Tag Archives: Character Design

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Alisa Harris

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Alisa Harris and I’m a freelance character designer and traditional Flash animator in New York City.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One summer during college, I painted carousel horses in Canarsie, Brooklyn. It was pretty awesome.  Some of the carousels I worked on are at the Willow Grove Mall in PA, Bryant Park in NYC and overseas.  When I first graduated from art school, the animation industry had tanked.  I ended up doing data entry for two years at an insurance company specializing in mental health and substance abuse.  I like to joke that it prepared me for working in the animation industry.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favorite projects was my first lead design position at Flickerlab in NYC.  It was a web series for Ritz/Nabisco on how to have cheap family fun in the summer.  It was the first commercial project that I designed characters and props in my own style.  There was a lot of freedom in designing the families and I enjoyed creating a more diverse cast.  Because it was a small studio, I also boarded half of the episodes and did some of the Flash puppet setup.  It was really cool to see my own designs and staging come through to the final episodes.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a kid, I loved Looney Tunes, classic Disney films, The Muppet Show and Rankin Bass Christmas Specials.  In the ’80s, my family would watch The Disney Sunday Night Movie and I was riveted to the Continue reading

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The Splat is coming!

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Mtv.com is reporting about a new Youtube channel featuring classic Nickelodeon shows premiered on Saturday called The Splat.

On Saturday, a full-length channel for the network quietly premiered on YouTube with clips from faves including “Rugrats,” “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “CatDog” and “Ren & Stimpy,” among others. A bare-bones website also launched, which links to recently-launched social media channels onInstagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Read the full article here.

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Michael K. Foster

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Michael K. Foster, character designer and animator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Not sure if they’re crazy, but when I was younger I was a stock boy for a health food store, talk about nut jobs.  I was a professional mover for three years and spent many of those nights sleeping in the back of the moving truck trying to keep warm in those dirty moving blankets because there was no time to go home.  My first art related job was designing yellow page ads.  Ever see those ads?  That’s pretty much the lowest design job there is.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Wow, um…I guess one would be a new product for Anagram Intl. a company I used to work for.  They’re a huge national and international mylar balloon company.  Not what you may think of when talking animation, but I was contacted by them with nothing more then an idea and told to make it work.  It was all based around the QR codes that you see everywhere that can be scanned with a smart phone.  I developed a line of character driven mylar balloons for children with themes such as pirates, skateboarders, princess’s & mermaids.  Each balloon had a scannable QR code printed on it and when scanned, a short fun animation played based on the balloon.  It was a way to “continue” the story from the balloon.  The balloons are being sold throughout the U.S.  It may not be a huge deal, but for me, it was something because it started as a blank idea and it turned into something bigger.  This also helped my approach for new clients because it showed that animation is not just for TV and Film, but many other industries.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Ann Arbor Michigan and raised in Hillburn NY a small village about an hour north of NYC.  I got into animation some what by chance.  A company I used to work for was in need of some simple character driven animation to help promote a few new products.  My boss came to me and basically said, Continue reading

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Scott Heming

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What is your name?
Scott Heming

What would you say has been your primary job in animation?
For most of my Computer Graphics career (Since the early 90’s) I have been a 3D artist. I have done my share of animation, video, short corporate films,  and web media. The smaller the company I work for, the more animation I seem to do.  I often have to wear an Animators hat when its called for. So, I would say I primarily do 3D Pre-Visaliaztion Animated films, well at lest I did for many years before I started working in the game industry.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (DIC-1999?) – mostly because it was early 2D/3D mixing on a project that was supposed to be another cheap DIC p.o.s. The show was typically short handed but everyone involved really got into it and I think it shows. It was Emmy nominated and still gets airplay 10 years later.

