Erica Pitt

 

What is your name and your current occupation?
Erica Pitt….2D Flash animator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I haven’t had too many craaaazy jobs….my first job ever was working in a coffee shop bistro in my home town of Victoria, BC for 3 years. It was there that I saved up the money to go to animation school with. The summer of first year college I worked at a Dog kennel cleaning up dog s*** mostly, and the summer after did renovation work flipping houses. Between 3rd and 4th year though I got to co-direct a music video for a Canadian band called Elliott Brood which was a lot of fun. It turned out OK considering we had about a month and a half to do it in.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Every project I’ve worked on has a special little place in my heart for different reasons. George of the Jungle was the very first show I worked on, and it taught me soooo much not just about animation in flash, but animation in general. Pucca season 2 was really cute and action packed so that was always pretty crazy fun. Seeing how popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic got as soon as it started airing was a special treat. We were still working on the episodes as they were coming out, so it was amazing to see how many fans there were and how crazy (in a good way) they were for it. I’ve never worked on anything that popular before. I’ve gotten a couple of marriage proposals from some of the fans who have found my youtube channel so that was a new experience being a bit of a celebrity of sorts. “Roy” a show we animated for Ireland was loads of fun and got me interested in possibly working abroad…which I am currently doing so it was cool that THAT project inspired me to travel and see new places. I never expected that I would get to work on a feature film doing flash animation…but was able to on the Top Cat movie. It was a pretty cool feeling going to the cinema to watch it when it finally came out.

How did you become interested in animation?
I always liked drawing, but I remember discovering the X-Men Animated series on TV one Saturday morning and becoming really obsessed with it. When I found out it was a comic book I started buying every X-Men title there was and started trying to learn how to draw super heroes from them. My friend and I started making Continue reading

Leo Oliveto

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
I am a freelance CG artist. I am also on the crew for the upcoming animated shorts “Hullabaloo”.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One time I was a security guard in a middle school. There had been great tension between two large groups in the school that culminated in a pretty large standoff. Imagine two crowds of about 250 people each about ten feet from each other ready to go to war. It looked like a scene out of Braveheart or something.  The only thing between them for about thirty seconds was me. Luckily they didn’t charge. I have also been a dish washer ,gardener, and a lot of other things.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Certainly the project I have been most proud to be a part of is Hullabaloo. I have been lucky enough to know the creator, James Lopez, for several years now and have watch  it grow from sketches on the wall to a full on successful indigogo campaign. I have loved the Disney style of animation since I was a child so to be invited to be part of that team is a privilege and an honor. It’s not everyday you get to work with animation greats.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Well I was born in Buenos Aires Argentina but moved to Los Angeles when I was seven years old.  I guess you could say I’m just starting out in the animation business with Hullabaloo as it is going to be the first animation project I will be a part of.  Up to this point I have only worked on tv shows, games, and toys. How I got to this point is what I’m guessing aspiring artist would want to know. Most people would say hard work,determination, and luck. Although that last statement is true it doesn’t say much so I will tell my story. I took a job as a souvenir photo booth attendant at a special even at the Walt Disney Studio.  The only reason I took the job was to get through the gates, which to me always felt like the hardest step in the process. In the soundstage we were set up across from where some Disney animators were giving drawing lessons to attendees. I was determined to speak to one of the animators and show them my work. Once I mustered up the courage I walked up and introduced myself to to to man behind the desk. The crowd had cleared but he was still doodling on the page (this is where the luck part comes in). The man behind the desk was James Lopez. Well to make a long story short he became my mentor and over a period of a couple of years he helped me improve my drawing skills dramatically. Around this time I also decided I would go back to school to learn the CG workflow for animated films. I enrolled at Gnomon School of Visual Effects. As one of my projects I decided to model the car from Jame’s personal animated project (Hullabaloo). It was, I think, at that point when he decided to let me help him with his project. Fast forward about a year and a half and here we are. So needles to say it does take time, hard work, determination, and luck.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
Well my day usually consist of exercise in the morning. Then I get right to work. As I do freelance as a cg artist the jobs can always range from modeling, sculpting, texturing, and sometime design. I might be working at home in which case I crank up the tunes and work all day till my wife gets home. Or I might be working in an office. A work day can range from 1 hour to 18 hours long. If I have time I like to work on personal projects in the evening and on the weekends. Also I’m constantly looking for new techniques on how to create cool stuff. During my free time recently I have been working mostly on Hullabaloo.
Continue reading

Faye Hsu

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Faye Hsu, i am a concept artist based in San Francisco:)

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Crazy job? hmm…..i used to be a model for photography.  I tried crazy makeup/costume to get a good photo shot.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am proud that i have been a part team creating <Green Haven> by awesome director James Parris. This is the first feature movie i worked on. It is great experience work with James.

How did you become interested in animation?
I have been interested in animation since i was a kid! I´ve been obsessed with cartoons as long as I can remember.  I Still remember how shocked i was when Continue reading

Chris Palmer

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Chris Palmer and I am a 3D Artist at Turner Studios Creative Services in Atlanta GA.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I use to clean bird poop off the rocks and walls at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga TN during High School as well as rehabilitating wild birds and animals for release back into the wild at the Chattanooga Nature Center…… far cry from an animation career!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I did a short film called Cold Country with my good friend Travis Overstreet during college. It made its way through the film festival circuit, and opened many doors for me. Its a powerful short film, I still get goose bumps watching it. Also during my time at Crawford Media in Atlanta GA we created the cover for OZ magazine’s January edition. I had always wanted to do a stand alone 3D peice and it turned out wonderfully! I worked on the lighting and got to learn how to create fur in Maya. I still have the image hanging on my wall at home.

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was a kid I always had my head in the clouds, creating stories and epic adventures in my mind.  I use to watch this show called Movie Magic and I always wanted to Continue reading

Maor Lavi

What is your name and your current occupation?
Maor Lavi, I am a freelance animation all-arounder (Anim, 2D, 3D, After Effects compositor, designer)

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Soldier, Agriculture, Construction, Bartending, Pumping fuel, Pizza delivering, Factory worker
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Gruduation short, TV show packaging, self-project in progress

How did you become interested in animation?
Admiring work of the “golden age” of animation, Disney classics, Warner’s Looney Toons, when I was a kid around 7 years old, my mom took me to the movies to see “Who framed Roger Rabbit” and I was fascinated by it;later Continue reading

Dan Seddon

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Dan Seddon, and I am a Character Designer currently working for Elliott Animation here in Toronto.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before getting into animation, I didn’t really have any crazy jobs, grocery stores, factories, nothing crazy. I did work for a long time for my dad in his Contact Lens Company making contact lenses, it was the worst and most boring job ever.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 

Not so long ago I finished up a big freelance project with Arc Productions (Formerly Starz Animation). It was an incredible opportunity for me working for a really big name (which I don’t think I’m aloud to say), on a really cool new Action-Adventure series that is partnered with Cartoon Network. I also don’t think that I am aloud to go into anymore details about the show, but it was just a really cool project and I cant wait for it to come out so I can share some of my designs.  While at Sheridan College, I also had the chance to work on a short film with some really talented people. We created a really cool film, Electropolis, which went on to win some prizes and festivals. I’ve always been really proud that of what we accomplished together and I will always remember that as one of my most favorite projects I’ve worked on.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve always been interested in animation, and to be honest I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t interested in animation. From as far back as I can remember, I was always Continue reading