Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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Dane Romley

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Dane Romley and I am currently head of the training department at Topdraw Animation studio’s in Manila Philippines.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Oh wow let’s see, I worked a few summers at Valley Sash and Door in Burbank, California.  In college I worked a few semesters at FedEx ground in one of their warehouses, and then I also worked at Trader Joe’s for a little bit.  I was a late night security guard for a week before I quit due to the late hours.  Oh and I was also a video game tester for a month.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The project I am most proud of I would have to say is The Simpsons.  I was a character layout artist for 5 years and it’s really nice being able to say I had a part in one of the biggest culture icons of our time.  Other projects I’m proud of are Mini Loup, Guess How Much I Love You, and Dennis & Gnasher.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born and raised in Sun Valley, California; just outside Burbank.  I attended Woodbury University from 2001 to 2005 and it was my professors that encouraged me to apply to The Simpsons as I approached my senior year.  Two of them were working there at the time and they took me to Film Roman to meet some of the artists and directors, and from there I took the test and got accepted.  If  it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have got the job, I owe them a lot.  August of 2005 I officially started my animation career.

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The Art of Storyboarding with Ridley Scott

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A fascinating look into the mind of Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, The Martian) and how he uses storyboards in his process. And this unlike many other interviews is interesting to me at least because the whole thing is about storyboards. Scott is an artist himself and works out his own boards and thumbnails for his films.

When I draw, I get sucked into the scene, and when I get sucked into the scene I start to visualize other opportunities which aren’t just pictures but suggestions for actors, how the scene can go and how you can adjust and maybe even find how the words are used.

The storyboard becomes rather like a sophisticated comic strip well in act now comic strips are really sophisticated and ideally that’s what storyboards should be, because you’re seeing the dynamics of,… and if it’s really well drawn, then you can follow the dynamics of the sequence and even if it’s dialog you always do something that isn’t just two talking heads but then of course two talking heads can also be interesting.

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Terry Gilliam on the Importance and Power of Storyboarding

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No Film School has an old article featuring old yet interesting series of interviews with animator and director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Baron Munchausen, The Brothers Grimm, Time Bandits) about storyboarding.

From the article:

Gilliam says something interesting immediately, and that is his use of drawing sometimes duringthe writing phase. Storyboards in a strict sense are traditionally done once a script has reached a certain plateau of finality — meaning it may not be locked outright, but only relatively minor alterations will be made in subsequent drafts. Gilliam here describes his storyboarding process sometimes affecting the script as new visual ideas come out, which is an interesting inversion of convention as I see it. He highlights the benefit of using storyboards as the skeletal basis of a scene’s structure, allowing out-of-sequence shooting to work just as well as shooting in-sequence — with some creative variability for how to achieve each frame still retained by the shooting process itself. On the other hand, Gilliam says that storyboarding improves the worst-case creative-scenario, which is running dry on ideas — because even without the in-the-moment idea on set, adhering to pre-conceived storyboards while shooting will still result in a cohesive, coherent sequence.

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj7P1sczHZo

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtJ5N93Sw8Q

 

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Libby Ward and Kevin Glikmann

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Libby Ward, currently writing for WB’s Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (with Jon Colton Barry).
Kevin Glikmann voice over actor. Currently the voice of Leonard the evil squirrel-alien on Nick’s Get Blake!

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Libby: I’ve always been involved in animation, but before it was a full time gig I supported myself calculating commercial airline weight and balance, playing on the Seahawks NFL drumline and leading underwater tours as a SCUBA Dive Master in Hawaii.
Kevin:Telemarketing for the Riverside Police department Costume Ball.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Libby: I loved working for the Muppets and Henson (my original comic entertainment inspiration) and I’m crazy about Scooby-Doo!
Kevin: Get Blake! My first cartoon series. We did 52 episodes. It’s currently on Nicktoons.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Libby: I’m from Seattle, WA. I started drawing in elementary school, recreating images of Bambi, Little Foot and Hagar the Horrible. I was disqualified from Continue reading

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Jez Hall

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I’m Jez Hall and I’m currently series director on Fleabag Monkeyface.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I haven’t really had any proper jobs, let alone crazy….. I was an illegal wine waiter once. Illegal as in I was only 16. I wasn’t some kind on Pinot Grigio gangster. Drive by cork popping… I then drew comics before getting in to animation.  Animation is crazier than pouring wine.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Theres lots. I’ve been doing it over twenty years so it would be a big list. The list of projects I’m not proud of would be way bigger.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
People paid me money. Continue reading

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Boltron Ultimate – Evil Maximus Omega (Ep #1)

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Check out this really cool little series which mimics old school arcade games perfectly ad makes me want to break out my Sonic the Hedgehog games! I asked Chris Burns, one of the creators a few questions about the process and here’s what he said:

Did you guys do it alone or through a company? 
We animated everything through our company Exit 73 studios as first a short and then SpindoTV asked us to do a short web series within this universe… They were absolutely great and completely supported the direction we wanted to take these characters, each episode features a different style of gameplay, where episode 01 pays homage to a ninja gaiden/ turtles in time vibe, episode 02 finds its place in more of a legend of Zelda setting.
It’s found its home on SpindoTV, which is owned by the awesome toy company Spinmasters.
How’d you animate it?
We used strictly Flash for this one (specifically Flash MX) for a bunch of reasons, the playback and having audio was essential in getting the camera moves right.  How we got the pixel look, was setting the preferences to “snapping to grid”, which meant literally drawing and creating these images one tiny square at a time…. And boy did it take some time!  But I wanted to make sure it was as authentic to the process as it was making game imagery back in the day of pixel art.
 What was used to make it, in other words what was the process involved in making it?
Once animation was finished we scored the shorts with a combination of Fruity Loops and in-house equipment, then brought a PNG sequence into After Effects to export it so it was web ready.  It has been: and continues to be, one of the most rewarding animation projects I have been apart of, with content that is close to my heart, and learning a new style to animate with.