Curious George (TV series Universal 2006-2010) Kids and adults like it despite PBS’s educational mandate. Fun crew to work with. It’s a character I remember fondly from my childhood, so it’s been a privilege to ‘play’ in the world.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Fred Wolf Films – early 90’s) It was my second job in animation. A real trial by fire because of the insane schedule that first year. I had to learn a lot fast to survive, so I guess the pride comes from that…survival. We did something like 95 1/2 hours of animation in one year – Turtles, James Bond Jr., Toxic Crusaders… it wasn’t all pretty – but it got done.
How did you become interested in animation?
I was assisting doing comic books – which meant spotting blacks, doing backgrounds…doing grunt work. It didn’t pay shit but it got me out of the vacuum I’d been drawing in. One of the guys at the little studio we worked at was doing freelance props for DIC. I asked him how well it paid. He drew a quick ellipse  inside of an ellipse and said, ʺ See that? That’s a plate. That’s $35.ʺ Continue reading

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Preorder the Disney short film collect on sale August 18th

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Preorder the Disney short film collect on sale August 18th.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes an extraordinary new collection of award-winning and beloved short films including the never-before-released Frozen Fever, starring Frozen’s Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Sven and Kristoff, and the Oscar-nominated Lorenzo. The Short Films Collection also includes the 2012 groundbreaking Mickey Mouse cartoon, Get A Horse! as well as hailed Oscar® winners Paperman and Feast. Enjoy them together for the first time in this must-own collection, featuring all-new extras including introductions and interviews with the Disney Animation filmmakers themselves.

 

 

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Ed Olson

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What is your name and your current occupation?

Ed Olson – concept development/character designer animator:  http://designloftstudio.com/index.html

edolson@designloftstudio.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/designloftstudio?feature=watch

http://www.linkedin.com/in/edolson

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0975075/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?

While going to college I worked construction during the summers.  Construction paid well so I could go to art school 9 months out of the year without having to work during my semesters.  After graduating, I spent several years teaching art, film and television, but didn’t think about animation as a possibility.

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

Rescuers Down Under (clean-up) Pinky and the Brain (storyboard) 101 Dalmatians 1996 live-action release (storysketch)

How did you become interested in animation?

I was teaching live-action and television production at California Lutheran University and faced the financial challenges that comes with the under-financed nature of education.  I had a friend who worked as an assistant at Disney.  He told me about the program there and the test you had to take to get started. I sat for a few months straight practicing in-betweening, took the test at Disney and started there on Rescuers Down Under.   The hardest part was learning to sit for 8 hours straight a day.

(I earlier had a B.A. in art but got interested in filmmaking at the end of my B.A., so went for a Masters in Film and Television production at the University of Iowa.  I made documentaries for PBS in North Carolina and Iowa and taught live-action film for years, but never utilized my art training up until the point I started at Disney.)

While at CLU,  I decided to utilize the drawing skills and subjected myself to a grueling self-training, re-introducing myself to my drawing skills which had been developed in art school.  I passed a drawing test and Disney and my new career was launched.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?

I am from Minnesota, but moved to California to attend The American Film Institute as a Producer Fellow, which was still part of my live-action film work.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?

Unless there is a tight deadline, I spend about 3 hours a day doing the “business side” of The Design Loft.  This includes emails, marketing, bidding on jobs online, networking and looking for opportunities.  Then I take a break, go for a walk, and come back and start the most highly creative part of what I do, drawing.  A lot of my work is hand-drawn, even when it comes to Flash animation, and then it is scanned into the computer for painting and line clean up. This usually lasts about three hours, then I go into the computer mode, which requires less creativity… this also lasting about four hours.  Soon a regular basis I am working around 10 hours a day.

What part of your job do you like best? Why?

The drawing.  It is the time when I feel that the creative abilities are used to their best.

What part of your job do you like least? Why?

The marketing.  It is somewhat tedious, but has to be done.

What is the most difficult part for you about being in the business?

The finacial instability.  Clients pay in sporadic ways, and projects are always variable.

What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis?

Windows PC, Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator.

In your travels, have you had any brushes with animation greatness?

Was instrumental in shaping the end of 101 Dalmatians (1996) with Stephen Herek directing.
See my profile on IMBD   http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0975075/

 

Describe a tough situation you had in life.

Animation in general is tough, but very rewarding.  Concept development requires getting very involved with a client’s hopes and dreams, and then you ride the emotional roller coaster with them and they try to make their baby come to life in the marketplace.

 

Is there any advice you can give for an aspiring animation student or artist trying to break into the business?

If you are truly supposed to be doing this, you will be doing this.