Frans Vischer

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Frans Vischer. I am an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation.  I am also an author/illustrator. I have two children’s books published, Fuddles and Jimmy Dabble, and another book being published next year.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
In high school I did weekend janitorial work at a Montessori school, and I was a lousy busboy at a Mexican restaurant, spilling trays and breaking lots of plates. I delivered pizza for a single night after my 2nd year at Cal Arts, (when thankfully an animation job came through.)

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” “Cats Don’t Dance” “Back To Neverland,” “Back to Neverland” “Michael and Mickey” “The Night of the Living Duck,” (a Daffy Duck short.)

 

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was thirteen, my mother sent some of my drawings to the Disney studio. Don Duckwall, the aptly named animation department production manager, wrote back inviting us to visit the studio whenever we were in the area. We lived in Cupertino, in Northern California, and the following summer we vacationed in Southern California, and made part of our plans to visit the Disney studio in Burbank. I met Mr. Duckwall, as well as Ed Hansen, who would succeed him in the job, (and later become my boss.) I also met a number of animators, who inspired me to make my own animated films. My parents bought me a used 8 mm. camera, and my dad built a light box with a set of pegs, and I jumped right in and started experimenting.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. When I was eleven, my family moved to the United Sates. During high school I met Chuck Jones at a talk he gave at a junior college. I wanted to show him one of my Continue reading

Disney’s Moana

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On November 23, the Rock is set to make his mark on the Disney Universe as Maui, a demigod who’s playing companion to the newest Disney princess, Moana. The film is coming out of Disney Animation Studios (not Pixar), and it’s being directed by the same guys who did Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. If the plot of a young woman embarking on a journey to save her family doesn’t have you excited, then the film’s music might just turn your head. Not only is the film being orchestrated and soundtracked by Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda, but they’re going to make Dwayne Johnson rap, so …

Pierre Collet-Derby

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Pierre Collet-Derby. I am currently an Illustrator at Ubisoft Montreal by day and a character designer by night for various animation projects.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was lucky to be able to find work in the animation industry right after school. When I was a student in industrial design, I had the opportunity to be an intern in a cabinetmaking shop. It was a very interesting experience but I remember being exhausted after each day of work. Being a craftsman can be a physically demanding job.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
In 2003 I had the chance to animate on “Mickey’s twice upon a Christmas” for Disney. It was my first important gig as an animator and working with Disney characters was a dream come true for me. I learned a lot during this production, and met a lot of talented artists.Overall each project I’ve been working on has been rewarding as an artist. You always learn new things, meet great people and overcome new challenges. So I’m proud of all those projects, either big or small.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
As far as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in cartoons and comic books. I started to draw at a very young age and have always been encouraged by Continue reading

Angelo Libutti

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Angelo Libutti. Senior Storyboard artist at Digital Domain Media in Florida.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
First job was bar tending, just for cover a friend’s shift, but that job didn’t turn out so good, (even though I made a lot of money in tips), I accidentally broke all the glasses that were just taken out from the dishwasher.  I started really young at 16 doing illustrations for magazines and newspapers and got contacted by Disney to draw comics in Italy…and since then I kept art jobs.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Definitely “Triplets of Belleville” a classic for the animation lovers, even if was my first official job in the animation field I had the honor to start as lead Key animator. It had a European style that was familiar to me, and I was able to deliver my footage quickly.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I was quite a good draftsman at a young age. Back then I Continue reading

Andrew Hickinbottom

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What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is Andrew Hickinbottom, and i am a freelance character modeler for illustration and animation.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
Not sure on the ‘crazy’ side of things, but my first ever job was working in my dad’s factory as a general handyman doing various laborious jobs like sweeping, painting and grass cutting, before moving on to being a machine operator and packer there. I once worked in a videogames shop as well. Since i got my first job doing what i love, i cant see myself doing anything else – i’d whine too much!
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I modeled all but 2 of the characters in an advert for the International Olympic Committee at Nexus productions in London. Really nicely stylised characters – I was really pleased how that job came out. Also, I was the lead character modeler on the 3D sections of a 2D / 3D cartoon series called ‘friends and heroes’ – i made over a hundred characters during the series production run of 2 years. The art director i worked with was an really inspirational guy who worked with Disney, and he taught me a lot about character design, appeal and composition. This job helped me find my style which i progressed it to what it is today. Im proud of all of my personal projects too, but that’s because they are labours of love – i can take as long as i want on them, without deadlines, client feedback or budgets complicating things. Im especially proud of the limited figure run i had made from one of my personal pieces (Trixie) and are now selling via my website.
How did you become interested in animation? 

As a kid i loved cartoons. Garfield, Tom and Jerry, Transformers, Looney Tunes, Disney. I doodled a lot and was pretty good at drawing for my age. I always wanted to become a cartoonist, but i figured that was Continue reading

John Schnall

What is your name and your current occupation?
John Schnall, president of the thriving multi-national (or at least multi-floor) animation emporium called Quality Schnallity Inc. We make explainer videos, music videos, games, and sundry. Lots of sundry.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
You know how circuses shoot a clown out of a cannon, and he ends up on top of a far-away circus tent? Well, the dirty little secret is it’s a different clown that’s in the cannon and that’s on the circus tent: the clown in the cannon is completely incinerated when the blast goes off, and the one on top of the tent is a completely different clown. I bring up this unfortunate situation because one of my many pre-animation jobs was: I was the guy who had to clean the clown viscera out of the cannon. Hey, someone has to do it…

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m very proud of my various independent films, particularly The Dead Comic. What makes me proud of this film is how many people absolutely hate it; I must be doing something right if I can get absolute hatred. The film can be seen on my website, but I’m not putting a link here; if you can’t take five minutes to search it out then you don’t want to see it, really.
How did you become interested in animation?
I fourth grade the teacher passed around a strip of blank 35 mm film, and had us draw on it. I spent a long time, totally getting the sequential frame by frame thing, and tried to make the ultimate character walk; I drew the Continue reading