Students That InspireInterviews from Animation Mentor Alumni

Think you don’t have what it takes to be an animator? You’re not the only one, read stories from our alumni on how they got to be where they are.

Zach Parrish: From Animation Mentor to Head of Animation for Disney’s Big Hero 6Originally Posted: March 19, 2015By: Zach Parrish

ANIMATION MENTOR: Tell us about your journey. How did you get to where you are today?

ZACH: Well, it all started the day I was born. 7 lbs 8 oz… I kid. I wanted to do animation since I was a kid. I grew up on Disney movies and Warner Brother cartoons. I always said I was going to “draw cartoons” when I grew up. I fell a little off the wagon during high school, but after seeing Mr. Bobby Beck’s work (as well as his colleagues) in Monsters Inc. and realizing that there were

actual people out there making me feel for a one eyed, green ball, I knew that animation was what I wanted to do.

I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA in Animation. I started attending Animation Mentor at the end of my time at SCAD and I was in the middle of class 1 when I was hired as an Apprentice at Rhythm & Hues Studios on Alvin and the Chipmunks. I continued my studies with Animation Mentor during the production of Alvin and The Incredible Hulk. I stayed at R&H for a year and a half before switching to Sony to work on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (mostly due to my Animation Mentor work). I worked on Cloudy and Alice in Wonderland at Sony before hearing about Tangled (then Rapunzel) at Disney. I was fortunate enough to get hired at Disney as the last animator on Tangled.

After Tangled, I worked on the Prep and Landing short as well as Prep and Landing 2 before applying to be an Animation Supervisor on Wreck-It Ralph. I was given an amazing opportunity to fill that role and worked on Ralph for a year and a half. At the end of Ralph, I applied to be the Head of Animation on Big Hero 6. I was paired with Patrick Osborne to share the role before he was selected to direct his story “Feast.” I continued on as the solo Head of Animation on Big Hero 6, and the rest is history.

Bored yet? Did I even answer the question? Short answer: by doing a LOT of animation and a LOT of learning.

ANIMATION MENTOR: What personal roadblocks did you overcome to get there?

ZACH: There have been so many roadblocks along the way that it is difficult to pick a few out of the herd. I think the biggest roadblock that I still am not sure I have overcome completely is the fear of failure. Every transition in my career has been laden with the fear of failure. I struggled at the beginning with not being good at animation right away. I still struggle today with the feat that I might not know what I am doing. I think all of the early failures in my education and career have given me a confidence and a comfort with that fear and with failure.

I think Ed Catmull’s mantra of “Fail fast. Fail often.” is a valuable one. Every stumble and every “mistake” is a lesson in hiding.

Another valuable hurdle to overcome has been the power of communication. Animation is all about communication in a variety of ways, but the biggest challenge for me has been communicating with my teammates either in giving or receiving feedback/notes in a clear, respectful manner while maintaining my personality and passion for the craft. I think it is an important lesson for all students to learn, because it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you are a jerk, no one will want to work with you.

ANIMATION MENTOR: What is a typical day like for a professional animator and how does that differ from being head of animation?

ZACH: A typical day for an animator at Disney is from 9am – 7pm with an hour for lunch. Obviously, this varies from animator to animator as it isn’t a hard rule. A typical day could consist of issuing; a meeting with the Animation Supervisors, Head of Animation, and Director(s) where the animator is assigned their new shots and walked through the specifics that the Director and Anim Leads would like to see and the subtext/emotion of the scene. We also have meetings called Rounds and Dailies

where the animators gather to show their shots to the Anim Supes/HOA (rounds) or to the Anim Supes/HOA and Director(s) (dailies). In these meetings the goal is to give notes to better clarify the point of the shot, the emotion and subtext of the performance, or to simply give notes on how to push poses/timing/spacing/entertainment. Typically, an animator will show their shots in Rounds to get the notes of the supervisors before addressing those notes and showing in Dailies. The rest of our days are filled with animating (I swear we sit and do some of this), video reference, research (YouTube cat videos), ping-pong, pool, and socializing.

