Flaviano Armentaro

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Flaviano Armentaro, storyboard artist and comic book artist. i’m a freelance.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I did magician for children s party.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
there aren’t so much good animation projects in Italy, is more something you do to work and survive than something artistic. I’ve been very proud to do storyboards for Gregory Panaccione wich is a fantastic director and incredibly talented comic book artist.  i’m also hugely happy to work on Nola which is a french comics i’m doing with Mathieu Mariolle and Pop that came out soon.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Italy. i started as clean-up/inbeetweener for an animation studio and year by year I learned all the positions from animation to storyboards. In between I made Continue reading

360 Google Spotlight Story: On Ice

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Shannon Tindle (Go Goo Go) and Google ATAP’s Spotlight Stories have released ON ICE to YouTube TODAY. “On Ice,” is viewable in the Google Spotlight Stories YouTube channel app on many Android devices, and also with Google Cardboard. We’ll also bring “On Ice” to the Google Spotlight Stories apps (on iOS and Android) soon.

ON ICE is about an over-the-top, sci-fi themed ice show and its star (a la Flash Gordon), who suddenly finds he has competition for the spotlight from an unlikely rival…a bear.

ON ICE was directed by Shannon Tindle, and created in collaboration with Evil Eye Pictures. There are hidden surprises, both audio and visual, that occur on stage and off, including one musical surprise that pays homage to Queen! Ice skating techniques are drawn from both accuracy and creative liberties – and you can also catch the highlights you missed on the MainStage on the Jumbotron, just look up!

Google Spotlight Stories is a new form of storytelling made specifically for mobile and VR. In these 360-degree, interactive stories, your phone becomes a window to a world all around you. The sensors on your phone allow the story to be interactive; when you move your phone to various scenes, you are able to unlock mini-stories within the story.

In addition to ON ICE, we’re bringing Justin Lin’s HELP to YouTube later this week as well. HELP was released last year on our Android and iOS app, is our first live action piece, and received a nomination for a Visual Media Experience Award at this year’s SXSW.

Show off you Workspace!

My last post about Japanese artists showing off their workspaces got me to thinking it would be cool for animators around the world to do the same. So, if you’re interested in doing so, snap a pic of your workstation either at work or at home (or both) and email it to mike@animationinsider.com or link to it in the comments and I’ll gather them together and make one big post. Animators represent! As a start here’s mine:

Mike-Milo-workspace

#showoffyourworkspace

Benjamin Plouffe

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My Name is Benjamin Plouffe and I’m currently Co Art Directing a new and exciting Tv series “Penn Zero: Part time Hero” for Disney Television animation created by Sam Levine and Jared Bush.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
In high school I worked as stock boy and Dishwasher. During my college years I also worked a few summers as an Inventory counter. We would to go to all kinds of stores and just scan and count everything. The worst was counting huge bins of tiny screws at home depot.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m really proud of the “Penn Zero: part time hero” show I’m working on right now. It’s the longest project I’ve worked on ( since 2011) and the one I’ve contributed the most too
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Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born near Montreal Quebec in the early 80’s . My father was in the Canadian Airforce so we moved around a lot. I spent 3-4 years in Germany early in my child hood and lived on a few military bases in Ontario HOWEVER Continue reading

David Stephan

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is David Stephan and I am currently a story artist for live action and animation. My real passion is writing and trying to get my own projects made. I started B Positive Fims with another writer/artist (after our blood type) We are working with producer Max Howard on a film project and have interest from the studios on a horror film.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Maybe not crazy but I washed dishes, pumped gas, worked construction just get by through college. Once I got started in the film business I haven’t had to look outside for work but the last couple of years have tempted me to seek other opportunities.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am proud of my career at Disney. I was lucky enough to be part of Disney Feature Animation and the 14 year arc from Black Cauldron through Lion King.  I also was part of Sam Raimi’s first Spiderman. It was such an unknown. I credit that film’s success with the glut of super hero movies today. But I would have to say story boarding “Simple Plan” is my most rewarding. It was my first live action film and learned so much about film making.
How did you become interested in animation?
I kinda fell into it. I was graduating from highschool and I really wanted to be a painter and go to the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. My highschoolart teacher Ms Venebles was very encouraging me to go into art as a career. Coming from a working class family I was going against the grain. My Dad wanted me to get a “trade”.  On my way to OCA I stopped at Sheridan College outside Toronto to interview with the Illustration faculty but they were unavailable but the Animation course director agreed to see me. Knowing nothing about animation, he showed me a clip of student samples. I was blown away by the level of animation. I was hooked. I can make my drawing come alive. I never made it to OCA. I registered that day in the Sheridan College Classical Animation program. At the time it was a little know program, now Sherdian College Animation and its graduates are know all around the world equal to Cal Arts program.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am originally from London Ontario Canada. My goal from the beginning was to go and work at Disney in California. At the time in the early 80’s it was impossible to get a green card and almost impossible to get into Disney Feature. It didn’t stop my determination. My first job was with Steven Lisberger in Boston which was relocating to Venice California. It was a show for NBC called Animal Oymplics. It was my first professional experience as animators Bill Koyers assistant. I was thrilled. After that show ended I Continue reading

Liron Peer

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Liron Peer (sounds like “Lee-Ron Pair”) and my current occupation is being a Freelance Animator / Character Designer / Illustrator.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I don’t think I had one, animation was something I knew I would be studying and working in after high school (and the army - that’s what all the people in Israel have to do at the age of 18 – men and women, I’m a women btw). The only 2 jobs I had before animation school where doing tech support in the army and then Quality Assurance for a software. So you could say I came from the computer world, though I always knew I’d be creating Art for a living.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I didn’t get the chance yet to be a part of many projects (I’m only at the beginning of my career), so I guess I can say that I’m most proud of my own “Lady Ice” project and my “The Final Stand” project.

How did you become interested in animation?
As far as I remember I always drew, but frankly not professionally until I was about 18! As for animation, well – ever since I saw Disney’s the Little Mermaid when I was 9 years old I fall in love with Disney movies. As I got older I wanted to be an actor and even majored in Acting during my high school years. But I also Continue reading