Animalators – Details, episodes & analysis

Sarah Blank is a freelance animator, compositor, designer and sometimes-writer/director. In the episode, we chatted with her about CG and live action compositing, Travel Oregon and user interfaces in VR.

Links:

Website: www.thesarahblank.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-blank-96062b11/

Travel Oregon: https://bit.ly/2N7dnfb

NYU Tisch: http://tisch.nyu.edu/

Nomad Editing: http://nomadedit.com/

Notes:

-Apple screen graphics

-Game of Thrones Season 1

-Compositing (CG and live action)

-Travel Oregon

-The forest for the trees approach

-NYU Tisch

-Nomad Editing

-Editing vs. Compositing

-Editing on Game of Thrones

-Seasons of freelancing

-Husband, Dave Blank

-Coordinating freelance schedules and taking time off

-California Bloodbath

-Giving yourself deadlines on personal projects

-User interfaces in VR

-Commonalities in top-level work across studios

-Pigeon-holing artists

-Improving as a director

-Dream client: Michel Gondry

-Favorite animated film: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

-What do the people you love think you do at work all day?: CG modeling and animating

-Animalator: The Ouroboros

Lisha Tan is a Creative Director at The Mill in Los Angeles, CA. In the episode, we chatted about The Story of O.J., reading YouTube comments and managing creative limitations as a director.

Links:

Portfolio: http://www.themill.com/portfolio/filter/collection/103/lisha-tan

The Mill: http://www.themill.com/

Lilchotchke: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lilchotchke

Resolution Design: http://www.resolutiondesign.com.au/

The Pirates of Somalia: https://imdb.to/2M955Gd

Notes:

-The Mill LA

-Mill+

-Project processes

-The Story of O.J.

-Jay Z

-Reading YouTube comments when a job goes out

-Giving and receiving notes as creative director

-Communicating vision on a project

-Transition to creative direction

-Coaching character animators

-Personal pitching process

-The Mill’s internal resources

-Pitching vs. pre-production

-Lisha’s process of ideation

-Managing creative limitations as a director

-Lilchotchke Ceramics

-Lisha’s mentors

-Resolution Design

-The Pirates of Somalia

-Developing personal style

-Favorite animated film: Spirited Away

-What do the people you love think you do at work all day?: I don’t they know--messing around with cartoons.

-Animalator: A little hybrid cat-thing because people tell me sometimes I’m like a cat.  

**Note: The Mill worked with JAY-Z, Roc Nation and Director Mark Romanek via Anonymous Content to create the animated music video for ‘The Story of O.J.’

Lisha and The Mill artists realized JAY-Z’s vision using a combination of hand-drawn cel animation, computer graphics, and painted backgrounds, collaborating with Titmouse to animate the original characters.

Wesley Slover is the founder of Sono Sanctus, a sound design studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On the episode, we talk about Wesley’s music library, learning to think like a designer, and his love for game development.

Links:

Website: sonosanctus.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SonoSanctus

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wslover/

Marmoset Music: https://www.marmosetmusic.com/

Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences: http://www.cras.edu/

Twenty Thousand Hertz: https://www.20k.org/

Jordan Scott: https://t.co/LvQ18QjF3y

Level 99 Games: https://www.level99games.com/

Trevor Richardson: http://www.trevorjrichardson.com/

Notes:

-Remote Work Model

-Sound Design Process

-Supporting Animation Studios

-Short turnarounds

-Pitching

-Reference tracks

-Wesley’s music library

-Marmoset

-Poverty Island

-Client feedback

-Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS)

-Matthew Lee Johnston

-Microsoft Game Studios

-Audio burnout

-Twenty Thousand Hertz Podcast

-Learning to think like a designer

-Getting in the door

-Cassette tape ministry

-Live sound

-Getting it right the first time

-Being comfortable doing things wrong

-Transition to freelance

-Jordan Scott

-Game development

-Level 99 Games

-Arkham Horror

-Captain Sonar

-Battlecon Online & Pixel Tactics

-IDEO design studio

-Freelancing in Seattle

-Hiring his first employee

-Dream Client: Nintendo

-Favorite Animated Film: Akira

-What do the people you love think you do for a living: His wife pays the bills

-Animalator: Bat

Ross Plaskow, is a freelance animator and creator of Meat Mysteries. Having worked with the likes of Google, Target, Disney XD, Hulu, and Facebook, he told us a little bit more about his university beginnings, falling into freelance and the London animation scene.

