Bryan Ballinger

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Associate Professor of Digital Media Arts,  Freelance Illustrator, and Collector of Absurd Non-Perishable Food Items.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Shoveling out chicken coops was probably the craziest.  Between kamikaze roosters and all the airborne particulate matter, it wasn’t the most effervescent experience…
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favorite projects was doing the artwork the popsicle stick theater segments for some episodes of the VeggieTales Animated series , Another project was doing the art work for an animated TV spot for the National Associate of Broadcasters.   I also did some illustration work for a Finnish Blues Band called The Milk Cows.

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was a kid my dad used to show me the old original Popeye cartoons, which he himself loved. So that’s probably when my interest started. What really  blew my socks off though is when Continue reading

John MacFarlane

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 What is your name and your current occupation?
John MacFarlane  -  I love to create beautiful fairy tale worlds and the creatures that live in those worlds. So animation inspires me. And moving water, fire, smoke, and the like is awesome.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before animation I used to manage our families printing business. But I did have a crazy job one summer working on a movie called “Roar” in Acton California.  Part of my job was building fences to fence in lions and tigers on the sets and moving them from their holding cages to the sets and back. That was an experience I’ll never forget. I don’t think they ever finished the movie.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
“Iron Giant” It was great to be a part of that, and work with Brad Bird. I also got to do efx on DreamWorks
first animated feature “Prince of Egypt” and most recently Disney’s “Princess and the Frog”. Animating the
gooey inside of Frank in “Osmosis Jones” was a lot of fun. Futurama is cool to because that show always
something to blow up or disgusting gunk to slosh around.  I also Illustrate children’s Continue reading

Cliff Parrott

http://vimeo.com/5028526

What is your name and your current occupation?
Cliff Parrott and I am the founder of Magpie 6 Media located in Dublin, Ireland.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I could write an entire blog on the insane jobs I had before animation. It’s hard to believe that I was an attorney practising criminal defence, bankruptcy and other aspects of law. Technically I am still an attorney, I’m just not practising any more. I didn’t enjoy being one, it was high stress. Unlike seeing a film or finished piece of artwork in an animation project, there was nothing tangible to look back on after you’ve finished with a client’s case, just paperwork. Being an attorney did give me experience with preparing for the unexpected and negotiations.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
There are a lot of great projects but the ones that I had the most enjoyment from were the projects where the crew was a blast to work with. I was fortunate enough (or misfortunate, depending on one’s point of view), to be one of the animators on Hollywood’s first Flash feature “Lil’ Pimp.” It was produced at Revolution Studios with the idea of capitalising on the success of the relatively new animated feature hit at that time “South Park.” In fact, a lot of the South Park crew migrated to Lil’ Pimp productions. There were so many talented and very funny people. It’s unfortunate that the script was rehashed so many times. The final outcome of the movie was a watered down version that didn’t pack the punch of South Park’s movie. It came out to less than unenthusiastic reviews and went straight to DVD. I am still in touch with a lot of the people I met there.

How did you become interested in animation?
It started at a very young age, maybe 4 or 5 years old. My first love was anything from Tex Avery or Bob Clampett. The energy and timing on their films wasn’t Continue reading