Jasen Strong

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked at Del Taco when I was in High School. Once there was a big corporate Del Taco meeting going on in our store and I was busy away doing my job and took out the bag full of trash out of the container. In the view of the whole meeting (but not to myself) was this cafeteria tray clearly visible through the clear plastic trash bag & I heard later that everyone wasn’t paying attention to the meeting any longer they just watched me toss out this bag containing their property into the dumpster. I was labeled Mr. Magoo and fired. 😀 Other jobs before animation were, going door to door selling Newspapers, a Vacuum Salesman and I was in the Army for 4 years with still no clue of what I wanted to do when I got out.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I enjoyed working at a small place called Xow!, Xow! in Burbank, CA is a private company that made Computer Software. I enjoyed the creative freedom. The company is closed with a good run of 11 years.

How did you become interested in animation?
I drew all my life but it wasn’t something I took that serious, it was more of a hobby at the time. I hated sports & still don’t care about sports, maybe I would if one side of the team dressed up like Wookies and the other side dressed up like Frankenstein.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Hollywood Calif. I lived with a well known Photographer ( Earl Leaf ) for 10 years.I got into animation from a Disney lunch visit and was hooked, at that point I knew what I wanted to do. I when to Cal Arts the next year and that same year got a job at Disney but I didn’t accept, I was wooed away by Dreamworks plus I didn’t have to move to Florida I was already living in Glendale where DW is currently.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
I work at home, sometimes I’m required to fly to a studio and to give lectures but mostly I have it easy at my home in Oregon.

What part of your job do you like best? Why?
I like a blank sheet and very little description of what the client wants me to design up. I’ve been working with this lady in Oregon on kids books for about 3 years off & on and it’s a great job, we really like working together. She writes & I draw.

What part of your job do you like least? Why?
I don’t like explaining to my parents that I actually do have a job.

What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis?
I’m still a pen & paper guy but beyond that most of the time is spent with Photoshop and a program not made anymore called Streamline. I still can’t get Illustrator to do what Streamline does & how it works.

a tough situation you had in life.
I’m guessing in life not just animation? If that’s the case I would say loosing my Mother to schizophrenia, it was while I was living in the Hollywood hills. This story is too long to tell but if anyone wants to Facebook me, the story is on there with photographs.

Is there any advice you can give for an aspiring animation student or artist trying to break into the business?
Stick with it and stay focused.I’ll end with a George Carlin line, “Don’t sweat the petty stuff, and don’t pet the sweaty stuff.” 😛