Tag Archives: Art Director

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Nelson Recinos

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Nelson Recinos I am an animation producer, line producer, director, creative director, art director, and creator. I also clean my home office and take care of everything that’s needed on the projects I am working on.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One of my first jobs was painting motorcycle helmets. I thought that, because of my art background, I was going to be able to do the job, but it was not as easy as I thought. I got training and after a few days I started working on production…which didn’t go very well. I messed up a few helmets, paint spilled everywhere, and nothing was evenly painted. The manager was understandably pissed, but moved me to another department instead of firing me. What a nice guy!

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I had the opportunity to work on some amazing shows such a Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs. I also animated some of the Warner Bros. classic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Duffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, and many others.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I always liked cartoons since I was a kid. I drew all the time. Back in my country, my brother Bill was the one who Continue reading

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Igor-Alban Chevalier

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Igor-Alban Chevalier or “The Black Frog” which is the nickname most people use in the industry.  As for my occupation, depends… I am a creative tool box I guess… or as I like to call myself: a mercenary world builder. Sometimes Director, sometimes Animation Production Designer, most of the time VFX Art Director, Concept Artist or Storyboard Artist.  And in my free time I sculpt, write and draw graphic novels.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?Nothing crazy really, I just survived until I got to get the jobs I was looking for.  So, I struggled a bit but not by killing chickens in a nugget factory, or by being a caretaker at the morgue or by working on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean like some of my friends. But more by just doing way lamer versions of the job I do now… or by sleeping on good friends couches a lot.  I must say, that I would have wished having tried other things, but where I grew up wasn’t really the kind of place where one could be adventurous.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?Well, there is a big ongoing project called “Tusk” with Whisper Pictures. It’s a high profile 3D animated feature on which I am co-writer and Production Designer. We’ve been working on it for years now, developing it with my good friend and Director/VFX Supervisor Tim McGovern (Tron, award on Totall Recall). It is a bit of an adventure in itself and I’ve had a lot of creative freedom on it, which is great.  There’s also a gritty Sci-Fi muppet TV series I wrote and designed Called “Boom Spectrum Space Pilot”.  I directed the trailer for it and the production pulled the plug without real logic. This was a bit devastating since I really went hard into it, sleeping 4 hour per night for 7 months straight, preparing all the infrastructure for what would have been the following show.  It’s a shame, I am still convinced that this thing could have become cult. The good thing is that it was my first job at directing and it taught me I could actually do it. And not too badly too. I had a wonderful time on set with a very talented crew and we kind of found ourselves a new family if you will. I know that If I want to direct something else one day, I just have to call them and they will all jump on it again in a breeze. I’m considering calling them soon for a live action feature this time.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from France Originally. Champagne. Except for the Boom Spectrum episode that took me back to Lille (North of France) for seven months 4 years ago, I didn’t really go back there in the past 20 years.  My background is Continue reading

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Amit Tishler

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Amit Tishler. Aside from being a freelance super-villain I’m currently working on a couple of projects: one as an animator for Hallmark’s new platform: “Feeln'” on a soon to be announced original series and one as an art director for a small team on a comic book called “Tales of Lyla” for 10 Forward Productions, Inc.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve worked for a center for rare diseases, as an information center assistant. I got to see quite a collection of gruesome photos and scary articles I really could have lived without seeing. I did learn quite a lot though, so I’m glad I did it.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?Aside for the current project I’ve been working on, which I am proud of but unfortunately cannot name, I recently worked in the Hothouse Productions animation team for Adult Swim’s “Mr. Pickles”, which I was very proud to take part in. The product is awesome and the studio and its team are some of the best I’ve ever worked with. Watch this show people!  Another notable project is a music video I co-directed with super-artist Luke Ellison (http://lukeellison.com) for the metal band “Menace”, led by Mitch Harris from the band Napalm Death. I’ve never had a business meeting in the backstage area of a Cannibal Corpse/Napalm Death concert up until that point. As a devoted metal fan I’d say that’s a note worthy achievement.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Tel Aviv, Israel. I was aiming for this business since I was 12 years old. I graduated with my undergraduate degree in animation from Bezalel- Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem in 2008. I then worked as an animator for Continue reading

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Rick Hill

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What is your name and your current occupation?
 My name is Rick Hill and I’m a freelance Art Director / Character Designer in the Atlanta area.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well I’ve spent the last 15 years working as an Art Director in the advertising industry. But before that I was a fabric cutter at a warehouse, an assembly line order picker at another warehouse and a pizza maker at Pizza Hut. That’s just a few. ha!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
 When I worked at Mullen (ad shop in Boston) I worked on the launch of Gametap.com with Turner. I got the chance to pitch and sell an original cartoon called Lame Games. It was an online video game cartoon series. I designed the cast of characters that ranged from 8bit to 128 bit. That was my first real taste of working on character design. Which is strange if you work in advertising. A good strange if you ask me. Another fun project was working on Baskin Robbins Ice Cream. It was another situation where my writer and I pitched character driven work and it sold. We worked with the talent folks at Nathan Love in NYC on the 3D characters and the animation.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
 I’ve been interested in animation my whole life. I can’t believe Continue reading

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Dave Merritt

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My Name is Dave Merritt and I am an Art Director at Mercury Filmworks.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Washing concrete off of tanker trucks.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Probably Toot and Puddle. For adults you need to turn down the sound, but the visuals are stimulating. We had a great team of designers and our director Christian Larocque was always pushing us creatively. I remember our character designer Allan Stuart, Prop master Tom Pajdlhauser and myself were always in early to work. I guess the hard work paid off; I received an Emmy for Location design on that show.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Like most of us, as a kid watching animation on TV. My favourite shows were: Continue reading

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Cale Atkinson

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Cale Atkinson and my current full time job is Art Director for RocketSnail Games. I also do contract work in animation and children’s illustrations.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before I really decided to go into the job direction of animation I was madly into film and making movies. One job I had for a little while was ‘Wedding Videographer’, filming high-end weddings around Vancouver. Interesting times of chasing limos to find photo shoot locations, staying awake during extra long ceremonies, and having my camera eat the tape in the middle of a wedding :O !

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Honestly in one way or another I’m proud of everything I’ve been apart of.  I’m super proud of all the things we are currently working on at RocketSnail Games. The children’s books I’ve been able to illustrate are also something I’m always really excited to be involved in.

How did you become interested in animation?
Always a hard question, as I can’t remember not being interested in animation. As a kid I was crazy about drawing and loved getting any books about cartooning, animation, and comic strips. I can’t say I did a lot of animation practice as a kid (probably due to the amount of work and time it takes) but Continue reading