An April Fool
You may have noticed that we didn’t update o-meon last week. I’d like to say that that was out of respect for those of you who would have spent most of your day pondering whether what you read in our April 1 update was the real deal or an elaborate practical joke. Out of respect for your precious time, we decided not to mess with your day.
I’d like to say that…but it just wouldn’t be true. No, o-meon wasn’t updated last week simply because I was, thanks to that %$#* day job, once again overbooked, although not everything on last week’s schedule was work.
The evening of April 1, I had the great pleasure of attending the tenth annual Animation Day celebration in Burbank. This is a social gathering celebrating fraternal goodwill between professionals in the animation industry. Animation Day is sponsored by The Animation Academy and AnimationNation.com.
Event host Charles Zembillas, president of The Animation Academy, as he has since the first Animation Day celebration, introduced several noteworthy members of the animation community…and me.
First up was Steve Worth, the director of the Los Angeles chapter of the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive, also located in Burbank. Worth asked how many people in the room knew about the Animation Archive. The response was telling. Not one of the nearly two-dozen animation students in attendance raised a hand.
Stephen Worth director of the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive and animation students at Animation Day 10.
Image copyright© obe-mediaone. All rights reserved.
I realized that even though I’ll never pick up a pencil, pen, or stylus to create a work of art, much less earn a living by drawing, I probably understood more about getting a career in animation going than most of students present!
This became the focus of my Animation Day remarks, which I’m reprising here, with all the “ums,” “ahs,” and repetitive phrases omitted.
Don’t Ask Me
While waiting for my turn to speak, I remembered something I once heard Academy and Annie Award-winning artist/animator/writer/director Brad Bird tell a group of aspiring animators, “Break out of your comfort zone.” I’ve been sharing that same bit of information with aspiring cartoonists ever since.
Thanks to my work on this publication, I’ve had the good fortune to talk with some of the most well known artists working in animation, people like Don Hahn, Roger Allers, John Musker, Ron Clements, Eric Goldberg, Andreas Deja, and countless others. This has led more than a few people to ask me what these gifted individuals did to get a foot in the door.
My response? “Ask them yourself.”
I met every one of these people, not by begging and pleading for interviews, but rather by striking up conversations at public events where I’ve found all of these people open, accessible, and willing—within reason—to talk about working in animation.
Make contact. Don’t be afraid to walk up to someone at a public venue, introduce yourself, and tell the person you’re speaking to how much you admire his or her work. I don’t know of anyone who ever felt insulted by receiving a compliment.
This is the beginning of the path that leads to the road your career will follow. You can be the most gifted new artist the world has ever seen. If nobody knows who you are, they’ll never know to ask to see your work.
Which leads me to the following bit of advice: Don’t just shove your portfolio in someone’s face and then stare blankly at the floor while describing the heroic attributes of your alter ego pictured in your drawings.
I forgot to mention this last bit of Uncle Chuckie’s* wisdom during my remarks last week. My good friend, and multitalented “visioneer,” Eric Hedman, did not, which just goes to show you how often we’ve both seen this same scenario played out again and again.
Uncle Chuckie explains it all for you at Animation Day 10.
Image copyright© Animation Nation.com. All rights reserved.
The odds of there being something in your portfolio at that precise moment, something that’s exactly what they’re looking for back at the studio, are about as remote as my being crowned Mr. Universe. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep a few samples of your best work with you when you go out to animation events.
This is Hollywood, where every parking attendant has a script in his back pocket and every waiter in town carries around a resume and headshot.
The important thing to remember about these encounters is you’re not selling your art, you’re selling yourself, and you do this by building relationships.
Talk about what brought you to animation in the first place. The chances are pretty good the topic of your work will come up during the conversation—especially since very few people walk around with a portfolio tucked under their arm. By doing this, you’ve given the person you’re speaking with the chance to ask to see your work, or at least provided yourself with an opportunity to “invite” them to see your work.
Which brings me to my next suggestion: Don’t ask, don’t tell, just listen.
Chances are if you’ve just walked up to a famous animator and started a conversation, you’re going to be a bit nervous. Nothing makes an already nervous person even twitchier than a lull in conversation. You panic. You want to keep things going, and you start blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind, which is usually something along the lines of either, “What do you think,” or some variation of a self deprecating remark about these examples not being your best or that they are in some way flawed.
Why would you: a) want to put someone you’ve just met, and hopefully will someday work with, on the spot like that, or b) insult them by saying you didn’t think it was worth your time—or theirs—to bring along samples of your very best work?
