David Pavon

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What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is David Pavon and I’m a character designer, illustrator and visual development artist.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I think that I never had a crazy job, because all jobs are necessary, but maybe one time, when I was working as waiter I had to clean a big viscid mass at the bottom of a fridge. I felt like the alien victim.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Definitely my first animated short film “Origami”. I was working on it for one year. It was exhausting but was worth.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?

I´m from Spain. Currently I’m unemployed looking for a job or commissions.

Arshad Mirza Baig

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Arshad Mirza Baig Freelance Animation Artist – Currently storyboarding

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with animation from an early age The first freelance job I obtained was at age 15, whilst still a schoolboy – I had to animate characters for a PC adventure game. I did however help out at my father’s pharmacy whilst going through college and then university…I gained a lot of information about medicines and health that I still draw on today and often advice my colleagues what they should take and when they should take it…something I really should stop doing as I am not a qualified pharmacist!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Its funny because as a child growing up I dreamed of being a part of the Hollywood machine – of course the stuff they produced was amazing but after having being involved with a few of those higher end projects such as ‘Tale of Despereaux’ and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ I personally found the work I done for the smaller lesser known projects far more rewarding. If  I had to choose one it would be the low budget feature film ‘Sokator 442’ (produced by Galleon entertainment and Zoo films). I was given the choice to work on Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie’ as a story artist or head the story and art department of this smaller project and I even surprise my self when I think back to how I didn’t hesitate when I chose Sokator 442. I had the creative freedom to rework the script direct the action sequences design all the central characters. Aid with animation and editing…even throw in a voice or two it was a dream job for me! Sadly the film only sold to Nickelodeon in Australia and New Zealand – but I have no regrets – it has certainly been the highlight of my career and I can look back on that project and really feel that my art made a difference to the outcome.
How did you become interested in animation?
As a child I was drawn to the Asterix and Tintin comics and still love them to this very day. I began writing my own comics at around  6 years old and then I think at age 7 I saw Disney’s Continue reading

Frans Vischer

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Frans Vischer. I am an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation.  I am also an author/illustrator. I have two children’s books published, Fuddles and Jimmy Dabble, and another book being published next year.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
In high school I did weekend janitorial work at a Montessori school, and I was a lousy busboy at a Mexican restaurant, spilling trays and breaking lots of plates. I delivered pizza for a single night after my 2nd year at Cal Arts, (when thankfully an animation job came through.)

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” “Cats Don’t Dance” “Back To Neverland,” “Back to Neverland” “Michael and Mickey” “The Night of the Living Duck,” (a Daffy Duck short.)

 

How did you become interested in animation?
When I was thirteen, my mother sent some of my drawings to the Disney studio. Don Duckwall, the aptly named animation department production manager, wrote back inviting us to visit the studio whenever we were in the area. We lived in Cupertino, in Northern California, and the following summer we vacationed in Southern California, and made part of our plans to visit the Disney studio in Burbank. I met Mr. Duckwall, as well as Ed Hansen, who would succeed him in the job, (and later become my boss.) I also met a number of animators, who inspired me to make my own animated films. My parents bought me a used 8 mm. camera, and my dad built a light box with a set of pegs, and I jumped right in and started experimenting.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. When I was eleven, my family moved to the United Sates. During high school I met Chuck Jones at a talk he gave at a junior college. I wanted to show him one of my Continue reading

Ron Yavnieli

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Ron Yavnieli – Creator of “Gorillaville” currently airing on DreamworksTV.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I was a professional Horse’s Ass – Once as teenagers, my brother and I were hired to be part of a 2 man “Horse” costume at a birthday party. Y’know, where one guy is the front legs and head, and the other guy is the hind legs and back. Since I’m the younger brother, I had to be the ass.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Well I’m most proud of my current project – Gorillaville.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I grew up in Miami Fl. My first real job in animation was in 1997 at a Miami studio called Continue reading

Kevin O’Neil

What is your name and your current occupation?
Kevin O’Neil and currently a freelance special effects animator.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Being a bank courier, picking up bank checks from all the big banks in downtown Chicago, for Jet Courier services in Chicago, back in the 80’s. I worked at Midway and O’Hare airports in the middle of the night, 1 am to 5 am. Also before that, I taught guitar for 6 years, and played in a few bands in Chicago. I was a full time musician before going back to art school at age 28. So I don’t know if they were exactly crazy, just jobs.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of my favs was Iron Giant at Warner Feature, and Hercules and Mulan at Disney Feature. Working at Disney TV on The Tigger Movie was also a lot of fun, and working with Jun Falkenstein was a great experience. I was glad I got to work at Disney if even for a short time. Brad Bird at WB, John Musker and Ron Clements at Disney. Great people if you ask me. Proud to be a part of those films. The caliber of artists at these places is just great. Actually the caliber of artists at most of the studios is great, it’s just too bad a lot of the stuff we saw in the studios is art that never makes it to the screen.  I also worked at Warner’s Classics back in the 90’s as a character animator. We did a lot of commercials. I worked with Keith Baxter, Jeff Siergey, Spike Brandt & Tony Cervone. The place was fun and I got to draw Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. How could that not be great?  More recently I had a lot of fun on the Priest animated prologue for Genndy Tartakovsy. I did most of the effects on that except a couple of shots. It was fun because it wasn’t your normal efx, there was a lot of blood and guts and I got to blow things up. I finally saw an unedited clip of the whole thing online. I guess for the movie, it was tamed down.

How did you become interested in animation?
I guess just watching and growing up with the usual cartoons like everyone else. I leaned towards Warners. But I got into rather late, in my late 20’s. I was undecided in art school whether to pursue Continue reading

Jesse Soto

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Jesse Soto. Currently, I’m a Freelance Storyboard Artist/Animator. I was fortunate enough to intern for Disney Consumer Products as a Artist/Animation Intern for their Blue Sky Think Tank a few months ago.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
This isn’t crazy, but I taught a 9-year-old how to animate her first film for a School District Competition. The girl, Ariana, had a piece where a young girl uses friendship to clean the beaches, one helping hand at a time. I felt like a school teacher because her and her best friend were the voice talents and I had to do parent/teacher conferences to make sure she did her animation work. She had to go through a little crunch time for not doing her homework, and fell asleep during the final composite 10 P.M. the night before. She won 1st place and gained a bit of confidence for kicking butt.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I was very proud to be working on a secret development project during my time at Disney. Our group, the Blue Sky Think Tank was comprised of 7 talented individuals with their own points of view and completely different backgrounds (Artist/Animator/Social Media/Writer/Filmmaker/Marketing) and locking them in a room for 6 months. Our project involved a lot of awesome ideas coming from Anime, Old School Disney, LA Culture/Counterculture, and our favorite TV shows which we learned a great deal from. Over the course of a few months, we saw a simple concept grow into flushed out characters, a strong and meaningful story-line, and great artwork/animation. The creative impact made would not be possible without the guidance of the excellent and talented storytellers/artists that reside within Disney.  Another favorite was the Black Dynamite Pilot that was featured on Adult Swim. On my first day interning at Titmouse, I was thrown into clean-up animation and color along with a few other interns. The studio was in the final push to completion. Every animator was working tirelessly, often through the weekends. Great fun came in each scene where it had either some neck-breaking karate chop or possessed puppets whipping out their machine guns and Desert Eagles.  Dailies had a lot of funny shots and high level of violence that was being animated. Also, artists were open about sharing what they know, and tag-teamed the production work very well. The end result made everyone very proud of their work.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a youngin’, I grew up always interested in art and sketching cartoon characters. In middle school, I found out that my favorite TV shows, movies, and video games were Continue reading