Category Archives: Artists Interviews

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Sarmad Mohammed

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name Sarmad Mohammed & i am games designer .illustrator animator .artist & i currently a freelancing artist some of my project illustrated books & storyboards and character designs but i am usually designed games.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was sculptor artist & my previous job it is children web designer.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I had been in any project as serial animation and as storyboard artist in many films.  1.story board for pana film. 2.storyboard angel’s friends I’m not proud of anything yet but I hope i’ll get this feeling some day.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am originally from Iraq but i live in Turkey. I had worked 7 years in animation area as cleaner and later inbetweener then an animator but Continue reading

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Temris Ridge

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Temris Ridge, independent animator.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Not many. I went from high school to university to animation school with a little burger flipping and file sorting in between.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my earliest, coolest projects was working on Sam Niemann’s project called “Ruby Rocket.” One of my favorite commercial jobs of my career has to be animating Pop Tarts commercials for TV, which includes GPS, Stuck, and Tour Bus. I was also very excited to get to do some animation for the end credits for the Laika feature film, The Boxtrolls.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Washington State, born and raised Pacific Northwesterner. I studied art, film, and writing in college and then Continue reading

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Tom Riffel

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Tom Riffel, and currently I am working freelance, in addition to being a co-founder / content creator of the Toonocracy collective.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
Most of my non-animation experience was either slinging coffee or slinging data. Well, entering data. Neither one super crazy, but I did have one data entry job where I was inputting the personal information of women prisoners into what was supposed to be a prison pen-pal website. Needless to say, some of this information was, ah… Highly inappropriate, despite their surveys specifically saying not to include anything R-rated. Also, at the coffee shop, people liked using the walls as toilet paper. Not really sure how that works.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’m very fortunate to say that I have been pretty consistently happy with most of the projects I have been on, but my absolute favorite job was working on The Problem Solverz at Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network is my goal, and being able to work on a series produced entirely in-house and with really great people was a dream come true.  A close second would be the last non-freelance job I had, which was at Hot House Productions, working on a pilot. Like The Problem Solverz, it was all done in-house with a small crew of great people.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I grew up in South Florida, but didn’t do anything animation-related until I moved to Chicago. Initially I wanted to be a director, so I went to Florida Atlantic University for film studies and ended up with a useless BA in communication. After an aimless year, I went back to school for animation. Post graduation (Part 2), I was able to get a job doing animation for an internet startup company, and then moved on to doing some digital animation and traditional clean up for Calabash Animation. A few years later, I took the plunge and moved to Los Angeles.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
Currently, I wake up, make the long trek from the bedroom to my office, and get crackin’ on work in silence. When I’m working at a studio, Continue reading

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Kimberly M Zamlich

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Kimberly M Zamlich and I am an illustrator/artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
Nothing too crazy; actually kind of boring…working at McDonald’s, at a book store, the community college. My first professional art job was working at Stormfront Studios in Marin County which was a gaming company. I was a computer artist there and did a lot of production work in the beginning, then later on started to do some visual development. That’s where I learned Photoshop.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of the most memorable jobs was at MGA Entertainment. I was new and suddenly had this card game thrown on my lap. No one else was available to do it and because I was new, my Art Director was sweating bullets. Can you draw Chihuahuas and animals, he asked me? What? Does a bear poop in the woods? My response was “And I get paid to do this?” I had about 11 illustrations done in 2 weeks, from start to finish for a card game called Andale! Andale! I gave myself 2 days to come up with a solid look of these characters, one I’d feel great in doing, and never looked back. And still to this day, out of all the things that are in my portfolio; it’s the Chihuahuas that everyone loves.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business? 
I am from the Bay Area, (Northern California). I worked 4 years at Stormfront and then it got real political. I had heard Disney Feature Film had been hiring after it’s Lion King success and I put in a figure drawing portfolio after Pocohantas was out. I was lucky. The time was ripe when Disney had it’s phenomenal success and Continue reading

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Ryan Kramer

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ryan Kramer, and I’m a storyboard artist/writer currently at Cartoon Network.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve sold diet pills over the phone, I worked at a car wash, I worked in the costuming dept. at Disneyland, and I worked at movie theatre.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The current show I’m on, “Uncle Grandpa” is my favorite so far. It’s written and drawn by cartoonists!! Also, I really enjoyed my time storyboarding on Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Born in Glendora, CA and currently residing in Glendora, CA. I wanted to work in animation so I spent a lot of time drawing and making my own cartoons. As the coaches on my high school football team would say, Continue reading

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Ken Turner

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ken Turner and I’m a filmmaker/illustrator.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Can’t say anything prior was at all that crazy.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I think any of the films/books I’ve personally been able to make during school and after graduating and that I’ve put my own stamp on were always the projects I’m most proud of. I found personal film projects to be the most rewarding as I can hire all my talented friends and collaborate to make something that would otherwise not exist.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Mississauga, Ontario and currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember and was Continue reading