Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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Jerry Fuchs

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Jerry Fuchs, and I am a cartoonist who animates. I am self employed at Fooksie, LLC. I create cartoons, comics,illustrations, and animations,(both Flash and Traditional).
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well, I am 48, so I have had the opportunity to:  Worked in high school as a janitor, and in the school’s kitchen, in the summers I drove a dump truck and laid cement, fixed pot holes, pulled dead sheep out of settling ponds, (don’t ask), and did a lot of painting.  While attending the Joe Kubert School I worked in a bodega in Dover, being part grocer, part deli-man, and part bouncer.  I have worked in the optical field, selling eyeglasses and doing contact lens trainings. I have also taught karate classes.

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What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
While working at Stone Mountain Productions as the Art Director I was very proud of the laser modules we created that were shown in Dorney Park, Cedar Point, and the State Fair of Texas, as well as Stone Mountain Park in Georgia.  In 2009, my first foray into the Independent Film Festival circuit, “Loser Pays, Winner Stays “, came in second in its division in the DRAGON*CON Independent Film Festival.

 

How did you become interested in animation? 
I have always loved cartoons and comics. Growing up there was an unwritten rule in the house, if there was anything animated during primetime, I had control of the set. My Saturday mornings were filled with Continue reading

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Johnny Hartmann

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Johnny Hartmann and I’m a screenwriter currently working on an episode of a new Hasbro show called Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
There are crazier jobs than this?!

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’m incredibly proud to be contributing to Kaijudo, the story editors Henry Gilroy and Andrew Robinson have created such a rich and unique world, it’s awesome to be writing one of the chapters for them.
How did you become interested in animation? 
I started in live-action. Then I wrote a spec called R-A-M: Rogue Alien Mutation. It was sort of a King Kong in space story and my agent at ICM at the time sent it to Shaun McLaughlin at the WB. Shaun suggested it could make a great animated feature. That’s when I realized that Continue reading

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David Rodriguez

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Hey, I’m David Rodriguez and I’m currently a Freelance Animator at Halon Entertainment.  Working on a “Shhhhh” project.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I haven’t had any real “crazy” jobs, I would say mostly jobs you typically get when your young looking for work.  My very first job was when I was 18 years old working at Toys R US.  I was running on the main “Boys World”  that was fun.  Then after that I worked in Shipping & Receiving for some wholesale company.  Very boring and physical work.  I didn’t last there too long.  I wouldn’t take a job like that again.  You do too much for too little.  After that, I landed a job at a doctors office as an office clerk while I was attending college.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I would say my very first animation project I landed.  I got to work for Start Wars: Unleash The Force II.  That was lots of fun.  But I guess any animation project I work on I feel proud of.  Even now, working on Previs. makes me feel like I’m helping the director bring his ideas to life.   I also worked on Piranha 3D movie and some other small video game titles.

How did you become interested in animation?
I would say the very first time I saw Toy Story in theaters. Ever since then I wanted to know how 3D animation was made.  In some weird sense it felt like Continue reading

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Danielle Powers

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Danielle Powers and most recently I’ve worked on a freelance project doing visual development and before that I worked at Nickelodeon as a texture artist apprentice.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing too crazy. I’ve worked at Taco Bell, Albertson’s, and my college library to name a few.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The Penguins of Madagascar was my favorite project to work on. I was on the show for nearly a year and I’m proud to say I was a part of it and I worked on it from the very beginning, before there was even an art director. I painted A LOT of textures for the character’s habitats which were used in the pilot episode and I see them show up in many current episodes and even Penguins toys at Toys R Us.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was five, the Little Mermaid had just been released and I was obsessed with it. I remember bringing the video tape to kindergarten to watch in class and feeling very proud that I was the first kid to own the video. As a kid I was always drawing characters from animated movies and shows and making up my own stories and characters. In junior high I had the opportunity to Continue reading

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NFB’s Carface directed by Claude Cloutier wins at 2015 Sommets du cinéma d’animation

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carface
NFB’s Carface directed by Claude Cloutier
wins at 2015 Sommets du cinéma d’animation
November 29, 2015 – Montreal, National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Carface (Autos Portraits) by Claude Cloutier, a short produced by Julie Roy for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), won the Prix Guy-L.-Coté Best Canadian Animation Film at the 2015 Sommets du cinéma d’animation earlier this evening. The Festival ran from November 25 to 29 in Montreal.

The film has made the shortlist of 10 works in consideration for the Academy Award® for Best Animated Short Film, along with another NFB production, Cordell Barker’s If I Was God. The five nominees will be announced on January 14; see the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences press release for more details: http://www.oscars.org/news/10-animated-shorts-advance-2015-oscar-race.

Carface is the seventh short film by Claude Cloutier, whose Sleeping Betty (2007) won a Genie, a Jutra, and more than 20 other awards around the world. It was the opening film of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (RVCQ) and was in official competition at the prestigious Annecy Animation Film Festival as well as the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

About the film

From filmmaker and cartoonist Claude Cloutier comes Carface, a scathing musical-comedy satire about the power of Big Oil, in which cars perform a song-and-dance number while the planet slides toward ruin. Produced by Julie Roy for the NFB. Running time: 5 min.

About the director

Claude Cloutier first gained fame as a comic-book artist with the series La légende des Jean-Guy and Gilles la Jungle contre Méchant-Man. He went on to make several animated films, including The Persistent Peddler (1988; in competition at Cannes), Overdose (1994), From the Big Bang to Tuesday Morning (2000), Sleeping Betty (2007; some 20 awards), The Trenches (2010), Interférence (2014) and Carface (2015).
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About the NFB

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produces groundbreaking animation at its studios in Montreal and at NFB centres across Canada, as well as via international co-productions with many of the world’s leading auteur animators. The NFB is a leader in developing new approaches to stereoscopic 3D animation and animated content for new platforms. The NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 11 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.

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Vannick Douglas

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Vannick Douglas. I’m a Flash and 3D animator, Cartoonist, and Wed Designer

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Marine Corps, lol. From 2000 to 2004, I was enlisted and it was a crazy time as I was still coming of age.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The two I’m currently apart of, Lead animator and creative Director of Little Luis and 3D animation Intern at Prevalent Inc. These two jobs gave me the opportunity to showcase my abilities as an animator from the moment I moved to LA.

How did you become interested in animation?
The movie”Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was my inspiration. I’ve been drawing since the age of seven.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
New Orleans, Louisiana. While being raised in the South, I grew up without guidance. I wanted to explore a career in art since its the only thing I know, but I had no idea how I would get money for school. Joining the

military not only helped pay for my education at the Art Institute of Phoenix, they also gave me the guidance I needed.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
Completely wired into my Wacom Cintiq and Macbook Pro, lol.

What part of your job do you like best? Why?
The Completion of a project. To spend hours after hours going frame by frame on a project and to see the end results is truly a milestone. Its like building a rocket ship and watching it soar threw the sky.

What part of your job do you like least? Why?
SInce I work digitally, the worst is when my work gets corrupted. I’m extremely careful to backup everything but they are some occasions when a file you spend all day on gets corrupted and the last backup was hours ago. There’s no empty feeling when animation you’ve crafted beautifully gets lost forever.

What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis?
The Heardware is Macbook Pro 17″ with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX. I render with a desktop Gateway with Tri Core Processor. My software, in the order I use the most, Adobe Flash, Maya, Photoshop, AFter Effects, and Illustrator.

What is the most difficult part for you about being in the business?
Uncertainty. Animation can either hit or miss. It blows when

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