Animalators

Ian & Nick are the founders of Gunner, a Detroit based animation and illustration studio. During the episode, we talk about their studio mantra “no bad frames,” how they attract good artists to their studio, and finding inspiration through old books.   Links: Website: www.gunner.work Twitter: www.twitter.com/gunneranimation   Highlights: -Six people - studio growth -More comfortable now -Hiring people to do the things they don’t know how to do -How they began their partnership -Pros and cons of working in Detroit -Attract good artists & then attract good work -Considering representation -Good work attracts more work -Keep making things -Downtime projects -Mixing mediums together -Undercurrent projects of the studio -Mantra of no bad frames -Bringing in new client processes -Always surprise -Inspiring people -Personal sources of inspiration -Dream Client: Us -Favorite Animated Film: Coraline -What does your family think you do: Cartoons -Animalator: Kangaroo

Dave Chenell is on the motion team at Google. During the episode, we talk about his love for designing games, his new found joy in creating music, and the importance of finishing and sharing your passion projects.     Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/davechenell Website: thewaterbear.com   Highlights: -Job at Google -Studied information studies -Failed startup -Learning to code -The more knowledge you get the more cautious you are to approach new things -The Dark Room -David OReilly’s game Everything -Powder -Side hobby: Music -Finishing side projects -Throwing out stuff to an audience helps -Balance between Google’s style and his personal style -Introduction to virtual reality -Where are you trying to go -Intentionally don’t plan -Work habits - night owl -Dream Client: NASA -Favorite Animated Film: The External World by David OReilly -What does your family think you do: Google - The Search Engine -Animalators: Flying space dinosaur

Zac Dixon is the creative director at IV in Nashville, TN and also happens to be the host of this very podcast. During the conversation, our guest host, Jay Grandin, (creative director / owner of Giant Ant) and Zac talk about why he started Animalators, how he built up his studio in Nashville and his love for personal projects.   Links: Twitter: twitter.com/zacdixon Website: Iv.studio   Castle Rock Trailer: https://www.iv.studio/portfolio/castle-rock-teaser-trailer   Highlights: -IV -Daughter on the way -Why Animalators -Band videos on tour -Why Nashville -Decentralization of animators -Full-time person in chicago -Learning from Animalators -Nashville was the reason for the switch to animation -Seven person team -Obsessed with finding something original -Having the longview -Bring in new talent and ideas -JJ Abrams projects -Intentionally debrief after seasons -Trying to be a voice of positivity -Not alone in your struggle -Future of IV & the podcast -Personal projects -Failing often allows you to succeed

On this week’s mini episode, Zac shares about our new Animalator product: limited edition t-shirts featuring the animalators designed by our guests. For our first t-shirt, we chose Justyna Stasik’s hermit crab (Ep. 36)! To check out the t-shirt go to iv.studio/store. Fifty percent of all the profits go to the artist, while the other half goes to help support the costs associated with running Animalators. We are thankful for your support and are excited to continue cultivating community within the world of Animation. Links: iv.studio/store

Linn Fritz is a designer and animator from Sweden, currently working at Buck in Sydney, Australia. During the episode, we talk about her experience at Hyper Island, the importance of being outside your comfort zone, and how she started Punanimation.   Links:   Website: www.linnfritz.com Twitter: twitter.com/linnfritz   Buck:buck.tv/ Hyper Island: www.hyperisland.com Punanimation https://www.facebook.com/groups/punanimation/ -Life at Buck Sydney, Australia -Small team creating something together -Work flow between the different studios -Using pinterest for inspiration -Illustration design -Wacom tablet -Hyper Island experience -Lived on porridge for awhile -Jumping into a studio -Punanimation - Women animation facebook group -Getting out of your comfort zone -Dealing with anxiety -Buck team process -Pulling references -Don’t just try and please the crowd    -Dream Client: Creative freedom -Favorite Animated Film: The Aristocats -What does your family think you do: Commerecials -Animalators: Alpaca  