Links:

Website - www.rossplaskow.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/rossplaskow

Instagram - /www.instagram.com/rossplaskow/

Meat Mysteries - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC0O6WtmY8A

Animade - https://animade.tv/

Greg Gunn - https://www.ggunn.com/

Art&Graft - https://artandgraft.com/

Moth - https://www.moth.studio/

Claudio Salas - http://www.claudiosalas.com/

Pencil Bandit - https://pencilbandit.com/

Ransomniac - https://twitter.com/RansomniacToons?lang=en

Bouncy Smash - http://bouncysmash.com/

Notes:

-Meat Mysteries

-After Effects

-Passion projects while freelancing

-Architecture school

-Changing course

-2D

-Looking for work out of school

-Learning how to animate 3D characters

-Studying in Denmark

-Freelance from a tweet

-Greg Gunn

-Freelance Anxiety

-Freelancing in London

-Moth Animation Studio

-Art&Graft

-Forming professional relationships

-The London animation scene

-Twitter

-Illustrator

-Claudio Salas

-Advice for new freelancers

-Working out the type of work that you want to do

-Animade

-Lessons learned

-Interacting with people face to face

-Working out of studios

-Burnout

-Two freelance jobs at the same time

-Dedication to a job

-Character animation

-Tweening

-Background artists for Meat Mysteries

-Meat Mysteries release

-Pros and Cons of being the creator of Meat Mysteries

-Dream Client: Moth

-Favorite Animated Film: Akira

-Favorite Animated Series: Rick and Morty

-What do the people you love think you do for a living?: Draw cartoons in newspapers.

-Animalator: Shark Man

Daniela Negrín Ochoa and Iria López are the co-founders of Wednesday Studio based in London, UK. We talk about how they work together as a team, why they often exchange roles, and the importance of always having a personal project on hand.

Links:

Website - www.wearewednesday.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/WeAreWednesday

Instagram - www.instagram.com/wednesday__studio/

Anchorpoint - www.anchorpointanimation.com/

Strange Beast - strangebeast.tv/

NFTS - nfts.co.uk/

Daniel Clarke - http://www.daniel-clarke.com/

The School of Life - https://vimeo.com/188632975

Motionographer article - http://motionographer.com/2017/09/06/better-together-wednesday-studio/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=motionographer&utm_content=Better%20together:%20Wednesday%20Studio

Notes:

• Wednesday Studio
• Fine Art beginnings
• Jumping off point vs. Starting from nothing
• Creating a brief for personal projects
• Music videos
• NFTS
• Collaboration in schooling and being prepared
• Getting people on board with a project
• Being hands on for a project vs. being an Animation Director
• Handing over the role of design
• Working with illustrator Daniel Clarke
• The School of Life
• Working with other designers and illustrators
• The beginning of Wednesday Studio
• Making the jump into freelance animation director at the same time
• Motionographer article
• Directing as a team
• Simultaneously developing a visual language
• Dividing work and coin flipping
• Growing as a studio and exchanging roles
• The future of Wednesday
• Fear
• Representation
• Direct to client or going through a studio
• Not so personal projects
• Paying yourself
• Next exciting steps
• Taking the studio to the next level
• Working with a remote team
• After Effects
• Hand drawn touches
• Incorporating 3D shapes
• Textures in photoshop
• The hunt for personal projects
• Dream Client: A charity, National Geographic
• Favorite Animated Film: Disney Classics like Dumbo and 101 Dalmations
• Animalator: Gorilla

Lana Simanenkova is an animator and designer at Animade in London, UK. On the episode we talked the Animade created program, Boords, gathering inspiration from tumblr, and the Estonian animation scene.

Links :

Website :  http://lana.land/

Twitter : https://twitter.com/LanaSketch

Animade : https://animade.tv/

Notes :

-Animade

-Character work

-Talking to Clients and being nervous

-Storyboards and style frames

-Boords

-Boords drawing tools and photoshop

-Gathering inspiration from tumblr. and dribble

-Trends and avoiding them

-Skill development

-Awkward characters that are happy about their lives

-Early interior design roots

-Live drawing classes

-Grade School interests

-London

-Animation and short-films at university

-Estonian Animation

-Freelancing in university

-Twitter

-The path to Animade

-Difficulties in working with a team

-Learning at Animade

-Personal projects for skill development

-TV Paint and 3DS

-Home setup

-Burnout

-Lessons over the years

-Staying fresh

-Difficult projects, operating out of the comfort zone

-Influencing the Animade style

-Advice for young animators

-Dream Client : Estonian Academy of Arts

-Favorite Animated Film : Childhood - Spirited Away; Perfect Blue

-What does your family think you do : Advertisements for TV

-Animalator : Mammoth

Lauren Hartstone is a new staff creative director at Sibling Rivalry, having worked with a myriad of companies like Stardust, LoyalKasper, MTV, Imaginary Forces, and Gretel. On this week’s episode we talked about the pros and cons of being scatterbrained, how she approaches a pitch, pulling references, and the necessity of learning from other people.

Links :

Website : http://lhartstone.com/

Sibling Rivalry : http://siblingrivalrystudio.com/

Imaginary Forces : https://www.imaginaryforces.com/work

LoyalKasper : http://www.loyalkaspar.com/

Gretel :  http://gretelny.com/

Notes :

-Sibling Rivalry

-Background : VH1

-Brands having multiple specialties

-Studios moving towards blended operational lines

-Pros and Cons of being scatterbrained

-Difficulties in modern personal branding

-MTV

-Stardust

-Recognizing the need to learn from other people

-LoyalKasper

-Approaching a pitch

-Pre production process

-Setting the style with a team/creative collaborative process

-Where to find references

-Imaginary Forces

-Narrative work and title sequences

-The Pacific

-Dusk

-Pitching something you’ve never attempted be

-Perspective and being mindful of the bigger picture

-Presenting a handful of directions

-Slack

-Pulling and utilizing a reference bank

-Gretel

-Brand immersion and concept research

-Overcoming burnout

-Work/Life Balance

-Mindsets

-The Future : storytelling

- Dream Client: Nike

- Favorite Animated Film: Doesn’t have one. But her daughter will only watch Frozen.

