Tag Archives: Cal Arts

2 Comments

Carlos Ramos

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation? 
Carlos Ramos. I’m currently freelancing as a storyboard artist, character designer, writer. I just got done storyboarding on all the Madagascar trailers and ads and a bit on Dreamwork’s Rise of the Guardians.  And as always pitching, pitching.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Thankfully I only had one job before getting into animation. In high school through my freshman year at college I was a Show Controller at Universal Studios Hollywood. Basically crowd control and making all the park announcements. That place is a real dump and I can’t imagine why people would pay money to go there but it was a really fun job.


What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Well, I haveto say the show I created at Nickelodeon: The X’s where I served as art director as well. The design theory was “No lines” so everything was colored shapes. AND it wasn’t in Flash. All hand drawn and animated by the amazing crew at Rough Draft, Korea. An extremely tough series we all bled on. I just recently rewatched a few episodes and it still holds-up.

How did you become interested in animation?
My earliest memory was attending a screening of a pencil test of The Black Couldron at the Disney Burbank lot when I was a kid. I was forever changed by the experience and actually seeing the bungalows where the animation happened intrigued me for sure. I was obsessed with Mad Magazine growing-up and always assumed that’s where I’d work when I “grew up”. But after the original editor William Gaines died the magazine’s quality did too so I had to think of another plan. I was going to Fairfax High School in the magnet arts program and one Saturday took an animation class and the instructor said that Cal Arts was the only school for people seriously contemplating a life in cartoons. I took those words to heart and was determined to get in even after being rejected and having to re-apply the following year. Looking back it was funny because I never visited the campus before the day of registration. And it was just a short drive from my house. I just knew it’s what I wanted.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from L.A. born in Burbank. Attended Cal Arts and got a job at DIC as a development artist the summer of my freshman year. My plan was to graduate college with a BFA with 3 years of experience under my belt. It was a balsy plan that worked out. I did the full four years and worked the summers and freelanced for Disney Television and DIC. Looking back I got really lucky. DIC was the funnest job I’ve ever had and at Disney I was a character designer on Nightmare Ned – a show I doubt anyone remembers but had the most hardcore bad ass crew ever assembled. Seriously everyone on that show went on to Continue reading
No comments

Jesse Soto

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Jesse Soto. Currently, I’m a Freelance Storyboard Artist/Animator. I was fortunate enough to intern for Disney Consumer Products as a Artist/Animation Intern for their Blue Sky Think Tank a few months ago.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
This isn’t crazy, but I taught a 9-year-old how to animate her first film for a School District Competition. The girl, Ariana, had a piece where a young girl uses friendship to clean the beaches, one helping hand at a time. I felt like a school teacher because her and her best friend were the voice talents and I had to do parent/teacher conferences to make sure she did her animation work. She had to go through a little crunch time for not doing her homework, and fell asleep during the final composite 10 P.M. the night before. She won 1st place and gained a bit of confidence for kicking butt.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I was very proud to be working on a secret development project during my time at Disney. Our group, the Blue Sky Think Tank was comprised of 7 talented individuals with their own points of view and completely different backgrounds (Artist/Animator/Social Media/Writer/Filmmaker/Marketing) and locking them in a room for 6 months. Our project involved a lot of awesome ideas coming from Anime, Old School Disney, LA Culture/Counterculture, and our favorite TV shows which we learned a great deal from. Over the course of a few months, we saw a simple concept grow into flushed out characters, a strong and meaningful story-line, and great artwork/animation. The creative impact made would not be possible without the guidance of the excellent and talented storytellers/artists that reside within Disney.  Another favorite was the Black Dynamite Pilot that was featured on Adult Swim. On my first day interning at Titmouse, I was thrown into clean-up animation and color along with a few other interns. The studio was in the final push to completion. Every animator was working tirelessly, often through the weekends. Great fun came in each scene where it had either some neck-breaking karate chop or possessed puppets whipping out their machine guns and Desert Eagles.  Dailies had a lot of funny shots and high level of violence that was being animated. Also, artists were open about sharing what they know, and tag-teamed the production work very well. The end result made everyone very proud of their work.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a youngin’, I grew up always interested in art and sketching cartoon characters. In middle school, I found out that my favorite TV shows, movies, and video games were Continue reading

3 Comments

Paul Griffin

  By


What is your name and your current occupation?
Hi, I’m Paul Griffin and I’m currently an animation director. When I was seven, I was planning on being a firefighting astronaut who flew jets on the weekends, but animation director is pretty close. There is an element of firefighting some days, I get to fly spaceships and puppeteer aliens to pilot them, but weekends I mostly just kick back around the house.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I used to work for this couple, one summer in Toronto, who ran a ceramics business out of their basement. They had a tortoise who would eat the leaves of the large marijuana plant growing in the back yard, then he would crash into the fence over and over as he stumbled around. That was entertaining. I guess the turtle was happy for the most part.  I also painted structural I-beams for a summer and had one job where we were working next to the Welland Canal and could look down the smoke stacks of ships as they were passing several hundred feet below us on the water. That’s how I developed my Kung Fu Grip©. Man, the crazy, dangerous stuff you’ll do for $9/hour…
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
That’s a tough one. My favorite project is usually the one I’m currently working on, but have to say some of the memorable ones have been, The Fly, Magnolia, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, King Kong, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, four Superbowl commercials and the cinematics for Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (VG). Working with the gang at Dr D Studios in Sydney on Happy Feet Two last year was really a lot of fun.

