John Jagusak

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is John Jagusak and I am currently a freelance cartoonist. Some of the projects I’m working on now include comic strips for several publications and character design for a web series.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I would have to say that my previous job as a tattoo artist was the craziest job. One day I would be tattooing a group of teenage girls and the next I would be tattooing a group of 1%er bikers.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Around 2007 I had the opportunity to collaborate with a great cartoonist and writer on a syndicated comic strip. That was a pretty fun project. At around the same time I also landed a job at the newly reformed Cracked Magazine which had been a life-long goal of mine. However, Cracked magazine only lasted for a short 3 issue run before the presses once again came to screeching halt.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m originally from Cranford, NJ but I currently live in Long Island, NY. From 1999-2003 I attended the School of Visual Arts in NY for Cartooning. During my first 2 semesters at school I was working on the weekends as an airbrush artist at children’s parties. In the summer before my third semester I was hired as the art director for a children’s publishing company (basically cheap labor). Around this time I had Continue reading

Ruben Chavez

 

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Ruben Chavez – Key Background Painter – Starz/Film Roman Freelance Background Painter – Disney TV
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Bellman/Room Service waiter for Hilton Hotels – Lots of crazy stories I could tell, but I won’t !  Repair and deliver electric motors for industrial businesses such as Farmer John’s .
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Hands down, Iron Giant and Cat’s Don’t Dance, other’s are The Simpsons Movie, Juniper Lee, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Lilo & Stitch 2, and most recently, Dan Vs.
How did you become interested in animation?
Comics and animation were my favorite interests since I was a child, I was constant;y drawing characters and scenes every chance I had, it was Continue reading

David de Rooij

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is David de Rooij and I am a freelance Animator/Storyboard Artist/Character Designer.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
While I was doing Art School, I had a couple of little jobs like working at a supermarket, a zoo, a club. I also made a little comic for a division of a big Energy Company.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I haven’t been part of many big animation projects yet, but during my internship at Anikey Studios I got to work on a couple of very nice short animated films: “Paul and the Dragon”and “Little Quenton”!

How did you become interested in animation? 
I have always watched cartoons and even made my own comics and flipbooks. I tried to animate digitally in GIF Animator and Flash, drawing with my mouse! I just never realized that I could become a professional animator. After finishing high school I studied Graphic Design at two different Art Schools, because I Continue reading

Brian Mac Moyer

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Brian Mac Moyer, freelance artist and prop designer

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked in a textiles plant, converting colored designs into black negative plates for color printing. I was a Romita’s Raider in the Marvel Bullpen and I operated a porcelain press that separated porcelain clay out of a mud called “slip” used for making electric insulators.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Megas XLR, I was there from its’ infancy, I helped with the pre-pilot and was hired on as a prop designer when it finally got greenlit by Cartoon Network. That show is the reason I moved to California.  Beavis and Butthead Do America was my first big break. I showed the art director my portfolio and he like what he saw so he had me do a BG test over the weekend. With test finished, I came in on Monday and he wanted to hire me on the spot but the producer said I had to take a layout test. I had no clue how to do layouts but learned while I took the test and got the job.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Up-state NY, 30 minutes east of Rochester in a little town called Palmyra.  I got into animation via the comic industry. John Romita was my supervisor at Marvel Comics and in 1994 the industry was Continue reading

Stu Livingston

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Stu Livingston — I work as a storyboard artist in animation – I also write and draw comics.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I had a lot of customer-service-type jobs before breaking in, but the most unusual was the summer I spent working at Meadows Field Airport, back in Bakersfield, CA where I grew up.  The crew and I were responsible for checking-in passengers, loading and unloading luggage, as well as taxiing in and out the airplanes.  Somehow, I became the guy at the front with the orange batons leading in and out the planes each day.  You have to learn all the signals (turn left, go straight, slow down, stop, engine 1 is on fire…), it’s crazy…there’s definitely nothing like having an airplane in your face once or twice a day haha.  I was also a court sketch-artist for a major murder trial that took place in Bakersfield back in 1994.  They had finally tracked down the key-witness to the crime in 2006, so they scouted out artists at CSUN, where I studied, and I was the one they picked.  Interesting story, actually — I helped land, park and service the very plane that brought that witness to Bakersfield, then a few months later I was drawing his picture in court.  Probably the most ridiculously unlikely coincidence of my whole life – I can barely believe it happened.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
With storyboarding, I’ve had the great pleasure to work on Futurama, a show I’ve loved and watched since its debut.  Due to the large cast and the great variety of stories from script to script, each episode of Futuramacomes with its own unique challenges.  As I’m winding down on an episode, it’s a good feeling to have knowing the next one will most likely be totally different.  With comics, I’ve had the great, great fortune to contribute to the Flight series, which I’ve been a huge fan of since college.  It’s led to some unbelievable opportunities to meet and work with some of my favorite artists!  Most recently, I contributed a story to Explorer: The Mystery Boxes, a new comics anthology from Kazu Kibuishi (who also created Flight).  What made that experience memorable compared to some of the other stories I’ve done was the chance to work with a really hands-on editor who helped challenge, discipline, and guide us until we each came up with stories that we were all really proud of.  Suffice to say I learned a LOT from that experience, I’ll never forget it.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I made the choice to become an artist very early on – around age 6 or 7 maybe?  It was a shockingly easy choice to make and one I, thankfully, never lost sight of.  Cartoons, animation and drawing were always Continue reading

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