids & Family www.kidsandfamily.triconfilms.com

Tricon Kids & Family is a boutique division of Tricon Films & Television, one of North America’s strongest independent production and distribution companies dedicated to producing and representing ground breaking television.  Tricon Kids & Family features both original production and acquired third party content.  Following the success of the multi-season, award winning format The Next Star, Tricon Kids & Family specializes in developing strategic partnerships in all genres including animation, live-action scripted and reality.

Media Contacts:

For Wildseed Studios – Harry Cymbler, Founder, Hot Cherry,  @HarryHotCherry, harry@hotcherry.co.uk, +44(0) 207 607 2413, +44(0) 7801 289 996

For Tricon Kids & Family – Mary Powers, MPowers Communications, mpowers@mpowers.ca