Michelle & Chad are the owners of Yeah Haus a collaborative studio in Detroit, Michigan. During the episode, we talk about Michelle’s history in children's book illustration, a breakdown of their Short film: Victor, and the complex balance between work and life.   Links: Website: http://yeahhaus.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/YeahHaus Short Film: http://yeahhaus.com/portfolio/victor/ Highlights: -Freelancers vs. Studio -Directors duo -Pros and cons of being a jack of all trades -Just working and not adjusting processes -Michelle’s love for children illustration -Book illustration in the future -Chad’s love of new things -Desire to do a Netflix show -Short film: Victor -The art of dabbling in things -Dabbling in things -Work life balance -Shouldn’t be afraid of working hard -We need help -Husband wife team dynamics -Hiring someone -Mentorship with Disney -Dream Client: Cartoon Network | Costa Rican Coffee Company -Favorite Animated Film: My Neighbor Totoro -What does your family think you do: No idea

Justyna Stasik is a Polish illustrator based in Montreal, Canada. During our conversation, we talked about her journey of developing her own style, how she begins personal projects and the importance of finding time for them in the midst of client work.   Links: Website: http://www.justynastasik.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/birdiebrains   Highlights: -Working on some editorial work -Greeting card companies -Normally have one big project at a time -Started drawing in high school -Went to school for information science -Got a job at a small start-up -Became the only illustrator and animated in Flash -Switch to freelance -Loves going through the script for the first time and starting to imagine -Favorite part of the project: the first initial brainstorm session -Process -Forcing inspiration, getting mood boards started -Behance -Developing your own style -Matching up skills and taste -Personal projects -Advice to people who are starting: “Work on those personal projects” -Starts personal projects by just sk

Xoana Herrera is an artist at Buck, a production company in Los Angeles, CA. During our conversation, we talked about how she finds inspiration, what it’s like working for Buck and the importance of finding a unique voice and having courage as an artist.   Links: Kyle Brushes: www.kylebrush.com/ Twitter: twitter.com/xoanaherrera_ Website: www.xoanaherrera.com   Highlights: - Husband had a video noticed by Buck - Came from Argentina   - Learning English - Figuring out what it looks like to be a graphic designer at Buck - Started doing a little bit of everything - Learning Photoshop - Learned how to illustrate - Currently pursuing the goal of becoming an Art Director - Loved illustrations every since she was a child - The tension of looking for inspiration vs. copying - Find your own voice - Have courage and say “yes” - You can have skills but a bad attitude and it really won’t work - Feel like you are working at home with your own friends - Learn from other people, ask questions - Inspiration: Sculptures - Out

Ed Barrett and Tom Judd are the founders of Animade, a studio based in London, England. During the episode, we talked about the pros and cons of pitching, their storyboard tool: Boords, and the importance of delegating.   Links: Website - http://animade.tv/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/animadetv Boords - https://boords.com/   Highlights: -Co-founder and Creative director -Started as a blog -Organic growth -Teaching internally and in universities -Storyboard prototype -Approachable for the beginner & customizable for pros -Boords -Being your own client -Pitching/treatments -Pros and cons of pitching -Always learning how to run a business -Learning as you go -Delegating is hard -Full-time marketing person -How to be intentional about marketing -Getting work from personal work -Getting work from pitches -Feeding off of the community -Dream Client: Myself -Favorite Animated Film: Pixar’s Incredibles -What does your family think you do: “Coloring in” -Animalator: mouse

Agatha Yu is a mechanics designer at Oculus in San Francisco, California. During our conversation, we discussed her experience working at Adobe and Oculus, what it means to be a mechanics designer and the importance of tools and how they shape what we create.   Links: Moonwalking with Einstein book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346975-moonwalking-with-einstein Website: http://www.agatha.is/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/yuagatha Oculus: https://www.oculus.com/   Highlights: -Mechanic -Oculus in San Francisco -In Facebook -Working for three different platforms -Building a rocket ship while falling off a cliff -Thinking through movement and user experience -What's working right now in VR -Shooter games -Quill drawing app -Kevin Darts short film -Long term thinking in current design -Moonwalking with Einstein -Memory palace -The future of VR -People learning and evolving to understand space -Technology changes quickly -Mixed reality : Illusion paired with physical space -Laying a virtual reality over phys

