Daran Carlin-Weber


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Daran Carlin-Weber, and I’m currently a freelance Flash animator.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked at a KFC/Taco Bell (yes they are out there) right around when that freaky Doubledown sandwich came out. That sandwich made me fear for humanity and anyone bold or fool-hearty enough to order it. Oh, I also worked as a cashier/cook a Sheetz gas station up until recently. Not crazy, but they truly have some of the best food you could possibly get at a gas station.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I haven’t gotten to be involved with too many projects yet. But I did get to work on a Halo motion comic when I interned at MoreFrames Animation, which was pretty cool. My favorite project I’ve done myself would probably my current project “Summer Rec” since it’s coming closer to what I’ve envisioned than any other project I’ve ever worked on.
How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve been interested in animation as long as I can remember. I used to watch so many cartoons when I was little. Well, I still do so I guess not much has changed, same shows too. I used to draw comics and I tried to Continue reading

Adobe renames Flash CC to Animate CC

Adobe renames Flash CC to Animate CC

Adobe Animate CC

Today Adobe announced that they’re finally pulling away from the stigma Steve Jobs created concerning Flash and that it was ‘dead’. Well now Jobs himself is dead and Flash? Well it’s apparently being resurrected as Animate CC. I have to say I welcome it because now no one will tell me I’m using outdated technology when still it’s perfectly good. No one will say, “Oh didn’t they stop making that?” And finally when people say “Isn’t Flash dead?” NOW, I can say “Yep, but we use something called Animate.”

From the Adobe Blog:

For nearly two decades, Flash Professional has been the standard for producing rich animations on the web. Because of the emergence of HTML5 and demand for animations that leverage web standards, we completely rewrote the tool over the past few years to incorporate native HTML5 Canvas and WebGL support. To more accurately represent its position as the premier animation tool for the web and beyond, Flash Professional will be renamed Adobe Animate CC, starting with the next release in early 2016.

 

Here’s what you can expect in Animate CC:

  • Drawing, illustration and authoring
    • Vector art brushes – Modify the path of a stroke after it’s been drawn, and scale them to any resolution without losing quality. You can also make custom brushes and import brushes created with Adobe Capture CC.
    • 360° rotatable canvas – Rotate the canvas on any pivot point as you draw to get the perfect angle and strokes. You can even use this feature with a Wacom Cintiq!
    • Improved pencils and brushes – Draw smooth, precise vector outlines along a curve and get faster live previews.
    • Easier audio syncing – Control audio looping directly on the timeline, without having to code.
    • Faster color changing – Naming tagged colors lets you change one color and have it automatically update your entire project.
    • Colored onion skinning – Easily orchestrate complex animations now that adjacent frames can have different color and alpha values.
  • CreativeSync integration
    • Adobe Stock – Browse and license millions of high-quality photos, illustrations and vector graphics directly in Animate CC. You can even add life to static content by adding animations to them.
    • Creative Cloud Libraries – Access colors, vector graphics and brushes directly as you work.
  • Output capabilities
    • Multiplatform support: HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, Flash (SWF), AIR, video, and custom platforms (such as SVG) via extensions.
    • 4K+ video export – Export videos with custom resolutions for the latest Ultra HD and Hi-DPI displays.
    • Custom resolution export – Revitalize older content by resizing and optimizing them for any resolution, such as Ultra HD and Hi-DPI displays.
    • .OAM support – Export your project as an .OAM file for easy importing to Adobe Muse, InDesign, DPS and Dreamweaver.

 

You can read more about this big change on the Adobe blog here.

Vannick Douglas

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Vannick Douglas. I’m a Flash and 3D animator, Cartoonist, and Wed Designer

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Marine Corps, lol. From 2000 to 2004, I was enlisted and it was a crazy time as I was still coming of age.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The two I’m currently apart of, Lead animator and creative Director of Little Luis and 3D animation Intern at Prevalent Inc. These two jobs gave me the opportunity to showcase my abilities as an animator from the moment I moved to LA.