The day of a Head of Animation is fairly similar, except the amount of time available for animating and socializing is considerably less. The Head of Animation is also responsible for representing the animation department to all other departments on the show. Therefore the HOA and the Animation Supes are in meetings from Workbook Turnover (hand off from Story to Layout) through Layout and Editorial, as well as tracking the shots after they leave Animation through Lighting. This gives the animation leads the context of the scenes so that they might offer performance ideas during layout as well as be able to give advice to the animators while they are on the floor at animator’s desks or in Rounds. Rounds and Dailies take up a large portion of the day as it is the best way for the HOA to support the crew of animators. Other responsibilities throughout the day for the HOA also include planning, bidding (how long will a shot take to animate), casting (who will animate the shot), and interfacing with top level show leadership.

That answer was really straight forward and boring! I am sorry. I swear it is all a lot of fun! We mostly just laugh and make fun of each other and do animation all day. It is great!

Big Hero 6 Crew Wrap-Up Photo

ANIMATION MENTOR: What was the most rewarding shot you’ve ever animated? Why, and what did you learn from it?

ZACH: The one shot that jumps to mind is a single shot I got to animate on Tangled. I had been cast a wide variety of shots on the show, but John and Clay wanted to test me to see where I would break. They gave me two shots of Rapunzel crying over Flynn as he dies. Flynn says “You were my new dream” which was animated by Frozen HOA Lino DiSalvo, and I had the counterpart shot of Rapunzel saying “And you were mine.” That shot was a huge challenge for me. I had never done a crying character (not well anyways), and definitely never a crying female character. I put a lot of myself into the shot and spent a lot of time crying in the reference room (for reference I swear!). My first pass was completely over animated. I pushed everything to a point where I could easily see

what I was doing, but the directors and the anim supes all felt like it was too much. I worked and reworked the shot and learned so much about the subtlety of facial animation.

Zach’s subtle facial animation on Rapunzel’s “And you were mine.” shot

The most rewarding part was when Glen Keane stopped my shot during dailies and started framing through it. He kept saying, “wow” and then went on to explain how he was jealous. He told me that I was doing things with the forms in the face that he always tried to do in hand drawn animation but was difficult to accomplish because of the medium. To be told I had accomplished something that THE Glen Keane was impressed by was a huge moment in my career. I also learned a big lesson in humility. Glen is arguably the best animator of all time and he was humble enough to show appreciation for others’ work.

ANIMATION MENTOR: What was the most rewarding experience you’ve had in animation? Why, and what did you learn from it?

ZACH: I think the most rewarding part of working in the animation industry is the relationships that are forged in the fires of production. The people I have been fortunate enough to work alongside have constantly challenged me in my animation skill set as well as my perspective on story-telling, film-making, and communication. I am constantly inspired and entertained. The best feeling is going to the wrap party and watching the work of your friends and afterwards being able to celebrate the experience with them. I frame through animation everyday and learn little tricks about overshoots or overlap or exaggeration. I chat with other animators and learn about workflow, tools, or teamwork. Every day the people around me are a lesson in some aspect of the animation industry and that is the most rewarding part of the job.

ANIMATION MENTOR: What is the most common pitfall you see students have and what advice can you give them?

ZACH: I feel like I commonly see students getting lost on the subtext of the scene they are animating. I think too often students try to animate with a capital “A”. I was prone to this mistake as well. I would push my animation way further than it needed to go because it was easier to see the arcs and the spacing, and when I did a really cool arc or squash and stretch it felt like I was really showcasing my prowess of the principles. However, I think the more impressive thing to see in a student reel is the ability to restrain the overacting and the over animating and to make the performance feel real/believable. I am not saying, only do subtle shots on your reel. I am saying to really dive deep into the “WHY” of the shot and then think about the most clear way to communicate that part of the shot. For me personally, clarity is king. When we see a reel where the phrasing of the shot is overlapped and cluttered, it definitely gives us pause. Clarity spans into posing/staging, timing, spacing, phrasing, etc. Every principle can be examined under. “is this the clearest way to show the SUBTEXT of my acting?”

ANIMATION MENTOR: When you attended Animation Mentor, what was that experience like for you? How did it help further prepare you?

ZACH: I can honestly say that I would never be where I am today if it were not for my time with Animation Mentor. I had been animating for a few years and had a really good education at SCAD, when I started Animation Mentor.

However, I was doing a lot of things in my animation without knowing WHY I was doing them. I knew things looked wrong, but I didn’t have the verbiage or the eye to understand why.

Class 1 of Animation Mentor provided me with so many of those eureka moments. I finally understood definitively the difference between timing and spacing. I could verbalize why my shots looked wonky, and I used that knowledge in my interview with Rhythm & Hues. I dissected my demo reel and told them what I would improve on all of my shots with my new found understanding of the principles.

