Tom Riffel

 

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Tom Riffel, and currently I am working freelance, in addition to being a co-founder / content creator of the Toonocracy collective.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
Most of my non-animation experience was either slinging coffee or slinging data. Well, entering data. Neither one super crazy, but I did have one data entry job where I was inputting the personal information of women prisoners into what was supposed to be a prison pen-pal website. Needless to say, some of this information was, ah… Highly inappropriate, despite their surveys specifically saying not to include anything R-rated. Also, at the coffee shop, people liked using the walls as toilet paper. Not really sure how that works.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
I’m very fortunate to say that I have been pretty consistently happy with most of the projects I have been on, but my absolute favorite job was working on The Problem Solverz at Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network is my goal, and being able to work on a series produced entirely in-house and with really great people was a dream come true.  A close second would be the last non-freelance job I had, which was at Hot House Productions, working on a pilot. Like The Problem Solverz, it was all done in-house with a small crew of great people.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I grew up in South Florida, but didn’t do anything animation-related until I moved to Chicago. Initially I wanted to be a director, so I went to Florida Atlantic University for film studies and ended up with a useless BA in communication. After an aimless year, I went back to school for animation. Post graduation (Part 2), I was able to get a job doing animation for an internet startup company, and then moved on to doing some digital animation and traditional clean up for Calabash Animation. A few years later, I took the plunge and moved to Los Angeles.

What’s a typical day like for you with regards to your job?
Currently, I wake up, make the long trek from the bedroom to my office, and get crackin’ on work in silence. When I’m working at a studio, Continue reading

Bob Etchingham

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Bob Etchingham, I’m a key poser/lead animator at Magpie6Media in Dublin, Ireland.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
My uncle owns a jewellers and workshop here in Dublin. So I started an apprenticeship at the age of twelve while I was still at school and during college and worked there pretty much up until I got into cartoons. I miss it sometimes. Lots of interesting characters working in that industry.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I worked on a show at Studio B in Vancouver (Now DHX media) called Kid vs. Kat. That was a great show to work on cause it was the first gig I did at a studio that actually owned the show. So If you had any suggestions about a scene, something that might make it better or funnier you could just walk into the next room and talk to the director about it. The more creative input you have into something you’re working on the better it comes out and the happier you are as an animator. Also the Slacker Cats title sequences that I worked on for Seth Kearsley was a great gig cause he was really easy going with how I went about them. Again more freedom means a better end product and a better experience over all. After that then I guess just my own shorts that I make all the time. I did some animation for the podcast Tell ’em Steve Dave on the smodcast network (unsolicited haha) They came out well and got a good response so thats cool. All my own stuff is on the Bobetch Productions Youtube page.

How did you become interested in animation?
I just always drew for as long as I can remember. As a kid I was really into Looney Tunes, then Ren and Stimpy all the usuals. Cartoons were just always there in the background. I used to sit and try and Continue reading

Kyle A Carrozza

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Kyle A Carrozza and I’m seeking new storyboard artist work. (I have to state my unemployment loudly, or people will assume I’m working and I’ll miss out on work. This has been my experience lately.)

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing super interesting. I used to scan volumes of encyclopedias for digital archiving. I spent quite a while working for a company that bills for ER doctors.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Getting to do my own short, MooBeard the Cow Pirate for Nickelodeon/Frederator for their “Random! Cartoons” show so early on was quite a thrill. Working on “Fanboy & Chum Chum” was tough at times, but a really great gig. I hope someday Nickelodeon airs the episodes I storyboarded. I’m very proud of how far my webcomic, Frog Raccoon Strawberry has come from where it started. I’m a huge proponent of learning by making things, and Strawberry has certainly helped me do that. A webcomic is a good place for trial and error.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I found that interest very early on just being a kid watching what was on. I watched lots of cartoons as a kid, and I remember one specific day when I was Continue reading

Frank Forte

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I’m a storyboard artist at Bento Box on Bob’s Burgers.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Ha! I was a Tatto Artist, A line cook at a number of restaurants, and I got paid to watch movie screenings.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
It was really fun to work on Despicable Me 2 doing storyboards. I really got to flex my creativity and have fun. the director let me add gags and take the action in crazy directions just to see what I would come up with. LEGO:Star Wars The Empire Strikes Out (at Threshold Animation) was really great because I got to finally work on a Star wars project AND we got to make fun of it.

How did you become interested in animation?
I grew up on classic Warner Brothers and Tex Avery shorts. They used to show those on TV. Then in college I would Continue reading

Miguel Godinez

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Miguel Godinez, I work doing Freelance work and make YouTube videos.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I would have to say doing dishes at a restaurant.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Probably my first project that I did when I started learning Animation and that was a video for a upcoming Music Studio.
How did you become interested in animation?
Ever since I was little I was into drawing and as got older I just better at it. After graduating from high school I didn’t know if to go to college for art or another field similar to it. So then I ended up making my decision when I realized that I liked cartoons like Dragonball Z and all this 3d movies and then wondered how they actually were made. Then Animation got into me after I was Continue reading

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