Sarah Beth Hulver is a designer at Odd Fellows a creative studio based in Portland, OR. During our conversation, we discussed why she loves using social media, how she ended up at Odd Fellows, and her passion for encouraging women in the animation community.   Links: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/wonderfall/ Website- http://www.sarahbethhulver.com/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/SarahBethHulver Odd Fellows - http://oddfellows.tv Fx Console Link- http://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2016/10/new-workflow-plug-in-fx-console-is-now-available/   Highlights: -Odd Fellows culture -Pre-production process -Creating a curated Instagram feed -Started drawing as a kid -Grew up in Saudi Arabia -Starting in Graphic Design at SCAD -Gentleman Scholar - attracted to their projects -Didn’t start illustrating until GS -Boss feedback influenced work ethic -Transition to Odd Fellows -Using Slack for interoffice communication -Fx Console -Art school - loved it, recommends it -Personal projects -Tactile stuff -Stop motion project

Samuel Fast, Josef Andersson and Björn Johansson are the three founders of Brikk, an animation studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. During our conversation, we talked about how they navigate creative challenges, how they built their team and why it is important to stay curious.   Links: Website- http://brikk.se/eng/ twitter- https://twitter.com/brikk_animation Santapocalypse- http://brikk.se/eng/blog/yule-log-2016-santapocalypse/   Highlights: -Trying to stay curious -Don’t like to do the same thing twice -We find people we like to work with -Nice people culture -How to push clients towards something outside of their expectations -Treatment design -Differing creative processes -Meeting in art school -How to play on being young = the competitive advantage   -Didn’t have much to lose when they started -Starting to be able to say no to things -Taking work that doesn’t make it to your portfolio -Dividing work between all three creative directors -How to get through creative challenges -Trying to get better at plann

Ryan Moore is a creative director at Gretel based in New York City. During our conversation we talked about how Gretel handles pitches, the process of boiling down a brand and how to anticipate the evolution of brands.   Links: Website- http://gretelny.com IFC Case Study- http://gretelny.com/work/ifc/ Viceland- http://gretelny.com/work/viceland/   Highlights: -Creative directing at Gretel -The company is 11 years old -Viceland Project -Try to boil things down to the ethos of the brand -Working from both sides to the middle -Bringing in the whole team on -Two ways of getting work: pitch vs. direct to work -Boiling something down to a core metaphor -IFC Case study -Every brand evolves -We never pitch things we don’t believe in -Simplicity -Editing or reducing is basically my job -The only way to know the line is to cross it -Managing teams -Learning how to listen…to your client..to the studio -Showing your work to non-designers -Brand changes -Teaching -Moving graphic design -Learning how to let go -Dream Clien

Aharon Rabinowitz is the head of marketing for Red Giant based in New York City. During our conversation, we discussed the importance of work life balance, his start as a production intern at Sesame Street and why artist’s feel personally offended when you reject their work.   Links: Red Giant- http://www.redgiant.com/ Website- http://allbetsareoff.com/   Twitter- https://twitter.com/ABAOProductions    Leaky Timbers Video - https://vimeo.com/191184006   Highlights: -Psychology major -Intern at Sesame Street -Not a puppeteer -Saw a behind the scenes Star Wars program -Teaching intercity art programs -Back to Sesame Street as a technical manager and animator -Nickelodeon Digital as a producer -Workshops/Podcasts -Taught classes to professionals -Dreaming about coding problems -Head of Marketing at Red Giant -Pick up someone else’s trash kind of culture -My biggest problem is reining my team in -Understanding products is a large part of the job -Writing -Budgeting -Leaky Timbers video -Old/New -Executive produce

Luca and Ilenia are the founders of Illo, a studio based in Turin, Italy.  During our conversation, we discussed their self-driving video bot named Algo, how Illo was formed and how they’ve crafted a unique office culture.     Links: Website- http://illo.tv Twitter- https://twitter.com/illotv Vimeo- https://vimeo.com/illo   Algo- algo.illo.tv   Highlights: -How they met -Studied communications -Focused learning on start-ups -Started in a small apartment -Hired one person to learn animation -Computer coding -Algo -Producing 100 videos in a weekend -Hiring someone good with expressions for Algo -The future of Algo -Growing their company -3 persons per year on average -Creating a good and unique working culture -Every two weeks they change their desks -Ideation process -Swedish brainstorming sessions -Delegating & working as a team -Good & great projects -Future of their work -Working with start-ups allowed them to try lots of new things -Get started tips -Learning how to lead creatives -Dream Client: Fa

