Category Archives: Artists Interviews

4 Comments

Richard Pursel

  By

 

My Stimpy’s First Fart (Son of Stimpy) premise A sculpture of Stimpy John asked me to sculpt for Vanessa Coffee to get her to like us. The Spumco crew was laid off before I finished it, so I kept it. 

What is your name and your current occupation?
Richard Pursel and I am a writer for animation primarily. I’m currently writing a feature script for a 3-D animated project in addition to developing and writing a pilot and bible for an unrelated 3-D animated series. I’m also finishing up two live-action scripts, one a feature and the other an hour-long TV pilot; both with a cartoon sensibility.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I had to deal with many strong personalities as a production assistant for music videos. Hunting down items Prince demanded be in his trailer, such as “rain scented” candles, ain’t easy! I worked as a staff supervisor at a school for multi-handicapped blind adults—that experience sure keeps me humble. I even farmed the Sodom Plain in Israel for six months when I was 21.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first writing credits are on “The Ren & Stimpy Show,” so of course I’m proud of that. “Powdered Toast Man” was the first story of mine that aired, though “Visit to Anthony” was the first one I wrote. I still send out my Emmy nominated premise “Son of Stimpy” as a writing sample. “Cow and Chicken” and “I Am Weasel” came next and creator David Feiss animated the title sequence for “I Am Weasel” based on my song and board. Writing and story editing “Tom and Jerry Tales” was incredible, returning to basics with those iconic, pantomime, cartoon stars. The “SpongeBob SquarePants” crew is a well-oiled machine and four seasons working with them was awesome.

How did you become interested in animation?
The first nightmare I can remember was being a cartoon pig chased by Continue reading

No comments

Nicolas Lozac’h

  By
[video src="http://www.animationinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/reel.mp4" /]

What is your name and your current occupation?
Nicolas Lozac’h, freelance animator

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Sports/fitness equipment & clothing vendor

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Blood Bowl, the video game : I’ve always been a fan of Warhammer 40K and GamesWorkshop in general, so working on one of their games for a first professional experience is something I won’t forget. Brand New Old school : a personal project I did to prove wrong the director of the 3D major at my school who said I wouldn’t be capable to do a 3D breakdancing animation. It isn’t the b est worked I’ve done, but it was the first project I did to improve my animation skills.

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve been playing video games since the age of 3, so working in the video game/animation industry has always something I wanted to do.  

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from France but lived 5 years in Canada until the age of 12. My friends say I’m more North American than French.
I first got into the animation business by drawing attention on my animation skills through a personal project and then Continue reading

No comments

Gennaro Morra

  By


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Gennaro Morra, but my buds call me Gio, and I’m currently a character designer at ShadowMachine.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
My parents own an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills called Da Pasquale and I grew up in it. I basically knows the ins and outs and I did everything from prep cook to delivery boy to pizza boy and even your dreadful waiter.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve worked on a few pilots that never made the cut. The one I’m working on now really feels like it’s going all the way.I designed some of the main characters and my director really gave me a lot of freedom.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Los Angeles and after I got my BFA in Illustration from Long Beach State, I really dedicated my time to character design. I drew and posted on my blog and was fortunate to get Continue reading

4 Comments

Jun Falkenstein

  By

What is your name and your current occupation?
Jun Falkenstein.  Sometimes animation director and writer, othertimes animation storyboard artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I really haven’t had any crazier jobs than animation!  I pretty much jumped right from school into a job at Warner Brothers.   Although one summer I did teach art to kids.  Not very crazy.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Rather say some of my favorite people that I am proud to have worked with (too many to list).  Animation projects can be great or terrible, but all of the ones created in large studio settings are not usually very personal, as there are a lot of people having their say with the project.  And when they aren’t personal works of art, pride becomes a two-edged feeling…you are proud that the thing was completed, but always thinking of how it could have been better had you gotten to do it differently.  So by this criteria, probably I’m proudest of my short film Kyle + Rosemary, done with Frederator and Nickelodeon, because it was the closest to a pure vision than any big budget feature I was ever a part of.
No comments

Jesse Aclin

  By

What is your name and your current occupation?
Jesse Aclin. Freelance Character designer currently working on a project with Reel FX.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
 Crazy ey? well, working in the toy design field was a bit crazy for me.. I also had a gig where it was my job to create label art by moving around existing images and changing the layout based on where a certain stores price tag and logo go. That was fun!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Working with Reel FX on “Turkeys”, as a character designer. It was my first real gig doing character design, so it was sort of like a dream come true for me and I got to design a lot of characters! Right now I’m fortunate enough to be working with them again on “Book of Life”. I’ve worked on some fun TV commercial spots with Nathan Love, designing characters. Those are cool because I get to have a heavy influence on the style. Working with Titmouse was a heck of a lotta fun and an amazing learning experience as it was my first animation gig. I was hired to work as a character layout artist on Disney’s Motor City. I ended up working on a bunch of projects there. Good folks there, and I learned what it is to be a professional working in the biz.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from a town called Goshen, NY. It’s about 1.5 hours outside of city. My path into the animation biz is a bit of a strange and round about one. I always drew sort of well and I knew I wanted a career in the arts. So, taking my fathers advice I went into college for advertising because Continue reading