Tag Archives: Lead Animator

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Chris Burns

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Chris Burns, Owner and Lead Animator of EXIT 73 STUDIOS (exit73studios.com)

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
The craziest job I ever had, had to be a carpenter/roofer. I worked with a bunch of super manly, blue collar dudes, who’s life mission was to win concert tickets on the radio, and win pick 4 lotto. The money was good, and you couldn’t beat the hours, but I knew pretty early on, that I wanted to pursue a career in art.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
In 2007, when I was lead animator at AUGENBLICK STUDIOS, there was a stint of 3 projects that completely blew my mind. It started with the web series called GOLDEN AGE, which was a documentary style narrative of obscure cartoon characters from different time periods. From there we went on to animate a 4 minute cartoon for the feature film THE TEN, in a segment called THE LYING RHINO. Right after that we started animating the first episode of SUPERJAIL! It was really lightning in a bottle for the whole studio, we had a super tight team of very talented artist, pumping on all cylinders… It actually paved the way for the studio to go all the way to the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. THE TEN, and all the webisodes of GOLDEN AGE where proudly featured there. It was very surreal, as an animator, going into theaters and seeing your work so big with an audience.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m originally from eastern Long Island, which made my choice to go to SVA very easy, being it was so close. I interned at a bunch of Animation studios, B3, NOODLE SOUP, WORLD LEADERS, and 4KIDS ENTERTAINMENT. NOODLE SOUP, provided me with Continue reading

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Aaron McGriff

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Aaron McGriff and I am a Partner and Lead Animator at Walsh Family Media, a small independent animation studio in the heart of NYC doing some big things.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
Nothing too crazy, I guess. I used to bag groceries as a kid, worked the snack bar at a family fun center, worked as a teacher’s aide for elementary art school classes, and worked as an RA in the dorms during college.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
We are currently in production of 2 full length CG feature films Called The Cool Beans:We Need a Hit and The Cool Beans: Humbucket Caper. It has been an amazing experience getting to work on independent features, despite the natural ups and downs that come from trying to produce a high quality project with limited funding. The talent and dedication of our small team creates the kind of work environment most people only dream of. I’ve had the opportunity to wear many hats while at Walsh Family Media and have gotten to do everything from animation to voice-over work. I’m proud of how far we’ve come and I can’t wait for the world to be able to enjoy the content we’ve crafted meticulously with love for so many years. I know the industry will be blown away while simultaneously scratching their heads, trying to figure out how we produced such innovative content at such a high level on such a small budget.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business? 
My father is a proud 30 year US Army Veteran, and as such, I grew up all over the world. I was born in Panama and lived in probably 12 or more places before I ended up in New York City. So…yeah, Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, Korea, Take your pick. I wanted to be an animator for as long as I can remember. I always used to draw characters in elementary school. My family visited Disney World in Orlando when I was eight, and we visited the animation studio there. They were working on Continue reading

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Bob Etchingham

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Bob Etchingham, I’m a key poser/lead animator at Magpie6Media in Dublin, Ireland.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
My uncle owns a jewellers and workshop here in Dublin. So I started an apprenticeship at the age of twelve while I was still at school and during college and worked there pretty much up until I got into cartoons. I miss it sometimes. Lots of interesting characters working in that industry.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I worked on a show at Studio B in Vancouver (Now DHX media) called Kid vs. Kat. That was a great show to work on cause it was the first gig I did at a studio that actually owned the show. So If you had any suggestions about a scene, something that might make it better or funnier you could just walk into the next room and talk to the director about it. The more creative input you have into something you’re working on the better it comes out and the happier you are as an animator. Also the Slacker Cats title sequences that I worked on for Seth Kearsley was a great gig cause he was really easy going with how I went about them. Again more freedom means a better end product and a better experience over all. After that then I guess just my own shorts that I make all the time. I did some animation for the podcast Tell ’em Steve Dave on the smodcast network (unsolicited haha) They came out well and got a good response so thats cool. All my own stuff is on the Bobetch Productions Youtube page.

How did you become interested in animation?
I just always drew for as long as I can remember. As a kid I was really into Looney Tunes, then Ren and Stimpy all the usuals. Cartoons were just always there in the background. I used to sit and try and Continue reading

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Mike Roush

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I am a lead animator at Titmouse inc.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One of the most memorable was having to dress as an aardvark in from of a toy story in the mall and take pictures with kids. Memorable like a reoccurring nightmare.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
We’ll at Titmouse we just finished one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on called Motorcity for the Disney XD channel. It just got cancelled. Doh.

How did you become interested in animation?
I guess like everyone, watching a movie when I was young then Continue reading

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Friedl Jooste

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Friedl Jooste and I am currently a lead animator at Sunrise Productions.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a cashier at a toy shop for a day and then did data capturing for a power company, not the most fun I have ever had.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?I’ve worked on a couple films, especially the ones I got to work on in Canada was a great experience, but the projects I’m most proud of are the smaller ones where I got to have more of a creative roll, for instance Hooked, a short film I wrote and directed for Character Matters animation studios.  I’m also very proud to be animating on the third season of Jungle beat for Sunrise Productions. It is the first Jungle Beat season to be fully created in South Africa and they have managed to put together a very talented group of people. I cant wait for season three to be released it is looking beautiful and the stories are great!

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Cape Town South Africa. I have wanted to be in the animation industry since I was about 10, Continue reading

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Corey McDaniel

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Corey McDaniel – Lead Animator at Titmouse in Vancouver.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I used to work at a seafood restaurant on the weekends around my senior year in high school. Because of this, I do not eat seafood any more. I also interned at a training facility for a Honda manufacturing plant while taking some college classes. Because of this, I do not eat Hondas any more.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I got to work on an original series called Gundarr with my buddy Ted Wilson for a couple years, funded by Mondo Media. It was a total blast. We basically got paid to write, animate & voice whatever we wanted. I’m also super excited to be animating on Breadwinners for Titmouse. I love cartoons that aren’t ashamed of the fact that they’re cartoons, & Breadwinners definitely fits that mold. I’m currently working with two talented British chaps on a game I came up with called Cloudface. Together we form the unstoppable team FUTUREBEARD. Making a game is hard work, but it’s been very eye opening and super fun!

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
My dad was in the ARMY, so I grew up Texas, Colorado, Germany & Alabama. I went to JSU in Alabama for 4 years & got out of there with a BFA in Graphic Design, but I didn’t want to live in Alabama, so I started hunting around for animation schools. My first try was Cal-Arts, but Continue reading