I Love LA, and So Should You
Despite everything you’ve heard about Hollywood losing jobs to other countries, Southern California is still the entertainment capital of the world. Yes, there are animation studios all around the globe, many of which produce excellent work for a fraction of what it costs to produce animation in the U.S. However, few do it all and produce features and television programming from start to finish.
Off shore production is also very cyclical. Historically, studios outsource animation with relative initial success, then begin pressuring their suppliers for cost reductions, which, in turn, negatively impacts the quality of the work. When this happens, producers either add onshore animators to projects or simply abandon offshore production altogether. This usually lasts until the next generation of MBAs comes along and tries to save money by once again shipping jobs overseas.
All of that globe trotting not withstanding, the heart of the animation industry is still in and around Los Angeles. True, Pixar is in Emeryville, and Blue Sky is in Connecticut; however, both studios are heavily populated with artists who moved there from here.
And it’s here in LA where you have the best chance to strike up a relationship with established animators, cartoonists, storyboard artists, and production people of all kinds.
ASFIA-Hollywood sponsors events and occasional screenings throughout the year, which often feature some of the most well-known animators in the industry. Additionally, there are art galleries, specializing in the art of animation, that sponsor discussions and retrospectives featuring famous animation artists.
In conjunction with the release of many of its Platinum Edition DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment conducts a series of panel discussions, featuring some the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ most well-known talent, past and present, at the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood.
Probably the most well-known gathering of pop culture art and artistry takes place every summer in San Diego: Comic Con. The Con is to schmoozing in the world of graphic arts, what the party circuit is to film production in Cannes. Here’s a tip: rather than lugging a portfolio around in San Diego’s ninety-degree weather, take plenty of business cards along with the address of your website and cell phone number on them.
Your Name is Like Peanut Butter, Spread it Around!
Yes, I did just assume you have your own website. I’m also assuming you have photos or scans of your work and a copy of your demo reel up on the site, along with an on-screen copy of your resume available for download as a text file, PDF, and Word document.
Show business is no place for the shy or timid. The Wachowski Brothers may get away with being reclusive, but you can’t. Think of yourself as a product. Your goal is to become a well-known brand name.
If you think that as an artist that’s being too crass, ask yourself how much you know about a man named Lasseter, and how you came to know it?
You’re an artist; design a business card. If printing them is too costly, you can easily print your own good quality, color cards using preformatted Avery® business card stock and an inkjet printer.
Take advantage of free exposure. Become a member of discussion boards and join in topics relevant to your career interests. Many of these boards enable you to add links to your site in your signature. Blog, if you don’t want to start one of your own; post comments to existing blogs.
Open a YouTube account; it’s a fantastic place to showcase your work. Additionally, it lets you post multiple samples of your work that interested parties can browse at their leisure, along with being yet another place that your name, specialty, and contact information appear.
Until you can afford an agent, don’t hide behind a screen name. Use your name, and web address, on all of the examples listed above.
Now’s the Time
Animation, like every part of the entertainment industry, goes through a series of highs and lows. We’ve just come through one of the roughest low periods in the history of the medium, and things are finally beginning to look up.
The Mayor in Horton Hears a Who from 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Animation.
Image copyright FOX. All rights reserved.
The Disney/Pixar Animation Studios have brought stability to the biggest names in the industry, and will soon be returning classic 2D-feature animation to the big screen with the release of the Princess and the Frog. DreamWorks, Sony, and FOX have recently enjoyed critical acclaim and box office success with films such as Bee Movie, Surf’s Up, and Horton Hears a Who. Currently, there are over a half-dozen animated features in various stages of production around town as well. Not to mention the volume of CG work being done for live action features and television.
One Last Thing
In addition to advising young animators to break out of their comfort zones, there was something else I remember hearing Brad Bird say. It was a while ago so I’m paraphrasing here, but he told his audience to write.
He said it didn’t matter what part of animation you wanted to get into, story was absolutely vital to the process.
All filmmaking is storytelling. Animation is storytelling with art. Character, background, effects, and lighting, all require a story to inform what eventually will appear on screen. Great animation is the translation of those words into images and eventually feelings.
*Yes, I know Stephen King refers to himself as “your Uncle Stevie” in his regular Entertainment Weekly column. However, after years of accompanying families and friends around Disneyland, I’ve become “Uncle Chuck” by default, and besides that, I like the way Stevie phrases it.
