Brynn Metheney

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Brynn Metheney and I am a freelance illustrator and Concept Artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
I got my first job when I was 17 and I worked all kinds of jobs through college. I’d say my two craziest jobs were working at a make-up counter in a department store and being a waitress at a country club. I didn’t like them very much, haha!
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I have a few that I’m very proud of! Last year, my work was included in The Sappi Standard 5. It’s a educational printing manual for designers and firms and it was designed by Studio Hinrichs. I also collaborated with artist and writer, Ethan Nicolle on the cover for Axe Cop – President of the World 2. Recently I’ve been involved with Paizo and Wizards of the Coast on some really fun and exciting projects I’m looking forward to sharing more about. Of course, I’ve always wanted to work in film and the two projects I’ve worked on are very exciting for me! Can’t say much now but I’m looking forward to sharing more about it in the future!
How did you become interested in animation? 
I grew up on a pretty steady diet of Disney cartoons and movies as well as Looney Tunes and Jim Henson. All of these really pushed me to appreciate animation and film at a young age. I remember being amazed that Continue reading

Mark Behm

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What is your name and your current occupation?
First let me say thanks, Mike, for the opportunity. My name is Mark Behm and I’m an artist at Valve Software. We don’t have propper titles, so what I do depends on what I feel the project I’m working on needs and if I feel I am up to the task. Mostly I design or make assets and sometimes animate them.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before? I’d say a lot of my jobs IN the animation industry were fairly crazy. As a teenager I did enough manual and kitchen labor to build a healthy fear of spending my life swinging a hammer in a cold rain. Craziest? Hmm…I once taught a class on animal tracking.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first feature was as an animator on Robots at BlueSky. That was a huge learning opportunity for me. At Valve, I got to design, sculpt and texture all of the aliens in a little top down game we released for free on Steam called AlienSwarm. That kind of ownership was very fun for me.

How did you become interested in animation?
I grew up in the mid 70s into the 80s as SciFi was getting big. I saw Star Wars when I was around 7 and was Continue reading

Dave Wolfe


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Dave Wolfe. I recently started a game company called Cosmic Games, and these days I spend most of my time programming.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I never really had any crazy jobs, but in high school I was a telemarketer and during college I did tech support for a dial-up ISP. Both jobs were pretty terrible but they paid better than most part time jobs.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I think the show I’m most proud of working on was Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends for Cartoon Network. I was introduced to it while in school and loved it, I never imagined I’d be working on it just a few years later. I also really enjoyed working on Slammo & Sloshie for AOL even though the final product didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve always loved animation, I grew up watching Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and I would Continue reading

Micah McNeely

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Micah McNeely and I am a freelance 3D modeler and Texture Artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before Animation I was a Production Supervisor at Kinko’s Copies and the Chappell Episode “Pop Copy”was a day in the life of my job LOL! My experience there gave me the interest in computers and design so, it wasn’t too bad of an experience 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Oh Man one of the coolest things for me to work on were game cinematics. I worked on cinematic trailers for Colonization/Civilization Revolution and a yet announced game. That being said, I am now working on environments for the PC title FORGE and that has been a great experience for me because although most of my experience in the VFX studio category I have always wanted to work on a video game.
How did you become interested in animation?
Ever since I was a kid I loved comics and games! I grew up in the Marvel Comics and NINETENDO era and when my mother put my first console on layaway at our local Kmart I was hooked! I would say that I also had Continue reading

Michael Jantze

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Michael Jantze, owner of Jantze Studios and professor at SCAD. Prior jobs include: Newspaper journalist. Syndicated cartoonist. Visual Effects Art Director at ILM.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Co-directed Joe Murray’s “Frog in a Suit” and directed the animation for a dream sequence in Lawrence Kasdan’s 2012 feature “Darling Companion”.

How did you become interested in animation?
I was born. I was interested in animation.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Born in New York, grew up in Illinois, I’ve been in California on and off since 1981 (film school at Cal State Northridge). I got out of college, applied to Disney the week “Black Cauldron” came out. So I went into documentary filmmaking the following week. That lead to art directing, that led to Continue reading

Ben Rush

What is your name and your current occupation? 
Supervising Animator at DreamWorks Animation.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Sprinkler trench digger, Nordstrom Café busboy, parking garage number painter.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Kung Fu Panda and Panda 2, Turbo, Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris.

 

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

I grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains in Los Gatos, CA.  I always loved animation- the idea that these draftsmen and women could move drawings to create life was completely mystifying to me.  Looking at rough Disney pencil tests put me over the moon.  And in the Continue reading