I found the building block structure of the Animation Mentor curriculum to be super intuitive and it made it easier to learn. The community that is built within the Animation Mentor website allowed me to learn from others mistakes and success, to try my hand at giving notes, and to make friends that I still have to this day. I am still meeting people at other studios that I have “known” for years because we overlapped at AM. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of communication within the animation industry. I learned to communicate better with other students as well as my mentors who were working professionals in the business.

Animation Mentor was the foundation of my career.

I can honestly say that I would never be where I am today if it were not for my time with Animation Mentor.

Alumni Journey: From Animation Mentor to Blue Sky StudiosOriginally Posted: January 08, 2015By: Brock Boyts

ANIMATION MENTOR: Tell us a little bit about your background before you started at Animation Mentor. Did you have any previous art or animation experience?

BROCK BOYTS: Before attending Animation Mentor I was working as a full-time motion graphics animator for the TV show America’s Most Wanted. I did not have any prior character animation training before attending Animation Mentor. I have always loved character animation and every time I saw it done well I wanted to learn how to do that. Each year I would attend SIGGRAPH and I would walk past the Animation Mentor booth and watch the student showcase. It always blew me away. Learning how to character animate became one of my biggest goals for my career. After working 7 years at America’s Most Wanted my wife and I moved to Los Angeles so I could pursue freelance. However, after getting a few freelance character jobs I quickly realized my character work did not look like the work I admired. Something was missing and I needed proper training.

While I had no character animation training I believe every experience I went through prior greatly influenced my drive while attending Animation Mentor. I had hit so many dead ends trying to learn character animation that when I had my first class at Animation Mentor I was immediately overwhelmed (in a good way) at the endless resources and the supportive learning environment. It was kind of like that moment in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory when the doors open and the kids walk into this bright world made of candy for the first time. I believe I absorbed as much as I could from my Animation Mentor experience because I truly appreciated all that was offered.

ANIMATION MENTOR: What was the single most important thing you learned at Animation Mentor?

BROCK BOYTS: You know, I thought character animation would be the single most important thing that I would learn at Animation Mentor but it isn’t. While I am 110% satisfied with my education I

I did not have any prior character animation training before attending Animation Mentor.

mostly learned how much I have to learn. Animation Mentor equipped me with more than enough to take the first step into the industry but what I really appreciate from my time at Animation Mentor was learning how to be giving and supportive to your peers.

Character animation and storytelling are important to me but people and relationships are far more precious in my life. I was overjoyed to learn at Animation Mentor how important it is to work collaboratively and have a good attitude in this industry. I learned this from Bobby Beck, the Animation Mentor staff, my classmates, and my mentors. I would not have learned as much about character animation without their help and support.

I discovered what excites me most about becoming a character animator and that is I will make a lot of life long friends and build strong creative relationships. I feel I have discovered a bright and fulfilling future.

Brock’s inspired Student Showcase Shot

ANIMATION MENTOR: You just landed an awesome gig at Blue Sky – Congrats! What do you think it was about your demo reel or interview that got you the job?

BROCK BOYTS: Thank you and a HUGE thanks to Animation Mentor. Honestly, I am still shocked I am actually getting the opportunity to work with such an amazingly talented group. It all feels like a dream.I had a lot of fun with my demo reel so I hope it gave at least a couple smiles to anyone at Blue Sky who saw it. I am not 100% sure if it was more my demo reel or my interview that helped me get the job. I actually think it had more to do with trying to stay memorable. I wanted to make sure every shot on my reel was a fresh idea so it stuck in peoples minds. As for my interview they were very kind and encouraging. They remembered me from previous times that I applied. I did my best to stay on Blue Sky’s radar by sending new work as I progress and visiting their booth at conventions. I had Nick Bruno as my class 4 mentor and I treated his class as if it were a job interview. He is the one that gave my class the advice to stay memorable. Thank you Nick!

Honestly, this whole thing feels like an out of body experience because if it were not for all of the support of Animation Mentor, my classmates and my mentors this would have never happened. While I had goals it was the support of others that help me get this job. I plan on continuing to do my best to make each of them proud.

