Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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Alexandre Marengo

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Alexandre Marengo, I currently work in a office law, and draw at night.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Working at domestic services. It was crazy because I needed to get some money, I was married and pay the bills Dude cleaning a toilet was not easy.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Tex Dunrigh and Me&Me is a honor to me when Grapevine invite me for develpomet these projects.

How did you become interested in animation?
Since I was a kid, I would always watch Sunday morning cartoons, yet my interest for animation reignited when Continue reading

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Ken Davis

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ken Davis, and I’m currently working on storyboards for Transformers: Rescue Bots destined for Hasbro’s Hub network, via Atomic Cartoons.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Way back………waaaaaay back I started in the cartooning biz by answering an ad for “staring artists” to draw on t-shirts in some guy’s basement. Actually drawing in pencil on cotton shirts, where some other young kid would airbrush some colour in. The shirts were then hawked by prostitutes to their john customers. I was 100% naive/oblivious to this sales technique until one day when a young lass came to the door with a handful of money for the “boss”. No, I did not stick around much longer after that.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Been quite a few: assisting Todd McFarlane on some comics stuff, my first solo gig storyboarding on James Bond Jr and having NO CLUE as to what I was doing, working on Ren & Stimpy with Bob Jaques/Kelly Armstrong/John Kriscfalusi . Storyboarding on Continue reading

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Shavonne Cherry

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Shavonne Cherry – Animation Artist

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
A switchboard operator and receptionist.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I loved working on Tiny Toons, Ren and Stimpy, Schnookums and Meat and most recently The Ricky Gervais show.
How did you become interested in animation?

I was a Saturday morning cartoon junkie as a kid and didn’t turn off the T.V. until the sports came on.  I also love animals. I drew them and studied them inside and out, day and night especially dogs. There was a time that I couldn’t even Continue reading

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Mark Mayerson

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Mark Mayerson.  I’m currently the coordinator of the Bachelor of Animation program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a messenger, photocopier and proofreader for a corporate law firm on Wall St.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I worked on a series of TV specials for HBO and PBS produced by Michael Sporn.  One of them was Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and I animated about a quarter of the film.  I was an animator on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, which was the first TV series to include cgi characters.  I created a TV series called Monster By Mistake and worked on it as a director, writer and producer.

How did you become interested in animation?
I grew up in New York City in the 1950s and ’60s and TV there was full of old animated cartoons.  I was immersed in the stuff.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
At Queens College, I met Bob Lusk on the student paper.  He animated as a hobby and that inspired me to try it.  Bob graduated before me and got a job at a studio called Teletactics and let me know that they were looking to hire.  At the time, I was Continue reading

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Kris Wimberly

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Kris Wimberly. I put lines on paper, and people give me money for it.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I always start my story with attributing my break into the animation industry as a custodian at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It’s a much longer story, but people always go coconuts when I start with that tidbit.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first job right out of college was on SpongeBob SquarePants. In fact, a few years later, I’m still here! Not sure it’s possible to ask for a more amazing start to my career than that! I’ve also had the opportunity to develop and pitch animated shows, which is both challenging and a blast!

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Probably since before I could even write words, I knew I wanted to draw for a living. I remember being completely captivated by the magic of the animated cat in the Paula Abdual music video “Opposites Attract” back in like 1986. Other than that, I always knew that Continue reading

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Thomas Starnes

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Thomas, and at the moment I am teaching online classes for the Academy of Art University (AAU). I also do freelance illustration and animation (and by animation, I mean 2D animation, as in the old fashioned hand drawn type of animation. I am strictly a novice when it comes to 3D animation).  My specialty is animation layout (basically, I design/draw backgrounds) and most of my screen credits read “Background Layout Artist”.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I can’t really say I had any crazy jobs. I worked in a number of different restaurants. The craziest thing in that regard might have been the prank calls into the pizza restaurant. Typical example: “Hello, Luigi’s Pizza, may I take your order?” “Yes, is your oven running?”“Uhmmm…Yes” “Well, why don’t you go chase it?” (Actually there were far worse prank calls than this, but assume we are trying to maintain a G rating here).

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I never know how to answer this question, because I have thoroughly enjoyed so many of the projects I worked on and the great crews with which I had the honor and opportunity to work. Of all the films I have been involved with, Disney’s Mulan is probably Continue reading