Jimmy Cross

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Jimmy Cross I am currently a production artist and owner of Uncle Porkchop! Productions LLC.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Crazier than animation? Well when I was around 19 I worked at the VA hospital running a snack shack and there are allot of craziness going on there. But it was fun. My favorite job around that time was delivering pizzas. Good times no worries. Just school and delivering pizzas . Always been a hard worker.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
So many so many. I loved the NFL RUSHZONE. Creating the world from the ground up was so much fun and I worked on it for over nine years. I didn’t really know that much about football, but when I started working with the NFL , I learn to love it. Lots of things to pull into a fantasy world in the NFL franchise. The Olympics was also a blast and creating a web experience was hard work but lots of fun. But to tell you the truth I still get giddy seeing something you’ve drawn on television. It’s still very humbling . So many things. Personal projects are the best . Nothing like creating your own projects and sending them out to the world.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m was born in raised in Los Angeles so I didn’t have to go to far to be in the business. I’ve been drawing all my life and I knew at a very early age that I wanted to make cartoons. My mother enrolled me in a animation school when I was twelve . My parents were and still are very supportive of my art. I got to animate a potato coming out of the ground. It’s was a class where Continue reading

Craig Elliott

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Craig Elliott, I am a visual development artist and character designer, as well as an illustrator and fine artist
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I only had one job, as a paperboy, before I got a job at Disney. Not a very exiting or crazy job, unless you consider a glass perrier bottle blowing up and cutting my hands up with flying glass exciting… or being unable to carry the papers some Sundays and sitting crying on the driveway at 3 am alone! There was the occasional dog that chased me for several blocks, making me have to come back later on to do the deliveries in that area. That always made customers mad, and they would call to complain about late papers. What can you do? I didn’t want to get eaten alive! These occurrences seem less common in animation for some reason…
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I think Treasure Planet, and Enchanted are some of my favorites. There is something about any project that is a joy though. The challenge of turning a story into a visual is always rewarding no matter what the final outcome, or even if my work is used in the film. I always enjoy shows that require a greater amount of imagination- Treasure Planet definitely qualified in that sense. The movie wasn’t set in a specific place that is real, so anything goes! My mind and energy really get pumping in a situation like that. On Enchanted, Kevin Lima (the Director) asked us to come up with a Disney forest world, but with a twist. It was that twist that had us trying all sorts of creative things to help Kevin find what would satisfy his vision. I think it was my friend Christophe Vacher that thought to suggest we try using the Art Nouveau movement as a springboard. We all took off, working from that starting point. I put together a 30- something page style guide with Art Nouveau cues throughout, and even had a chance to speak with Alphonse Mucha’s Great Granddaughter on the phone at length as part of my research!
How did you become interested in animation?
I think I always was attracted to animation because of it’s limitless possibilities for Continue reading

Kat Llewellyn

http://vimeo.com/57513740
What is your name and your current occupation?
Kat Llewellyn. I’m an independent animation director, designer, animator, compositor and I co-own Dumfun Productions a boutique creative development company.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
So many. The worst was a job as a glass etcher in an unheated warehouse on the west side of Chicago.  Another was Senior Editor for a comic book company. I hired artists and writers, set the direction for all titles and wrote several myself. It was extremely educational and I loved the work. The place was a zoo, totally dysfunctional and great fun, too.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I particularly enjoyed doing the animations for an American Museum of Natural History exhibit about Captain Robert Scott’s failed attempt to reach the South Pole. The animations were based on actual photos and newspaper illustrations from the time. Last summer I just released my first animated storybook app for kids called The Punky Dunk Project.  There are things I’d change, but overall I’m pretty proud of it.

How did you become interested in animation?
Like everyone who likes to draw and ever watched cartoons as a kid, it was a natural attraction. Continue reading

Patrick Lowery


What is your name and your current occupation?
Patrick Lowery, 3D Senior Animator, looking for work as usual.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a game room attendant (still the best job I’ve ever had), drove an ice cream truck, short order cook, sold albums, art supplies and movie tickets.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Probably the most widely known and acclaimed is Lord of the Rings : Return of the King. The most personal satisfaction was probably Stars Wars Episode 3, since it was the project I wanted to work on since I was 12. It only took me about 28 yrs to get there!

How did you become interested in animation?
I was a big fan of monster/sci-fi movies and animation growing up. I didn’t want to be a lawyer so I thought I would try something in the art field.

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

St Louis, Mo. Studied some art in college, always liked to draw and such. Went to the Joe Kubert School in NJ, and with a lot of luck, the help of friends and hard wo Continue reading

Andrew Pickin

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Andrew Pickin. Co-owner of TTA studios. Animator and Artist.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Head of engineering and Mechanics at Tenpin Bowling (not quite crazy but a far stretch from animating).

What are some of your favourite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m from a fine art background, so some of my favourite work is actually children’s illustration, although one of my favourite projects so far was working on a music video for the band OBEY: it was just complete artistic license. The more creative the project the better; it doesn’t have to be big, just interesting.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m originally from Staffordshire (the creative county) in the UK, though I now Continue reading

Muriel Celinger

What is your name and your current occupation?
Hi, my name is Muriel Celinger . I work as a freelancer . I am a 3d characters & designer Also working as a sound  & video designer for gaming.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Music producer a lot of work on stages. A lot of noise and phone calls.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Always the last is my favorite. Now it is a 3d game “The hidden treasure of Nahala”.  in this game, i worked as a sound designer and have done the movie trailer animation for the promotion.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Paris and live in Tel-aviv.  I come from the music world, and in the last  ten years I have learned visual arts communication. I worked as a  flash animator when I discovered that Continue reading