From Student to Sony to Smurfs: An Animation Mentor Graduate’s JourneyOriginally Posted: May 02, 2013By: Nic Cabana

Movies have always been a major part of my life. When I was young, I never got tired of watching my favorite films over and over again. I wanted to relive those adventures with the characters that I loved. The fact that you could be thrown into a world that wasn’t real for 90 minutes, filled with living, breathing creatures that were the stuff of dreams fascinated me. I was obsessed with Jurassic Park. When you’re a 6-year old boy nothing beats a T-Rex! I still remember how afraid I was when I first watched the movie. Dinosaurs were real and they were walking, running, and hunting in front of my eyes. I had to be a part of this magic. I wanted to bring monsters to life and create fantasy worlds, and I wanted to tell stories. Making movies was the perfect vessel to manifest my imagination and give it a voice. Steven Spielberg was larger than life to me and I wanted to do what he did when I grew up.

I had no idea that I was already animatingFor a long time, I was sure I wanted to direct live-action films. But I spent a lot of my time drawing, another passion of mine. Sometimes I made my own little films by drawing on each sheet of Post-it Notes booklets. That seemed like it was simpler than trying to get my hands on a camera and tape. I had no idea that I was already animating. Years later, I was accepted into the animation program in college — after being rejected from film production. I was relieved, but confused. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but it had the word “film” in it and I figured it would be a good start.

I looked up the Student Showcases and was blown away by the qualityI was looking for proper guidance, and university focused a lot of its curriculum on experimental and abstract animation, as well as independent filmmaking. I came across Animation Mentor by chance. We had a conference in Montreal in which one of the mentors gave a couple of lectures on-site. I looked up the Student Showcases and was blown away by the quality. After a lot of research I finally decided to give Animation Mentor a shot. To this day, I will always look back and consider that choice a life-changing decision.

Luck, timing, and really cool peopleI was already really familiar with Sony Pictures Animation’s work and Surf’s Up is actually one of my favorite animated features. As I was graduating Animation Mentor, I decided to move up to Vancouver, which was becoming one of the hotspots for the VFX and animation world. It was a friend and Animation Mentor alumnus, Fredrick Fassé (he now also works with me at Sony), who pushed me to move and let me stay at his place for a while. I will always be thankful for his tenacity.

I told one of my mentors, Mark Pullyblank, about the decision and asked what he thought of moving out there. Mark was, and remains, incredibly supportive and I owe a lot to him. He suggested that I look into Sony as he had worked there and had great things to say about the studio. Unfortunately, the timing was a bit off and they weren’t hiring for the next few months. I owe a big part of being at Sony to the mentors and friends I met through Animation Mentor. Ironically, I interviewed for Smurfs, but ended up being called in for a second interview to work on Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful, for which I was hired. In large, it was the combination of luck, timing, and some help from really cool people that led to landing the job.

I learned so much on Oz the Great and Powerful. I got my first crack at realistic animation. That was pretty daunting — but thankfully I was lucky enough to have a fantastic lead and team to feed off of. You learn to adapt really quickly when you’re thrown into the deep end! Because the characters “China Girl” and “Finley” play such important parts in the film, a lot of the shots were centered on acting, which I loved. The team was amazing. It’s a rad feeling to be surrounded by people you look up to, and all of whom are willing to help out. The fact that so many animators are Animation Mentor alumni made it easy to find common grounds. Everyone I work with is essentially a mentor for me.

Hello SonyI still can’t decide whether I was more excited or terrified when I started at Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Currently, I’m working on Smurfs 2, along with many friends and Animation Mentor alumni. I can’t say much, but I will say that the experience is loads of fun. The great thing about Sony Pictures Imageworks is that you get to work on so many different types of films and styles. On one project, you can be animating monsters and superheroes for VFX, and then on the next film you’re on a SPA project (Sony Pictures Animation) working on animated feature films. That variety is so cool and it keeps it interesting while forcing you to grow and adapt.

Animation Mentor did an amazing job to prepare meI look back at my experience at Animation Mentor all the time. I still keep in touch with a lot of my classmates (many of them now working — and it’s always fun to touch base). Every day at work I fall back on the core skills and tools I learned during the program. Animation Mentor was my first true experience with character animation, and it helped build the pillars from the ground up. The transition from school to the studio felt pretty straightforward, with very few surprises.

The relationship you have with your lead is very similar to the relationship that students share with their mentors. At the studio, you’ve got to learn to work as a team and work within sequences while being able to change your shots on the go based on notes or for the sake of continuity. I came into Sony with no prior experience working as an animator, but felt familiar within the studio environment. I think that says a lot about the curriculum and structure at Animation Mentor. They do an amazing job preparing you for that battlefield.

