Tag Archives: Lucas Film

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Ben Rosales

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Ben Rosales – Animation Instructor

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Full-time missionary in the Canada Calgary Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (The “white shirt & tie” guys on bikes)

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Open Season III

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Texas – My first animation job was at a small studio in Houston called Illusion Studio, Inc. Then Continue reading

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Pat Giles

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Pat Giles, and I am a Creative Director and co-founder (with Manny Galan) of Pat-Man Studios in New York City. We have several big Agency/Advertising clients. We currently run the creative assignments for several General Mills kids brands like Lucky Charms, TRIX, GoGurt and Honey Nut Cheerios for Saatchi & Saatchi. We partner with animation houses like Calabash and Laika, and cartoon gods like Sergio Aragones and others to make commercials, video games, short films, etc. We are also working on several series projects with Classic Media that aren’t announced yet, and we are in production on a project called “Captain Cornelius Cartoon’s Cartoon Lagoon” that will be out by the end of the year, whether it kills us or not.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked in children’s clothing for many years (not wearing it to work, but designing it). I designed tons (literally) of licensed products for Disney, Lucasfilm, Marvel, DC and Warner Bros., among others. The oddest was the line of “Hunchback of Notre Dame” pajamas I designed. While I am not knocking the artistry behind that film, Quasimodo made for some very odd pajamas.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to work on a lot of awesome projects. Back in the day, I started out as a designer on “Disney’s Doug,” art directed the Disney Channel series “Stanley,” was the Design Supervisor on MTV’s “Daria,” and worked on several other series in various capacities. I started a comic book company called “Monkeysuit Press” with Chris McCulloch (aka Jackson Publick), Mike Foran, Miguel Martinez-Joffre and Prentis Rollins. That was really fun and liberating. Several years ago everyone thought I left “animation,” but taking an ad agency assignment only got me deeper into it, since all of my assignments were for these beloved American brands with animated characters like Lucky, the Trix Rabbit, Buzz, and Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. The craft applied to these commercials is magnificent. I get to work with animators, directors, CG artists, painters, composers, orchestras, engineers, voice actors, and a lot of live action/animation combos with great directors, actors and cinematographers. It’s been a blast.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
“At Conception,” hahaha…I was just hard wired for animation and Continue reading

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Chris Sherrod

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Chris Sherrod. I am a 3D Story Artist at Lucasfilm Animation on an as-yet-to-be-named feature film.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
My prior life after college was Advertising Art and Design Manager for the Interactive Channel in Dallas,TX.  Before that i was doing print work and mowing lawns and McDonalds for a summer so i could buy a car.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I was very proud of working at DNA Productions in Dallas on Jimmy Neutron. This was a dream come true being able to walk into an animation studio not knowing how to draw a stick figure but understanding the principles design and composition and applying them to a completely different field surrounded by tons of creative people.  This was my Film 101 on the Movie, the TV series and the followup, The Ant Bully. A very under-rated film in my opinion.  Ken Mitchroney and Johann Klingler get all my props.

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve been interested in Animation since birth. Seriously, I re-created Continue reading

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Brent J. Zorich

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Brent J. Zorich and I am the Chief Technology Officer of BRENT ZORICH PRODUCTIONS, LLC.What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One summer during industrial design school in the 90s at Ohio State I worked as a bouncer at a dueling piano bar named Howl at The Moon. I didn’t realize it when I took the summer gig, but occasionally throughout the night the staff had to get on stage and dance to songs from Grease… ah, the memories.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I played MADDEN growing up so getting to be a lead rigger on that was pretty rewarding. Seeing my name in Star Wars credits was really rewarding also. I loved sitting in dailies critiquing shots on TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. My favorite intellectual property is actually HARRY POTTER; at Lucasfilm Animation Singapore I was in charge of arranging sequences for monthlies in addition to my regular tasks. The monthlies that I arranged were for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE and I got to work with the raw footage of Daniel Radcliff and see the before and after… really fun. The music I used in the backdrop when I showed to sequence to the all staff was Eulogy by Tool. I remember being at Lucasfilm in San Francisco and opening up a script for Indiana Jones written by Steven Spielberg and realizing I made it! I loved going through executive training at Lucasfilm, it was a weeklong through the executive trainer, Larry Seal, and I was being prepped to run a studio. I also enjoyed being on the Lucasfilm Best Practices Steering Committee that set the direction for all digital assets in regards to Lucasfilm Animation, LucasArts, and Industrial Light and Magic. There were about ten of us on the committee.  But, I’d have to say the most rewarding experience was in Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and my film game convergence group that I was in took the television version of Ahsoka Tanu, Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan, and I modified it so it would work in the Unreal Engine. We showed it directly to George Lucas when he came to see the studio in summer of 2008 and he couldn’t tell the difference between my Ahsoka rendering on the XBOX 360 and the version used on television.

How did you become interested in animation?
Three years old in summer of 1977, “A long time ago in a galaxy, far, far, away….” You’ll figure it out.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Columbus, Ohio and I got into the animation business by Continue reading

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Sergio Paez

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Sergio Paez, and I’m a director and Story Supervisor working on film and television projects. I cofounded www.StoryboardArt.org, which is an online community for visual storytellers and storyboard artists. In addition to my professional work, I also do many lectures and workshops to help younger artists get into the business.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
When I was in high school, I used to make fake IDs back when California driver’s licenses didn’t have a hologram. I made a lot of money under the table, and I was such a good student that no one ever suspected that I was making forgeries. One day I was at my friend’s house and we were all watching TV when a commercial for a local art school came on the television. It flashed titles on screen that went something like, “You are the yearbook photographer extraordinaire” or “Drawing caricatures is easy for you”. Finally a title flashed on the screen that said,”You’ve mastered the art of making fake IDs.” All my friends turned me and started calling me out.  The commercial was for the Academy of Art University art school, and ironically I ended up going to that school. The fake ID part had nothing to do with it, but it’s a true story nonetheless.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Strangely enough, one of my first animation jobs is the one I remember the fondest. I worked on a Spanish /French co-production called The Three Wise Men in Spain. It was the first time I really sunk my teeth into doing animation and storyboards on a big production. It was a small team but the talent level was really high and I had to hustle to keep up. I loved every minute of it. It was the first time I Continue reading

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David Williams

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What is your name and your current occupation?
David Williams and I work for Disney TV Animation’s “Jake And The Never Land Pirates”

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing crazy. Just the standard “no brainier” jobs. Car wash, gas station, stock boy, construction, etc.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Without a doubt, the best job I had, while between animation jobs, was working for Applause designing collectible mugs, sculpts, toys, etc. For Lucasfilm Properties. I was head designer the second year and pitched the line-up of proposed merchandise to Lucasfilm (but not George). Flew out on the company’s dime and made several journeys to the Skywalker Ranch. Yes, I’ll admit it, it made me feel important. I made some long-standing friendships during that time, as well. In animation, it was working on the two Klasky/Csupo feature films “The Wild Thornberrys” and “Rugrats Go Wild”. I got into the studio at it’s zenith, and watch it all fade away within the two years I was there. Very sad. What made my time so special was the opportunities that were put in my lap! My job was storyboarding but I also designed some BG layouts, animated sequences, I even worked with the editor timing out my song sequence. Yes, this job also made me feel important. Also I played basketball almost everyday at lunch right there on the grounds. Definitely a perk.

How did you become interested in animation?
The standard way, for my generation, propped in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal on a Saturday morning. Peanuts Specials, every Christmas Special and The Wonderful World Of Disney. Definitely feature films, as well, but Continue reading