Rick Hill

 

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Rick Hill and I’m a freelance Art Director / Character Designer in the Atlanta area.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well I’ve spent the last 15 years working as an Art Director in the advertising industry. But before that I was a fabric cutter at a warehouse, an assembly line order picker at another warehouse and a pizza maker at Pizza Hut. That’s just a few. ha!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
When I worked at Mullen (ad shop in Boston) I worked on the launch of Gametap.com with Turner. I got the chance to pitch and sell an original cartoon called Lame Games. It was an online video game cartoon series. I designed the cast of characters that ranged from 8bit to 128 bit. That was my first real taste of working on character design. Which is strange if you work in advertising. A good strange if you ask me. Another fun project was working on Baskin Robbins Ice Cream. It was another situation where my writer and I pitched character driven work and it sold. We worked with the talent folks at Nathan Love in NYC on the 3D characters and the animation.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I’ve been interested in animation my whole life. I can’t believe Continue reading

Bill Dunn

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What is your name and your current occupation?

Bill Dunn. I just recently completed my stint as background paint supervisor on“Batman: The Brave and the Bold”. Currently, I’m doing background paint and development on a yet to be announced DTV movie for Warner Bros.

How did you become interested in animation?
Like most people who grew up in the 70’s, I had a steady viewing diet of the classic Warner Bros Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, and Hanna Barbera cartoons like the Herculoids. Back then, unless you didn’t have a T.V. as a kid, I think it would have been hard not to have at least a passing interest in animation.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born and raised in a part of New Jersey that was a mere stone’s throw from New York City. I originally started my career as a professional artist in the comic book field. I was a colorist for comics during the 90’s, but by the end of the 90’s, the comic book industry was imploding. I got a few freelance gigs from small animation houses in New York, but Continue reading

Fred Gambino

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Fred Gambino, currently freelance illustrator and concept artist but about to start as art director for Xing Xing digital.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation/illustration?
I’ve worked as an illustrator all my working life, straight from college but I had a brief stint as a grocery delivery driver while I was establishing myself.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
It’s hard to choose a favourite after so many years doing so much stuff. I will always have a soft spot for the Ant Bully as it was the first big animation production that I worked on. Firebreather at Cartoon Network was fun also.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m based in the UK in Derbyshire but have moved around the world to work on various projects from Dallas to LA to Vancouver.  I spent many years working traditionally in oils and acrylics as an illustrator, mainly of book covers but also some advertising. Some time in the mid nineties the computer was Continue reading

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

Peter Quinn

What is your name and your current occupation?
Peter Quinn, Art Director at BLINK in Vancouver.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before getting into animation, I was a pizza chef in Pizza Hut. In fact, I still make fresh dough twice a week for the best homemade pizza you’ll ever have.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Panasonic SD Extreme challenge,Having to make an SD card into a charming and entertaining character has its challenges, but I think we nailed it.

Intematix ChromaLit LED lightbulb. From a mograph perspective, this was a delight to work on. I spent days trying to balance lighting, luminosity and global illumination settings, and troubleshooting Ambient Occlusion passes, but when it all worked out, it was really nice to see the virtual LED lightbulb really lighting the scene as it does in real life.

Staples, Recycle for Education Contest.
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Lee Daniels

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Lee Daniels – Freelance Media Creative – Illustration/Animation/Editing/Graphic Design.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I havent’ had any particularly crazy jobs unless you count collecting shopping trollies for pocket money at Tescos as a 13 year old. I was a Digital Retouch Artist and Graphic Designer for 13 years before going freelance so slightly altering the appearance of subjects for amusement was not unheard of (with or without consent…)

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Producing my own animated shorts as solo projects is the most gratifying work I’ve done to date. I always wanted to be a cartoonist from a young age so, now, thanks to the extensive tools on Adobe off the shelf software and my years learning Photoshop and Illustrator on live projects, I basically have the knowledge and studio kit that I never thought attainable.
How did you become interested in animation?
That one’s easy… Continue reading