What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ana Maria Mendez Salgado and I’m a Visual Storyteller (Illustrator, Concept Artist, 2D Animator).

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
There are so many!  I worked as a sales person in a brick-a-brack shop (where I actually sold my first handmade cards and portraits), as a kitchen hand in a vegetarian restaurant (where my boss told me that “making a salad shouldn’t take as long as making one of my illustrations”!), and as a waitress during the night for a weddings venue (where I learned to value my sleeping hours!).  I also worked as a multicultural officer with children from non-English speaking backgrounds (which I loved), as a designer of props for storytelling time at a library (which was fun), and as a theatre attendant for music and performing arts events (which was always inspiring).

 
What are some of your favourite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Woods of Charol (2006), Passages (2012) Miniambra (2013), Andrés Barrientos & Carlos Andrés Reyes’ En Agosto (2008) and Carlos Manrique’s Journeys (2008).

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Bogota, Colombia and wanted to be an animator ever since I saw the making of Disney’s Little Mermaid. I became obsessed with drawing and imagining characters and storyworlds.  My first attempt to (more…)