How did you become interested in animation?
Growing up in Ontario Canada, before the advent of cable TV, the town we lived in had one single broadcast TV channel from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Every Saturday at 5 p.m. my family would gather around the TV and we’d watch the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour and it was Continue reading

No comments

Mike Nguyen

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is Mike Nguyen. My main focus (have been for quite some time now) is directing an indie hand-drawn feature entitle- ‘My Little WORLD’. I also recently became a faculty member at Kaywon School of Art and Design in Korea, sharing thoughts in animated filmmaking for 1 year.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Tough one… the crazier jobs had been dishwashing, restaurant part time jobs during high school days…, (not too exciting here).

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve been through many films including Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’… but the only one I’m truly proud to be part of is- Brad Bird’s ‘The Iron Giant’ (where I was supervising animator).

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve always been fascinated with the cinema and have desires to make things move ever since I was little. In 8th grade I was first introduced to Continue reading

One Comment

Chris Bailey

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Chris Bailey, Animation Director.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Hah..great question. I have asked that of colleagues in the past. I think the craziest job, or furthest job from animation was working in a steel warehouse for my dad the summer before attending Cal Arts. I loaded steel I-beams onto trucks, drove a huge forklift, learned to weld and use a cutting torch. I caught myself on fire twice! In the warehouse were rows of 20′ and 40′ I-beams stacked to the ceiling. We’d leap from stack to stack looking for the right ones to fill orders and they’d sometimes rock back and forth threatening to fall. I felt like Daredevil.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve been pretty lucky and worked on some great projects. It’s hard to pick, but if I were to list a few highlights, I would start with the Marvel Productions Logo. It featured a chrome Spider-Man doing a flip and landing on the big MP. I was at the beginning of my career and thrilled to animate Spider-Man, even if it was only for one little shot. Next up is The Little Mermaid. It was a great film and broke animation out of the animated film ghetto and into a mainstream audience. I was a little fish swimming in a big pond and trying to learn as much as I could… Runaway Brain with Mickey Mouse for letting me play with the corporate icon and the resulting Oscar nod, Disney’s Mighty Joe Young for it’s groundbreaking CG animation, X-Men II because it’s such a great movie I’m a huge Marvel Comics fan, Kim Possible because it was as much fun to make as it was to watch and finally, the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem 3D Ride because the minions are so damned funny and I love theme park rides.  The Pepfar (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) Shorts for WB were interesting too. The shorts were done to advertise an educational action videogame for Kenya’s youth centers. I got to travel to Washington and pitch the boards to the State Department. Unlike in Hollywood where the costume of a director is shorts and t-shirt, I was pitching cartoon storyboards in a formal conference room wearing a suit! Ha!  The Judy short in particular was a way to experiment with Kim Possible style animation and design in 3D. It was boarded by one of my favorite Kim board artists and Batman comics artist, Dave Bullock.
http://www.animationinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Judy-v2-112508.mov

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I grew up in Portland Oregon and went to Reynolds High School. I always liked comic books and wanted to draw them since I was 10 years old. Later in High School, I read an article in The Comics Journal that mentioned Continue reading

No comments

Ron Yavnieli

  By


What is your name and your current occupation?
Name: Ron Yavnieli. Occupation: Animator at Bento Box. I’m also a Voice Actor and Stand-Up Comedian.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
When I was a teenager I worked for a birthday clown company as a character performer. I usually dressed up as Batman but once they sent me out as Barney the Dinosaur. The Barney costume didn’t fit me. I’m 6’2″ and the feet of the costume only came down to my shins. So I was walking around the mall that day with my feet sticking out. People kept saying to me “Nice Sandals Barney” or “You look like Barney on Crack!” At one point a group of mentally challenged adults came up and hugged me, then they tried to pull my mask off but their caretaker called them off before they could. I never did that character again.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Currently my favorite project is “The Sketchy Comedy Show” which I produce and perform in with several other multi- talented Comedians at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank. It’s a show that blends stand-up comedy with Sketches: both the drawn and the performed variety, and music. We have a roster of great Comedians who all Continue reading