Straight Ahead Animation Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Making his way to the ring we have Rajkamal Singh a Punjabi-American Character Designer who is currently working as a Storyboard Revisionist. How does something like this happen you might ask yourself? Well tune in and find out how it all started by attend D23!

Portfolio: https://www.rajkamalsinghart.com

IG: @ruberduckyboi

Twitter: @ruberduckyboi

Cara: @ruberduckyboi

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ko-fi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Joining us this week is Nina Robinson, a black background artist! We talk about how she got her start and how she took any role that came her way and learned and she went. Ultimately she just want to make art for the gorls and we love to see it!

Portfolio: https://www.neens-world.com/

IG: @nii.naa.bean

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ko-fi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Tune in as we talk to JohnTom Knight, a Cherokee Native writer working in animation. JohnTom mentions how the book We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy landed him his Script Coordinator Position on Spirit Rangers! We also talk about how on Spirit Rangers he became known as The Lore Keeper!

IG: @JohnTomKnight

Twitter: @JohnTomKnight

If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and amplify these BIPOC voices! If you'd like to support us directly, we have a tip jar open at ⁠ko-fi⁠!

We're so psyched to introduce this week's guest, writer, wrestler, and fighting game extraordinaire: Jeff Trammell! If that wild list of titles isn't enough to entice you, then perhaps learning about Jeff's journey as a self-taught writer will. Learn about the Nick Writer's program, and how Jeff's skill coupled with this lucky break brought him from MI to CA. From life as a professional wrestler, to honing his wit through improvisational acting, this episode is filled with retrospections on how Jeff has filled his life with storytelling. Ray and Jeff get into important story techniques, some Dragonball Z, and uh... did I mention wrestling? 

Instagram @mrjefftrammell
Twitter @mrjefftrammell

Round 3 of our Special Speaker Series! This week is the wonderful Montse Hernandez, a latina actress working both live action and voice over roles. She stars in the upcoming horror film Student Body, voices Qiyana from League of Legends, as well as Gwen in the latest Ben 10 reboot. Montse may be young, but she has been working as an actress since she was 4 years old! She has such a wealth of experience being a voice of color, and how that changes the way she carries herself during an audition. Hear her take on the unique challenges both acting and voice acting have to offer, and the controversial takes between those communities. This episode hits a lot of hard topics, where we reflect on the reality that our industry may be changing, but it still has a ways to go. If you like this episode please consider sharing it with your friends and help us create a larger platform for our BIPOC guests!

Instagram: @IAm_Montse
Twitter: @IAm_Montse

Welcome to round 2 of our Special Speaker Series! Joining us this week is Crystal Cheng, she is a Chinese-American freelancer currently freelancing as a Graphics Artist for Watcher Entertainment. Crystal talks about how her career started in live-action behind the camera as a PA such as interning for Wong Fu Productions. She also talks about her aspirations in wanting to transition into front of the camera. However due to the pandemic her career has taken her to take opportunities she wouldn't have normally considered. With every experience she is learning and growing and has learned that we need to be honest what we want from our experiences. It is such an informative listen so sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation! If you enjoy our podcast please consider recommending it to your friends, this helps us give a larger platform to the amazing guest we bring on!

Instagram: @thecrystalcheng @kuriwanderland
Youtube: Crystal Cheng, Kuri Wanderland
Portfolio: https://crcheng404.wixsite.com/crystalcheng

Our special guest this week is the one and only Daniel Rodier, and if that name sounds familiar it should! We credit him at the end of every episode as he is the one who composed the intro and outro of our podcast! Daniel is a wonderful human being who has composed music for several animated short films such as Malinchista, First Born, and the Animated Graphic Novel Sol Naciente! His passion for music and working with fellow creative really shows is reflecting in the way he collaborates with others. He is certainly becoming a sought after composer and a rising voice in his field. Join us as we learn more about the what goes on when making music for films and share in all the laughter we have in this jammed packed episode!

Instagram: @rodier_music
Youtube: Daniel Rodier
Website: https://danielrodier.com/
Sol Naciente: http://solnacientecomic.com/

Today's episode we interview Kameelah "MeeMee" Costa, an African-American Storyboard Revisionist at Cartoon Network and definitely not a pink bunny trying to disguise herself as a human! Sometimes students are faced with the difficult decision of jumping into an industry job or completing their degree. Find out what Mee Mee chose when faced with this exact dilemma! Stick around for her experience doing her first storyboard test, and what pitfalls to avoid. We also dive into Kameelah's personal project: The Apple Mage, which you can read now on Webtoons!

Instagram @bunhearts
Twitter @bunhearts
Portfolio https://www.meemeecosta.com/
The Apple Mage https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-apple-mage/list?title_no=657643

If you like our podcast, please consider sharing this episode. We rely on word of mouth to help us expand this platform for other rising BIPOC voices!

Join us in today's thrilling episode with Indian-American 2D Animator Maneen Mehta! Listen in as Maneen talks about his first day jitters at Bento Box compared to how he feels day to day now. We also talk about the real life story of how he got bit by a monkey and how that inspired his short film MANKI. Finally we dive into how Maneen eventually wants to transition from animation into character design and what he envisions his future to be, spoiler alert it is not becoming a doctor! If you enjoyed this week's episode please consider sharing with your friends and helping us expand this platform for other rising BIPOC voices!

Instagram
Twitter
Portfolio

In today's wonderful episode we have the one of a kind Abelle Hayford! They are a Ghanaian American Freelance Illustrator, Character Designer, and Color Stylist. Abelle has worked for a multitude of companies and is constantly advocating for black stories and black artist. You might know them as the creator of the hashtag #DrawingWhileBlack, that was originally started as a way for them to connect to other black artist. The more you listen to this episode the more you will learn how alot of their success and choices in their animation journey is attributed to their sense of authenticity and genuineness. 

Instagram
Twitter
Portfolio
Drawing While Black Directory
Who Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott?: Rosa Parks