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Kevin D. A. Kurytnik

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Kevin D. A. Kurytnik and I am an animation writer/director who runs a small animation studio with my partner Carol Beecher called Fifteen Pound Pink Productions, named in honor of one of our magnificent cats. We tell our own stories in animation. I am also a permanent instructor who specializes in Animation, Motion Graphics and visual narrative instruction at the Alberta College of Art + Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Teaching infuses my animation with inspirations and energy and my personal creative work greatly informs my teaching.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Caricaturing in bars late into the night. The Horror. The Horror.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am very fond of our first large project, Mr. Reaper’s Really Bad Morning, which I wrote, designed and co-directed. It opened a lot of doors for myself and our company. A 35mm film print is housed in the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, Quebec. Kevin Schreck, the writer/director of the fantastic documentary The Persistence of Vision, on the making and unmaking of Richard Williams’ feature The Thief and the Cobbler recently commented that Mr. Reaper was one of the best animations he had seen in a while. Kind words with an interesting connection – Mr. Reaper was made after I took one of William’s last Animation Master Classes which took place in Los Angeles in 2000. Mr. Reaper’s Really Bad Morning was finished in 2004. It has a bit of that Williams spirit somehow I think.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Norquay, a small town in Saskatchewan, a very flat prairie province.  I was in the Visual Communications program taking graphic design and illustration at the Alberta College of Art (not yet +Design) when I got a Continue reading

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Warren Leonhardt

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Warren Leonhardt, story artist at Blue Sky Studios

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Worked as a logger, prep cook at a truck stop, janitor at a hospital and a shoe repairman for a day. I thought about going into amateur kickboxing in 1993 or 94 after being invited by my coach to train in Thailand, but I’m too darn lazy when it comes right down to it.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
It’s not so much the gig as the folks I’ve been lucky enough to work with. I’ve been on great crews such as the one we had at Red Rover studios up in Toronto in the early ’00s. We had a blast making Puma, Mexican Gerber commercials, and concert videos for R. Kelly when he was just on the cusp of going completely bonkers. I had to draw his recently deceased mother as an angel who talked to him, which was awkward, to say the least. As far as movies or recognizable credits go, I’d have to say those guys at Sony who made ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ were really awesome for the short time I was on that movie. Still pals with a few of em. But there were fun crews in Ottawa, Copenhagen, LA, or Toronto that I’d like to gather together in a room again anytime, regardless of the job.  Of course I have high hopes for the movie that I’m working on right now. The crew at Blue Sky has some really bright and eccentric people here, which is always awesome to be around. Makes for good comedy bits.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Same as anyone else, I guess. Television reruns of classic Looney Tunes and Disney shorts, mostly. There was one Disney special every Sunday evening when I was a kid. I was also a “Saturday Morning” kid, but I really liked waking up really early weekday mornings and watching original Tom & Jerry cartoons, Looney Tunes on Saturday morning and these Disney specials on Sundays. On one of those behind the scenes things, Walt Disney revealed that real live people made these cartoons with pencils and paper! I decided to try to become one of those guys even if it meant I had to figure it out myself. I’d have made a crappy chemical analyst anyway. My dad’s job was not for me. I got my hands on Preston Blair’s book and copied stuff from that and comic books.  And there was this other thing, too Continue reading