Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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David Pavon

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What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is David Pavon and I’m a character designer, illustrator and visual development artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I think that I never had a crazy job, because all jobs are necessary, but maybe one time, when I was working as waiter I had to clean a big viscid mass at the bottom of a fridge. I felt like the alien victim.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Definitely my first animated short film “Origami”. I was working on it for one year. It was exhausting but was worth.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?

I´m from Spain. Currently I’m unemployed looking for a job or commissions.

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Qing Han

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Qing Han. I’m currently a freelance artist.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I actually…never really had crazy jobs hahaha; to make money, I mostly went to conventions to sell my illustrations and fanart before 🙂

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I got to freelance for Motorcity’s background painting, and I’d love to keep doing it when the new season starts.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Well, I’ve always been pretty into anime, and I had a struggle choosing between Continue reading

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Dan Schier

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Dan Schier, working at Nickelodeon as a character designer.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
The earliest jobs I had as a kid were the craziest. My best friend and I waded through crayfish infested lakes, retrieved and resold golf balls in stealthy, makeshift wholesale locations. We did alright for kids, and it was tax free! My first official job was a paper boy. The crazy part is that I was loosing money because customers hid from me when I attempted to collect, or didn’t pay me on time. So I had to cover them adults at age 16. Bye, bye golf ball money. First artistic job was at Disneyland doing caricatures and portraits in New Orleans Square spring/summer of ’97. It was fun to have a license to stare at pretty girls.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I guess I’m proud of and enjoyed each project on different levels. Working on Dora makes me feel good because it’s a very well intentioned show that aims to teach kids instead of the opposite. My first job on Disney’s “Atlantis” is probably a favorite. I was still idealistic at that point. It’s also when I first met my wife who worked in Backgrounds. Our crew was a lot of fun and we were working on the main character, Milo. I remember when I first started and was looking at development art and inspirational art from things like 101 Dalmatians I felt like I had arrived, and was so excited about the prospects I had fantasized about.

How did you become interested in animation?
I always drew and loved watching cartoons-particulary Looney Toons and Disney, and some Hanna Barbera…actually, I liked anything that was good and entertaining. I basically gravitated toward Continue reading

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Freek van Haagen

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Freek van Haagen, and I’m currently a freelance illustrator and animator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Oh, I was…an art-director and packaging designer. I even was an electrician-assistant way back at my dad’s office. But that’s like really long ago. And I had my own little animation/games company 15 years ago.
What are some of your favourite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Well New Eden comes to mind first of course. It’s an animated sci-fi web comedy about two crewmen that have crash landed on the wrong planet. They are quite literally the last surviving people in the whole galaxy. And now they have to survive everything the hostile planet throws at them. It turns out that’s the easy part because getting along with each other proves to be harder. It was made on a zero-budget but it was a lot of fun. The last cool job I did commercially was for Aquafresh. The toothpaste brand wanted an online game teaching kids about the health of their teeth. I did all the character designs, background designs and even did an intro animation. Turned out pretty cool and got positive reviews.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
The first time I saw a Disney movie. I don’t remember which one but I do know that I couldn’t understand how Continue reading

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Deane Taylor

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Deane Taylor, I draw stories, create worlds, design and direct animation in multi mediums.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before animation I was a signwriter, scenic painter, a television presenter and most crazy… A volunteer ambulance officer.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Cow and chicken was a highlight for me, I did the layout and art direction with my good friend David Feiss who I have the utmost respect for. Recently I was Creative Director on a series called Figaro Pho. The extended version of 26xI min interstitials. Very cool.  On the film side…The Nightmare Before Christmas continues to be the project closest to me.

How did you become interested in animation?
I used to be a big fan of the early Fleischer cartoons where miniature sets combined with 2-D. Other influences were Continue reading

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Brett Snelgrove

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Brett Snelgrove and I’m an Independent writer/producer.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
I worked in a coffee shop in my youth where I had to wear a promotional character outfit to distribute flyers around the shopping centre. The character had this huge nose and the local kids weren’t shy about telling me I looked like a giant nob. Back in high school when I thought I wanted to be an actor, I was part of a drug awareness performance troupe and one of our outings involved crashing a big Oktoberfest event. Needless to say we were thrown out.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’ve recently completed an animated sci-fi web comedy called New Eden with Dutch animator, Freek van Haagen. That’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work but worth it. It was a bit of a trial by fire as it is my first foray into animation.  Previous to that I worked in television production and on my own independent projects. I’m very proud of my award winning action-comedy short Domestic and very grateful that I got to work on the satirical news programme NEWStopia with legendary Australian comedian Shaun Micallef.

 

How did you become interested in animation? 
I’ve always been a fan of cartoons and animation. Before CGI became commonplace, animation used to be the only place that you can really see Continue reading