Kids Entertainment Professionals For Young Refugees Fundraiser

Animators and actors, writers and composers, game designers and YA authors, producers, board artists, agents, studio and network executives – the entire international children’s entertainment community is coming together June 18-24 in an unprecedented grassroots fundraiser via Crowdrise. Help spread the word! PLEASE SHARE THIS VIDEO with friends and colleagues and SIGN UP FOR THE FUNDRAISER NOW at: https://www.facebook.com/events/114556855770817/
More information at our home page: https://www.facebook.com/kepyr/
Thank you – and Keep the Love Coming!

Jeff Victor

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Jeff Victor and I work as an illustrator/designer for Nickelodeon Games. I work as an art lead on a online game called PetPet Park, designing characters, backgrounds, props, and more.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve worked many mundane jobs in my life, but one that is really pretty special to me is when I first moved to Los Angeles, I got work as a background performer, or “extra”. As I was unsuccessfully submitting my portfolio to studios, I made my living as a student/doctor/terrified pedestrian/casual onlooker, etc. I appeared in hundreds of TV shows and movies. As a huge film buff, it was incredible being on set watching some of my favorite directors work. You only earn a tiny paycheck, but being on set with Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese was a priceless experience. My other craziest job was working a few years at Universal Studios Hollywood. I was a show tech, which basically meant I had to set the stage explosives, hook the actors to their flying rigs, move set pieces around on stage, and in the case of Fear Factor Live, handle giant scorpions. All in a day’s work.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am extremely proud of the work I’ve been doing for Nickelodeon. I enjoy that people all over the world have seen my work. I also really enjoyed some of the stints I had as a character designer at Warner Bros animation, and at East/West DVD, where I got to draw DVD covers for classic cartoons. It was my first real job in animation, and I am really proud of the work, even though it looks incredibly dated to my eyes today. (Of course, things I drew 3 weeks ago look dated to me, but that’s another story…)

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from the Chicago suburbs, and after receiving the “Art of Star Wars” book as a youngster, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I was obsessed with comic books and cartoons as a kid, especially Batman the Animated Series. I filled my grade school notebooks with Continue reading

Alberto Gomez

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name’s Alberto Gomez. I’m a freelance illustrator and story artist based in Madrid.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Actually, my first job was at a small animation studio. I was 18. Years later, I had a gap of a few months outside any artistic job. I worked at the airport in Madrid, at the sales desk of an airline. I sold tickets, changed reservations and dealt with flight cancellations. That was when I found out that I could tame big groups of raging people with my bare hands.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My favorite project is always the one I’m working on right now. But I’d say that I learned more from the failed ones rather than the successful ones.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I firstly became interested in comic books. Then, I discovered that my favorite one at that time had an animated version: Akira. What a visual blast. But I’ve always been in love with Continue reading

Hethe Srodawa

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Hethe Srodawa and I work as a concept artist for Trion Worlds.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing crazy, just normal jobs like dog grooming, construction, data entry, working in a bakery ect.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I really enjoyed working on Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption and loved how that game turned out. After seeing the new trailer for Grand Theft Auto V I have to say I’m proud to have worked on that one as well. The entire production looks amazing.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I love art and stories and always have. Ever since I saw this stuff as a kid I wanted to make it, to be a part of it. The interest started as Continue reading

Paolo Libunao

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I’m Paolo Libunao. Not much of an animator. I’m into pre-visualization i.e. story boarding and concept art. I also illustrate comic books and other stuff. I work freelance.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I don’t think I’ve done any crazy jobs.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
There’s “Armor Quest” a graphic novel from Rising Star Studios. Concept art for “Earth-Steel-Stone”. As for story boards, well there are those that I made for video game cinematics for Raptura Games.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a kid we all loved watching cartoons, I loved drawing them. It became Continue reading

Igor-Alban Chevalier

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Igor-Alban Chevalier or “The Black Frog” which is the nickname most people use in the industry.  As for my occupation, depends… I am a creative tool box I guess… or as I like to call myself: a mercenary world builder. Sometimes Director, sometimes Animation Production Designer, most of the time VFX Art Director, Concept Artist or Storyboard Artist.  And in my free time I sculpt, write and draw graphic novels.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?Nothing crazy really, I just survived until I got to get the jobs I was looking for.  So, I struggled a bit but not by killing chickens in a nugget factory, or by being a caretaker at the morgue or by working on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean like some of my friends. But more by just doing way lamer versions of the job I do now… or by sleeping on good friends couches a lot.  I must say, that I would have wished having tried other things, but where I grew up wasn’t really the kind of place where one could be adventurous.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?Well, there is a big ongoing project called “Tusk” with Whisper Pictures. It’s a high profile 3D animated feature on which I am co-writer and Production Designer. We’ve been working on it for years now, developing it with my good friend and Director/VFX Supervisor Tim McGovern (Tron, award on Totall Recall). It is a bit of an adventure in itself and I’ve had a lot of creative freedom on it, which is great.  There’s also a gritty Sci-Fi muppet TV series I wrote and designed Called “Boom Spectrum Space Pilot”.  I directed the trailer for it and the production pulled the plug without real logic. This was a bit devastating since I really went hard into it, sleeping 4 hour per night for 7 months straight, preparing all the infrastructure for what would have been the following show.  It’s a shame, I am still convinced that this thing could have become cult. The good thing is that it was my first job at directing and it taught me I could actually do it. And not too badly too. I had a wonderful time on set with a very talented crew and we kind of found ourselves a new family if you will. I know that If I want to direct something else one day, I just have to call them and they will all jump on it again in a breeze. I’m considering calling them soon for a live action feature this time.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from France Originally. Champagne. Except for the Boom Spectrum episode that took me back to Lille (North of France) for seven months 4 years ago, I didn’t really go back there in the past 20 years.  My background is Continue reading