Hans Perk

What is your name and your current occupation?
Hans Perk, director, editor, compositor, head of IT at A. Film, Denmark, and CEO and producer for A. Film L.A., Inc.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I have never done an honest day’s work, sorry. I started studying Art History at the University of Amsterdam, but found that I was itching to put my pencil to the paper myself, and as such I have only worked in animation since 1979.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I was proud to work on the 1986 Academy Award winning short film Anna & Bella, as assistant director, animator and editor. The director and head animator, legendary Börge Ring and myself were the only two people working on that film on a daily basis. After that, basically all of A. Film’s output since 1988, in most capabilities, but especially Miffy the Movie – which I directed.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and started my interest in high school as collector of Disneyana, which soon made me wonder Continue reading

Tad Butler

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Tad Butler and I am a freelance storyboard artist and illustrator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I guess the craziest job would be operating a cigarette tax stamping machine for a wholesale food and tobacco product distributor. I have also worked as a route salesman for a health and beauty aids distributor, an assistant web press operator, a bus driver and a retail sales associate to name a few.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am very proud to have been a part of making the film, Alone Yet Not Alone. It is a period film set during the French and Indian and tells the remarkable true story of one young girl’s faith, courage and determination to reunite her family that has been torn apart by the war.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from the great state of Virginia. I reside there in a little hamlet nestled among the Blue Ridge Mountains know as Continue reading

Scott Evans

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Hello. My name is Scott Evans and I am a freelance cartoon graphic designer and animator at www.lookcreativestudio.co.uk

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
The animation I am working on is based on the craziest job that I had. Just after I turned 18 my Dad got me to pass exams so that I could be licensee of his new pub. I was suppose to me going to university in London, having just completed my A levels but my Dad convinced me to take a year off for work experience, to help manage his new pub in Torquay. Originally from Birmingham, the whole family moved to this seaside town that we had only ever visited once before, and Tony Dunne, now fellow Barstewards writer/composer and long time friend decided to come down for the summer with us. None of us ever returned home to Birmingham (and I never did get to university). Being in charge of a pub at 18 resulted in all the things you could probably imagine. Lots of drinking, lots of trouble and very little work. The pub last two years (though the memories live on!)

What are some of your favourite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I do lots of cartoon artwork for businesses all over the world and I am grateful that I get to do that every day for a living. I can’t think of Continue reading

Sam Ellis

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Sam Ellis, Creative Director at Never Say Die Studios LLC.  I also teach Animation, Story Art, and Concept Design to college students, 2 days a week at the Art Institute of Washington.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a supervisor at a quick service chicken restaurant, a Mormon missionary in Arizona, a house framer in historic Williamsburg, a pizza delivery driver, a burger cashier, I built curbs all over Virginia Beach, an off-ice hockey linesman, as well as quite a few more freelance art jobs.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Well, the one project that really helped launch my career and that is going into its 5th season is Archer. I was Lead Designer on Archer Season one and left at the end to go work on personal projects, but we were wrapping up an episode of the short lived Xtacles on adult swim and Adam Reed was getting ready to pitch a new show around called Duchess, Neal Holman was too busy with his other duties so Matt Thompson passed off the majority of the work over to me and Chad Hurd. I was to draw Duchess (later to be known as Archer), his mother, and his father, while Chad drew Archer’s love interest, his foil, and his car.  After his pitch was successful and a pilot was green-lit, I got to do quite a bit more designing, Chad and I were pretty delighted to start making some changes to the designs when we got hold of them, there was some great stuff already done by Neal Holman and Eric Simms, but with Neal working on creating backgrounds before we found Trinity Animation and Eric taking some heavy animation duties, Chad and I were like kids in a candy shoppe. We had a blast on that first episode, it came together real fast and we came up with some interesting solutions.  Even though I left Archer I still love the crew and am tickled when I see some of the art I did show up all the time, also I get a kick out of seeing my son every time I see young Archer as he was the model for it, Although he has never seen or probably will see Archer.  Outside of Archer I have been able to work on Cory Edward’s Krogzilla with the fine folks at GreenShoe Animation, Jason Shwartz’s company–man totally forgot, working with those guys let me work with Disney and Marvel I am heck’a proud of that I also got to foray into gaming and got to do some designs for that Avengers ultimate alliance game–that was fun.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I currently live in Spotsylvania VA, and I grew up on the east coast, most of my life was spent in Virginia Beach, VA.  I always wanted to be an animator and a comic artist, I love telling stories and find that using pictures and being able to draw was another great skill set in being able to Continue reading

Luis E. Saavedra

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Luis E. Saavedra and I work as a Director of Altairfilms ,Co – Founder of Antares Render related to Offshoring
services and Cinema from Chile exporting Chilean films to festivals and independent markets.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Excellent question! First at school I really enjoyed drawing and me and some friends had a comic book magazine, well just a bunch of fotocopies put together ! After that, I studied Industrial design and for a while I designed and built desks for offices. I did many of them and it was a very physical job, I spent many hours at night in empty buildings finishing those offices. After that, I worked in the printing bussiness as a Graphic Designer in the pre-press process, which is very interesting regarding the color creation for Offset prints. I learned a lot from these both experiences and I related them to animation years later.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Through the years I have been involved in great projects, both animation and film but the one I always remember is the first one;
“Discovery”, because that was my first comission. In 2001 I was granted by a Government contest with US 6000 to develop a 10 min piece of animation in 6 month. I had never worked in animation before and I had to work very hard to finish it. I even had troubles with my then girlfriend because I was spendig a great amount of time working day and night, she finally broke up with me! But the experience was great, drawing though the night and with no worries about anything, just enjoying the oportunity

How did you become interested in animation?
My grandfather introduced me into the comicbook universe when I was little, classic stuff like Alex Raymond with “Flash Gordon”, “The Spirit” of Will Eisner and Jean Giraud mostly known as Moebius. I also remember a lot of cartoons, Chuck Jones and the Bugs Bunny world. I also remember watching the “Star wars Holiday Special” and the great animation that Nelvana produced for that show,  but the main interest came when I Continue reading

Matt Wayne

What is your name and your current occupation?
Matt Wayne, animation writer and story editor. I have exactly one producer credit, which nobody will ever find. Recent work includes being story editor of the Marvel Super Hero Squad Show, co-story editor of something I can’t talk about till July, former co-story editor of Justice League Unlimited.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve done things for money that a gentleman shouldn’t discuss. And I sold newspaper subscriptions door-to-door. And I was a cook at Big Boy. I know, it’s crazy, right?
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Justice League Unlimited, Ben 10: Alien Force, Tom and Jerry Tales, Batman: Brave and the Bold. I’m especially proud of my shared credit with Joe Barbera on a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It doesn’t get cooler than that! I also was Managing Editor of Milestone Media, which made a lot of comics and sold the Static Shock! cartoon. The first years of that were one of the best times of my life. And it turns out that comics are the entertainment industry in miniature, so I learned a whole lot about “gatekeepers” and the like.
How did you become interested in animation?


I always loved cartoons. When I was 3 or 4, I wanted to be friends with Pixie and Dixie. I hatched a plan to break them out of the TV with a hammer, which my parents fortunately got wind of and thwarted. Rich Pursel, story editor onSpongeBob Squarepants, and writer of many of the good Ren and Stimpys, grew up across the street from me. We’ve been pals since we were toddlers. His interest in art and animation rubbed off on me. I’m not a writer/artist like he is, so I make up for it by being extra wordy. Rich and I watched all the terrible 70s cartoons on Saturday morning, and would do the kids’ version of critical analysis afterward–it always began Continue reading