- What does your family think you do: I think they think I color.

Bee Grandinetti is an independent graphic designer, animator and illustrator who is currently working on a team at Google Creative Lab. On the episode, we talked about her consistent desire to learn, her love for small companies and working in her PJs, and how she manages to still be social while working so many hours.

Links:

Website:  http://www.beegrandinetti.com/

Motionographer Article - http://motionographer.com/2017/06/27/the-good-and-bad-about-life-as-an-expat/

Notes:

-Hyper Island

-Google Creative Lab

-A new/experimental team of Google.

-Blend talk

-School Of Motion

-Freelancing

-Trend researching company working design

-Typography

-Fresh Content

-Moved to Sweden  

-Feeling fresh and inspired

-Always wanting to learn

-Student perspective>Industry Leader

-Final projects

-Get familiar with people in the industry

-Prefers smaller companies

-Loves working from home

-Goals: Learn Animate & TV Paint. Acting classes.

-Learning how to represent people-acting-research.

-Ukulele. (always wanted to be in a band)

- Dream Client: No one in particular, someone who pays me in a comfortable way, and to hire friends to work with. Give me deadlines. Creative freedom. Something I cares about.

- Favorite Animated Film: Lion King, and The Grave of The Fireflies.

- What does your family think you do:  Super boring answer. They know, there's no confusion.

- Animalator: Baby Goat on Pajamas…mini baby goat!

Daniel Savage is a designer and director based in Los Angeles, CA. On the episode, we talked about his deep love for Instagram, why animation is best done in the context of a team, and the reason for mixed parts.

Links:

Website: http://somethingsavage.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/somethingsavage

Motionographer Article: http://motionographer.com/2013/12/05/daniel-savage-wondersauce-yule-log-2-0/

Vanity Fair Article: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/welcome-to-the-hive

Mixed parts: https://mixed.parts

Highlights:

- Transition to LA from NY

- Networking

- Starting from scratch

- Linkedin

- Print Jobs

- Animation is hard when you don’t have a team.

- Illustration -> Designer

- React through storytelling

- Rebrand/more mature work as you get older

- Fear of releasing work/pigeonholed

- Instagram an extension of portfolio

- Versatility

- Presenting the work you want to be known for

- Mini portfolios catered to individual clients

- Working for Comedy Central

- Yule Log project

- StandardVision

- mixed.parts

- Sense of community/friendships/connections

- How can we get the animation community together?

- Wondersauce

- Getting Better, Getting Bigger

- Mural work

- Skill Development/learn new things

- Dream Client: Natural History Museum

- Favorite Animated Film: Peter Pan

- What does your family think you do: They pretty much know

- Animalator: Zebra

Joey Korenman is the founder of School of Motion and author of The Freelance Manifesto. During the episode, we talk about why and how he started School of Motion, a few tips from The Freelance Manifesto and his love for teaching, his kids and a short commute.  

Links:

The Freelance Manifesto http://www.freelance.how/

School of Motion: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/

Toil: http://toilboston.com

Twitter: twitter.com/SchoolOfMotion

Highlights:

- Freelance.how

- Story behind his new book

- Two parts: Why you should freelance & recipe for getting clients

- How he got his start in motion

- Opened a motion design studio: Toil

- Doing awesome work, but depressed

- Didn't like going into work every day

- Felt like there was a lack of purpose

- So he created School of Motion

- Wrong Mountain Syndrome

- The Perfect Day Exercise

- Tired of trading my time for money

- The beauty of releasing products & passive income

- Started teaching at a college: Ringling College of Art and Design

- School of Motion started

- 30 days of After Effects

- Business coach helped launch it

- Ask people to buy the course before making the course

- Webinar about what is now Animation Bootcamp -100 spots filled up

- It sold out in ten minutes

- Wired to always be chasing more

- But it's not sustainable

- Design something that can be run without Joey

- Finding balance while still working hard

- The art of teaching

- Motivators : money and doing cool stuff

- Doing work you are proud of not just the work you can get

- Core of the book: it's not about money it's about time

- 93% of the work Buck does doesn't go on their website

- You should intentionally do work you don't want to do because it will pay you better

- How to go freelance

- Before you ever ask someone to hire you, they have to know you and like you

- Reliability trumps talent any day

- Identify companies who might need motion design

- LinkedIn can be your best friend - sign up for one month of "recruiter" allows for advanced feature

- Trigger words to get people to open up an email -- remember people need to open it

- First/most important tip: Never ask for work in the first email

- Freelancing myth

- Myth - Full-time jobs are secure

- In theory, people can find more security as a freelancer

- Dream Client: Learning and translating animation into new formats

- Favorite Animated Film: The Incredibles

- What does your family think you do: Teaching people how to make Disney movies

- Animalator: Octopus