John Schlemmer is a motion lead at Google in Mountain View, California. During the conversation, we talked about team dynamics between animators and developers, how to create the best possible user experiences through animation and the importance of finding the best solution not just the fastest.   Links: Twitter- https://twitter.com/johnschlemmer Website- http://schlem.me/ Dribble- https://dribbble.com/johnschlemmer/   Highlights: -Motion Lead – Material Design at Google -Introducing motion design on Inbox by Gmail -UX design approach -Having consistent elements within transitions -UI development guide -Helping to know what to focus on in UI -Animation in long spits vs. short spits -The 12 Disney principles -Should animators code? -Challenges for animators looking to be a part of an interactive team -Finding the best solution, not just the fastest -Proving value to customers -Motion sometimes gets pushed into later versions -Show effectiveness of motion in design = best way to get work -The right movement ca

Seth Worley is a resident filmmaker at visual effects software maker Red Giant and the director and writer of short films. During the conversation, we discussed the importance of making client projects your own, learning how to pace and structure story development and how to receive negative feedback on the work you create.   Links: Website- http://www.sethworley.com/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/Awakeland3D Form 17- https://vimeo.com/48853502 Red Giant- http://www.redgiant.com/   Highlights: -Resident filmmaker at Red Giant -Make films with our software -Magic Bullet -Directing -Roger Rabbit behind the scenes -Watching people watch movies -Music videos -Form 17 -Receiving online feedback -Don't let your identity be wrapped up in your work -Advertising agencies are just nervous -Think in themes -Leaky Timbers -Story Clock Notebook -Trace story threads -Story pacing -Idea development -Themes -Dream Client: Myself -Favorite Animated Movie: The Incredibles -What does your family think you do: My son thinks I mak

Kirsten Lepore is a director and animator based in Los Angeles, CA. During this week's episode, we talked about how Kirsten is learning the art of appreciation, the specifics behind her Adventure Time episode and how photography has influenced her stop-motion.   Links: Website- http://www.kirstenlepore.com/ Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/kirstenlepore# Twitter- https://twitter.com/kirstenlepore Sweet Dreams Project- http://www.kirstenlepore.com/Sweet-Dreams Move Mountain- http://www.kirstenlepore.com/Move-Mountain Adventure Time Episode- http://kirstenlepore.com/Bad-Jubies-Adventure-Time-episode   Highlights: -Started with a camera in fifth grade -Making ridiculous movies -Very first stop-motion with movie candy -Going to school for animation -Musical background -First project: Sweet Dreams -Always start in the middle of a video -Currently working on a personal project -Stick with it, stay with projects, how to coach students -Book trailers -After Effects animation -Learning on the job -Moved to CA and we

Ryan Summers is a freelance animator based in Los Angeles, CA. During the conversation, we discussed the how to network, balancing budgets in a project, and the importance of always adapting and learning in the industry.   Links: Website- http://ryansummers.net/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/Oddernod http://tjpeters.ca/tj-dailies   Highlights: -Comic Books, Movies, Cartoons, Video Games -Problem-solving day to day -A switch to art school -Working in many different industries -Slot Machine company, Chicago Board of Trade -Learning from various kinds of people -Imaginary Forces -Importance of networking -Being a problem solver -Specific pitching -Balancing budgets -Character animation -learning from different studios and how they approach new problems -Getting back to 2-D animation -Dream client: Myself -Favorite animated film: Iron Giant -What does your family think you do: Interior designer -Animalator: Orangutan

Daniel Chester, Dave Prosser and Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits are the founders of Moth Collective based in London, England. During our conversation, we talked about their start at Royal College of Art, the fight for a good story and what it was like to pitch The Guardian. Links: Website: http://mothcollective.co.uk/ The Last Job on Earth The Guardian: https://vimeo.com/155534602 Modern Love New York Times: https://vimeo.com/135288462 Highlights: -How they met -Royal College of Art -Moth Collective -Selective about projects -Leading to more projects -One year ago stopped freelancing -Based in East London -When to start adding employees -Collective vs. studio -Artist and business -Storytelling conflicts -Brainstorming -Vision casting -Project roles -Fighting for ideas -Mixing of styles -Learning CGI -Learning how to communicate better -Personal projects -Feature film -Friday fun day -The art of pitching -The Guardian project -New York Times project -First failed project -Future of Moth Collective -Dream cl