Tag Archives: Illustrator

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Eduard Ersek

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Hi, my name is Eduard Ersek and I currently work as an animation supervisor.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’m not sure if I can call them crazy, but I used to be a tourist guide. My job was to take a smaller group of tourist around the place where I live and show them nature and culture. So one day I took them on a trip to the mountains the next we visited towns, castles or museums. For a short period I also worked as a translator.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
There are very few projects I could say I’m proud to have been a part of. Usually when working under a contract time is very short and there is always a compromise between quality and speed. But Continue reading

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Colter Avara

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Colter Avara. I am currently a freelance illustrator, animator and designer. Most of my clients are mobile game and app developers!

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Oh man, I think I am pretty fortunate on that front. I spent several years working various IT jobs, unfortunately that isn’t crazy. Just boring. The craziest job I ever had was given to me by my dad. When I was a kid, I really wanted a video game. I think it was Sonic The Hedgehog 2 but I’m not 100% sure, I wanted pretty much every game.  In an attempt to teach me about working for things in life, he told me that he would buy the game for me if I plucked every clover flower in our yard. Our yard was over an acre and full of mostly clover, just to give you an idea of what I was dealing with. It was crazy! I spent almost an entire week filling up drywall buckets with flowers. I don’t think either of my parents predicted that I would be so diligent, but the buckets of clover flowers and the swarm of pissed off honey bees told them otherwise. They had me stop at around 4-5 buckets.  I earned the video game and possibly destroyed an ecosystem in the process. Sorry, to any honey bees out there. I’m probably going to get trolled by honey bees now.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I enjoyed working on all of my projects, but I had the most fun on the projects where I had a little more creative freedom, particularly on a social game that I worked on called, Rock Riot. It was a guitar hero style facebook game. The team really let me take the reigns creatively and the player community was really into it! That was the best part, seeing the players enjoy the items I had created. I’ll never forget the first time I saw players using the turkey guitar I made for Thanksgiving. That was hilarious.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am originally from Maryland and I am now living in Pennsylvania. My professional career started in 2008 when I worked with John Kricfalusi on The George Liquor Program. After that, Continue reading

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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.

 

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Cedric Hohnstadt

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Cedric Hohnstadt. I own an illustration studio where I specialize in character design.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve driven school bus, worked in a canning factory, and even done medical studies. Fortunately I’ve been able to make a living as an artist now for about fifteen years.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve done advertising concept work for brands like Coca-Cola and Walmart; designed toys for Hasbro and Disney; designed characters for VeggieTales; and supervised the animation of Mr. Potato Head for the Hasbro website. I also illustrated a Gospel tract with over five million copies in print. You can read it at www.freecartoontract.com.  Recently I launched a Kickstarter called the Pose Drawing Sparkbook. It’s a tool to help artists put more life into their drawings and I’m getting a lot of great feedback on it. By the third day of the campaign it was featured in Kickstarter’s “Popular this week” section under the “Publishing” category and it received over 800 “likes” on Tumblr. Your readers can check it out here: http://kck.st/12K2otL

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m a life-long Minnesotan so all of my animation-related work has been done from my home studio. In 2000 I attended Continue reading

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Philip Carrera

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Philip Carrera, Animator/Digital Storyteller

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before getting into animation, I was a third grade teacher, an advertising copywriter, architectural draftsman, and production layout artist. I managed to switch careers about every three years until I finally settled on this one.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Three big projects come to mind: (1) publishing my book: “Flash Animation: Creative Storytelling for Web and TV”.  (2) Being nominated for Best Kids Short by the Kids First Animation Festival for my first short film: “Dan Mog”:  , and (3) completing my first mini-documentary for a local  music school.

How did you become interested in animation?
I used to make my own comics when I was a kid and always wondered how Continue reading

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James McDermott

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What is your name and your current occupation?
James McDermott, currently I’m the Character Design Lead on a newPrimetime FOX series being produced at Bento Box called “AllenGregory”.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting intoanimation?
My first job, I worked as a kids counselor at a summer camp when I was 14. I was incharge of twenty 6 year old kids every week. Looking back on it I’mnot quite sure how I did that but I did it with joy. I once was asked to dress up as a feltfilm strip character in front of a boardroom full of people, selling itas a brand hallmark for a movie theater chain, I forget which one, for$100 while in art school. Needless to say it was very embarrassing atthe time as a teenager.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been apart of?
Well even though it was cancelled, my time on “Neighbors from Hell” was probably one of the better experiences I’ve  had in production. I loved the style of the show, so much fun to draw. I had the opportunity to work with Continue reading