Fraser MacLean

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Fraser MacLean, At-Home Carer (but, when time permits: Lecturer/Writer/General Animation Mongrel)

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I once spent an entire week working as an Assistant Film Editor on a 5-minute local news item (shot on 16mm co-mag) about a company that made heated dog baskets. On another occasion I had to drive across Glasgow with half a human brain in a perspex display case on the passenger seat, praying all along that nobody would rear-end the props truck since the safety belt wouldn’t fit around the case that the half-brain was floating in.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “Space Jam”, “Tarzan”, “Little Dorrit” and the Animo animation software package.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was a kid growing up in Scotland there was a regular early evening double-bill of Continue reading

Robb Pratt


What is your name and your current occupation?
I’m Robb Pratt, story artist.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
For years I made stained glass windows in a little mom and pop shop in Studio City. There were actually some cool moments on that job. I got to meet Julian Lennon when I was installing some windows in his house! I’m a HUGE Beatles fan, so that was something that I’ll never forget! I also got to work for Erik Estrada, and Steven Adler, the drummer for Guns N Roses and future reality show star! What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? I was very fortunate to be an animator for Walt Disney Feature Animation on every traditionally animated film AFTER “The Lion King”! I got to work directly with Bruce Smith, animating Kerchak in “Tarzan”, and John Pomeroy, animating to Michael J. Fox’s voice for “Atlantis”. After traditional animation faded out out Disney, I was able to work for Eric Goldberg on “Looney Tunes: Back In Action”. I actually got to animate Bugs Bunny saying his iconic “What’s up, doc?” line!

How did you become interested in animation?
Funny… speaking of Bugs Bunny, it was the Warner Bros. shorts that made me want to be an animator! I love the artform of shorts: get in, get a few laughs, then get out before you’ve warn out your welcome! I also was WAY into the Fliescher Popeye shorts. I just recently rediscovered them with Continue reading

Dan Schier

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Dan Schier, working at Nickelodeon as a character designer.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
The earliest jobs I had as a kid were the craziest. My best friend and I waded through crayfish infested lakes, retrieved and resold golf balls in stealthy, makeshift wholesale locations. We did alright for kids, and it was tax free! My first official job was a paper boy. The crazy part is that I was loosing money because customers hid from me when I attempted to collect, or didn’t pay me on time. So I had to cover them adults at age 16. Bye, bye golf ball money. First artistic job was at Disneyland doing caricatures and portraits in New Orleans Square spring/summer of ’97. It was fun to have a license to stare at pretty girls.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I guess I’m proud of and enjoyed each project on different levels. Working on Dora makes me feel good because it’s a very well intentioned show that aims to teach kids instead of the opposite. My first job on Disney’s “Atlantis” is probably a favorite. I was still idealistic at that point. It’s also when I first met my wife who worked in Backgrounds. Our crew was a lot of fun and we were working on the main character, Milo. I remember when I first started and was looking at development art and inspirational art from things like 101 Dalmatians I felt like I had arrived, and was so excited about the prospects I had fantasized about.

How did you become interested in animation?
I always drew and loved watching cartoons-particulary Looney Toons and Disney, and some Hanna Barbera…actually, I liked anything that was good and entertaining. I basically gravitated toward Continue reading

Brett Snelgrove

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Brett Snelgrove and I’m an Independent writer/producer.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
I worked in a coffee shop in my youth where I had to wear a promotional character outfit to distribute flyers around the shopping centre. The character had this huge nose and the local kids weren’t shy about telling me I looked like a giant nob. Back in high school when I thought I wanted to be an actor, I was part of a drug awareness performance troupe and one of our outings involved crashing a big Oktoberfest event. Needless to say we were thrown out.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’ve recently completed an animated sci-fi web comedy called New Eden with Dutch animator, Freek van Haagen. That’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work but worth it. It was a bit of a trial by fire as it is my first foray into animation.  Previous to that I worked in television production and on my own independent projects. I’m very proud of my award winning action-comedy short Domestic and very grateful that I got to work on the satirical news programme NEWStopia with legendary Australian comedian Shaun Micallef.

 

How did you become interested in animation? 
I’ve always been a fan of cartoons and animation. Before CGI became commonplace, animation used to be the only place that you can really see 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

Andrew Kaiko

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Andrew Kaiko.  I am a creative developer at an advertising agency on internet content in Manhattan, New York.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
My jobs before animation were pretty tame.  So the only thing that comes to mind is when I had to not only sort and prepare illustrators’ promotional packages for their clients at an illustrator agency, but take care of the boss, who was an old lady, and her home, where she ran her agency out of.  I replaced light bulbs and emptied water from the air conditioner all the time. One time she actually booked me with the task of getting myself ice cream, as a break!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
‘Kappa Mikey’  was the first show I worked on at Animation Collective and was also the first show I ever had credit on, and you can’t very well forget something like that!  Not a week went by after getting my bachelor’s certificate, I got a phone call to go into the city for an interview there, and they gave me an offer right then.  This led to animating any anime-esque character who happened to appear in the shot (95% of the cast), and that meant six principle characters, various background extras, and occasional effects and props.  This never happens- I couldn’t believe my luck!  It had a superb cast of voice actors, which turned out to be the best thing about it.  The show isn’t liked by all, and yes, I am familiar with all the complaints, but I loved every second of production.  No other show since, even the shows following it at Animation Collective, was as enjoyable as this one, and that is true even into 2012.

 


How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve been interested in animation my whole life.  I think my parents gave me a gift as well as a curse when Continue reading