How did you become interested in animation?
The movie”Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was my inspiration. I’ve been drawing since the age of seven.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
New Orleans, Louisiana. While being raised in the South, I grew up without guidance. I wanted to explore a career in art since its the only thing I know, but I had no idea how I would get money for school. Joining the

military not only helped pay for my education at the Art Institute of Phoenix, they also gave me the guidance I needed.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
Completely wired into my Wacom Cintiq and Macbook Pro, lol.

What part of your job do you like best? Why?
The Completion of a project. To spend hours after hours going frame by frame on a project and to see the end results is truly a milestone. Its like building a rocket ship and watching it soar threw the sky.

What part of your job do you like least? Why?
SInce I work digitally, the worst is when my work gets corrupted. I’m extremely careful to backup everything but they are some occasions when a file you spend all day on gets corrupted and the last backup was hours ago. There’s no empty feeling when animation you’ve crafted beautifully gets lost forever.

What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis?
The Heardware is Macbook Pro 17″ with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX. I render with a desktop Gateway with Tri Core Processor. My software, in the order I use the most, Adobe Flash, Maya, Photoshop, AFter Effects, and Illustrator.

What is the most difficult part for you about being in the business?
Uncertainty. Animation can either hit or miss. It blows when

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Alisa Harris

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Alisa Harris and I’m a freelance character designer and traditional Flash animator in New York City.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
One summer during college, I painted carousel horses in Canarsie, Brooklyn. It was pretty awesome.  Some of the carousels I worked on are at the Willow Grove Mall in PA, Bryant Park in NYC and overseas.  When I first graduated from art school, the animation industry had tanked.  I ended up doing data entry for two years at an insurance company specializing in mental health and substance abuse.  I like to joke that it prepared me for working in the animation industry.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favorite projects was my first lead design position at Flickerlab in NYC.  It was a web series for Ritz/Nabisco on how to have cheap family fun in the summer.  It was the first commercial project that I designed characters and props in my own style.  There was a lot of freedom in designing the families and I enjoyed creating a more diverse cast.  Because it was a small studio, I also boarded half of the episodes and did some of the Flash puppet setup.  It was really cool to see my own designs and staging come through to the final episodes.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a kid, I loved Looney Tunes, classic Disney films, The Muppet Show and Rankin Bass Christmas Specials.  In the ’80s, my family would watch The Disney Sunday Night Movie and I was riveted to the Continue reading

David Concepcion

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What is your name and your current occupation?
David Concepcion. I work as a Flash Animator and Graphic Designer for a Web Company in White Plains, NY

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a flower delivery boy at one time. I also worked in a steel mill on a lathe turning out nuts and screws.


What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I started at Don Bluth as an animator straight out of art school. They were in the middle of “An American Tale”.  Since I started late on it I didn’t get full animators credit but I did receive Additional Animation credit.  I also enjoyed working on various TV shows like Mighty Mouse, Doug and Dora the Explorer.  You can see more samples of my work at my blog.

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was a kid, I saw Jungle Book in the theater for the first time. I was mesmerized by it.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Newark, NJ and was told by a friend about a school in Dover, NJ called, The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. After graduation I Continue reading

Craig Clark

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Craig Clark, I’m currently an artist at Grab Games, and the producer of The Kustomonsters TV show

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was the box boy to the stars at a Safeway supermarket in Pacific Palisades.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m very proud to been part of that first Simpson’s crew that launched the Emmy winning institution of the yellow people to the world. Also it was an honor animating JFK’s lip synch on the feature Forrest Gump. Currently I also love producing The Kustomonsters show.

The Kustomonsters show Ep 1
A video used to be embedded here but the service that it was hosted on has shut down.

How did you become interested in animation?
I’d say at age six when I was hooked on the Winchell Mahoney show and Gigantor cartoons.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Malibu, CA. I was doing cartoon drawings for my mother’s Continue reading