Alen Esmaelian

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Alen Esmaelian and I work as a Background, Prop, and Character designer at Rough Draft Studios.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing out of the ordinary. I’ve been working in this industry for 6 years and prior to that, I used work for Pizza Hut as a customer service representative (fancy way of saying that I used to take customer orders over the phone).

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Without a doubt, my proudest moment was working on Futurama alongside the very talented crew at Rough Draft Studios. I was particularly proud to see my finished designs for Bender’s robot monastery on episode nine of this current season.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born in Tehran, Iran but I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area (San Fernando Valley) since I was two. I started to exhibit a love for animation and design at the tender age of 5, when I used to Continue reading

Mark Behm

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
First let me say thanks, Mike, for the opportunity. My name is Mark Behm and I’m an artist at Valve Software. We don’t have propper titles, so what I do depends on what I feel the project I’m working on needs and if I feel I am up to the task. Mostly I design or make assets and sometimes animate them.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Before? I’d say a lot of my jobs IN the animation industry were fairly crazy. As a teenager I did enough manual and kitchen labor to build a healthy fear of spending my life swinging a hammer in a cold rain. Craziest? Hmm…I once taught a class on animal tracking.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first feature was as an animator on Robots at BlueSky. That was a huge learning opportunity for me. At Valve, I got to design, sculpt and texture all of the aliens in a little top down game we released for free on Steam called AlienSwarm. That kind of ownership was very fun for me.

How did you become interested in animation?
I grew up in the mid 70s into the 80s as SciFi was getting big. I saw Star Wars when I was around 7 and was Continue reading

Wei-Chuan Hsu

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Wei-Chuan Hsu (people call me Wei, pronounced “way”). My current occupation is a freelance animator / generalist.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked as a receptionist at the president’s office at my College and I would play WarCraft III at the desk.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?It’s almost impossible for me to work on a project I’m not excited about. So if you see me working on a project, most likely I’m at least 90% excited about it. Some of my favorites are TRON: Legacy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV), FXGURU and Mythic Journey Documentary.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am originally from Taiwan. When I was 8, my family and I moved to Malaysia. I went to a British high school there and that’s where I learned Continue reading

Igor-Alban Chevalier

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Igor-Alban Chevalier or “The Black Frog” which is the nickname most people use in the industry.  As for my occupation, depends… I am a creative tool box I guess… or as I like to call myself: a mercenary world builder. Sometimes Director, sometimes Animation Production Designer, most of the time VFX Art Director, Concept Artist or Storyboard Artist.  And in my free time I sculpt, write and draw graphic novels.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?Nothing crazy really, I just survived until I got to get the jobs I was looking for.  So, I struggled a bit but not by killing chickens in a nugget factory, or by being a caretaker at the morgue or by working on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean like some of my friends. But more by just doing way lamer versions of the job I do now… or by sleeping on good friends couches a lot.  I must say, that I would have wished having tried other things, but where I grew up wasn’t really the kind of place where one could be adventurous.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?Well, there is a big ongoing project called “Tusk” with Whisper Pictures. It’s a high profile 3D animated feature on which I am co-writer and Production Designer. We’ve been working on it for years now, developing it with my good friend and Director/VFX Supervisor Tim McGovern (Tron, award on Totall Recall). It is a bit of an adventure in itself and I’ve had a lot of creative freedom on it, which is great.  There’s also a gritty Sci-Fi muppet TV series I wrote and designed Called “Boom Spectrum Space Pilot”.  I directed the trailer for it and the production pulled the plug without real logic. This was a bit devastating since I really went hard into it, sleeping 4 hour per night for 7 months straight, preparing all the infrastructure for what would have been the following show.  It’s a shame, I am still convinced that this thing could have become cult. The good thing is that it was my first job at directing and it taught me I could actually do it. And not too badly too. I had a wonderful time on set with a very talented crew and we kind of found ourselves a new family if you will. I know that If I want to direct something else one day, I just have to call them and they will all jump on it again in a breeze. I’m considering calling them soon for a live action feature this time.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from France Originally. Champagne. Except for the Boom Spectrum episode that took me back to Lille (North of France) for seven months 4 years ago, I didn’t really go back there in the past 20 years.  My background is Continue reading

Jeremy Steiner

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
I am Jeremy Steiner, freelance designer, illustrator, and concept artist and designer for Sony Pictures Interactive.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I don’t actually work in the animation industry currently, but have some experience in the past with color key painting. The craziest job was when I worked as a caricature artist at Bar Mitzvahs.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
In July, I launched the game Hotel Transylvania, which is a social game for Facebook. I have been fortunate enough to work on other great projects including the Smurfs Website, God Of War: Betrayal mobile game, Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune for the PlayStation Network, and Legends Of Norrath MMO Game for Sony Online Entertainment.

How did you become interested in animation?
I have had an interest in animation since I took a film class while I attended Art Center. At Art Center, I met talented instructors that worked in animation, and they inspired me. While working at Sony, Continue reading

José Alves da Silva

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
I am José Alves da Silva and I am a freelance character artist/modeller.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I didn’t have any crazy jobs. However I have a degree in architecture and I have worked in the architecture visualization field for many years before dedicating myself to characters.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
As part of my work I had the opportunity to write several articles/tutorials for magazines like 3D Artist and 3DCreative. These magazines give me a lot of freedom regarding the images I produce, so they end up being very personal. I enjoy this creative freedom a lot and I think that I have produced some of my best characters for these magazines. Among these are the Boxing Kangaroo, the Barrio Guy, General Rhino and Lil’B, for example.  I am also involved in the creation of sculptures for collectible figures and model kits. I am very proud of some of these characters, like the Cello Girl and Sasha, the welder girl.

How did you become interested in animation?
Even though I am not an animator, we all have to agree that animation is a kind of magic. As many people, Disney films had a huge impact on me. Seeing these characters come to life is just.. Continue reading