Tell us a little bit about yourself and your animation.
I’ve been working in animation and motion graphics for about 12 years. Right now, I’m the Creative Director at motion504 in Minneapolis.
Why do you like animation?
I’ve been drawing and painting for as a long as I can remember. Making those drawings or ideas come to life is like nothing else.
Once you’ve animated something, it’s hard to go back to making static pieces.
Tell us about your short in this year’s festival.
I’m showing two pieces that are very different in style, but are both based on poems. French Movie is an all CG mood piece that uses the camera as protagonist. The poem runs through various familiar or even clichéd french film vignettes and I tried to illustrate those ideas using only environment and props. Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter is a character driven piece about that moment when, for a split second, you think you see a loved one who has passed away long ago.
Do you do other kinds of art that inform your animation work?
I’m an active painter and I also try to get involved in live action filmmaking now and then by lending visual effects help
to filmmaker friends.
Who are some of your favorite/inspirational animators?
I get inspired by a pretty diverse crowd. I grew up on Looney Tunes, so definitely Chuck Jones. I’m also a big Don Bluth fan. Ken Anderson, who art directed 101 Dalmations. And there are so many super talented people out there making great stuff lately like Ben Hibbon, the teams at Buck and Giant Ant, Scott Benson, Art & Graft, the list could go on and on.
Is Minnesota a good place to do animation? And what do we need here to make it a better place for animation?
The market in Minnesota is very, very small. It can be challenging to get started and sometimes feels like a roller coaster. That said, the beauty of animation is that you can do it anywhere and there are so many platforms online to get your work seen. The majority of my clients are not local. You definitely don’t have to live in LA to have an animation career anymore, but you might have to hustle a little bit more.
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