Never lose sight of what it is you wantFor students on that scary road to the first job, never lose sight of what it is you want. Sometimes it feels like the entire universe is working against you, and that’s a common feeling when you’re out chasing a dream! I’ve certainly felt that way. It’s important to find a healthy balance between being a dreamer and a realist because it’s that desire that’ll keep you going when it gets tough.

Familiarize yourself with where you stand and what you can change. Show people your work and look for honest feedback. When learning to animate, it’s normal to think you’re not doing as well as you’d like to. Feed off that energy and turn it around. Get those “bad drawings” out of the way. Animation Mentor gave me a chance to make a lot of learning mistakes, and I can fall back to those experiences whenever I have a problem to solve. My third mentor, Mark Pudleiner, (whom I later had the privilege to work with at VanArts) told us that it’s never a waste of time to make a bad shot, because it’s a chance to learn what NOT to do (which is just as necessary as knowing what to do). I strongly believe in that and it’s important to remember what works for you and what doesn’t. You don’t need a long reel — but one that shows what you can do. My Animation Mentor reel only had three shots. I kept it short and sweet, and only left what I felt was appealing.

Don’t despair if you don’t get that job right away. A lot of it has to do with luck and timing. Look out for production schedules and if you have friends in the industry, it’s an advantage! Be familiar with when the good times to apply are. Be the best person you can be. Don’t actively search for contacts for the sake of contacts, but rather, make friends with people who share common interests because it’s important to have that psychological support. It’s not a crime to ask for help from people you trust and you know well enough to do so; but be aware that it can be sensitive. We’ve all been in that place and people in a position to help you out will want to! The community is extremely tight knit. Virtually everyone knows everyone by some degree. So be knowledgeable of that fact. Your classmates at Animation Mentor are a great place to start. Some of my best friends to this day are the guys and girls I started class with two years ago, and we help each other out whenever we can. That’s one of Animation Mentor’s defining strengths — community.

I snap back to reality, take a look around me, and smileBeing an animator is tons of work. But I’ve been incredibly happy since I began. I strongly believe it is one of the hardest things to do, yet incredibly rewarding! There are days I still have to pinch myself when I walk up to a desk with my name on it, surrounded by people who are so remarkably talented. People I used to idolize, and still do.

It’s not all magic, though. You can do really long hours and work can get crazy stressful. And every day you’ve got obstacles to overcome. What we do is incredibly subjective, and as an artist you’re prone to being a tough self-critic. The feeling that “eventually they’ll find out I can’t actually animate!” never goes away, either. But that’s what keeps you on your toes. And as hard as those days can be, I can always look back to two years ago — back when I thought that maybe I’m stupid for being a dreamer. Maybe I’m crazy for believing I can be part of those worlds. And then I snap back to reality, take a look around me, and smile.

That’s one of Animation Mentor’s defining strengths — community.

Living the Animation Dream at Sony Vancouver

Originally Posted: March 13, 2013By: Animation Mentor

Sony AMers Living the animation dream at Sony VancouverDo you ever get the funny feeling that you’re not alone, but in a good way? That’s exactly the vibe going on at Sony Vancouver — and that’s because no less than 30 members of the global Animation Mentor community are living their animation dream right there and right now.

Just Like in ClassHow amazing it is to take what you learned inside the Animation Mentor classroom — and to then apply it directly on an animated feature film. AND, to do so alongside your mentor. That’s the life of our Animation Mentor alumni at Sony Vancouver. Just in the past few years alone, our graduates and mentors have worked on Oz the Great and Powerful, Hotel Transylvania, and The Smurfs. What an awesome show of strength from the Animation Mentor community.

Patience from Around the WorldJobs in animation and visual effects can be incredibly rewarding (and challenging). So we applaud our graduates, many of whom have moved from different parts of the world to Vancouver. But their ultimate path from Australia, Germany, and the United States (not to mention Canada) was well worth it. After all, they never lost sight of their dream to animate feature films. And believe us, dreams are a good thing.

The Sony 30

Say hello to the Sony 30:

Shad Bradbury, Chris Buckley, Nic Cabana, Jocelyn Cofer, John Coomey, Avner Engel, Eva Fan, Fredrick Fassé, Julie Bernier Gosselin, James Humphries, Mariya Kalachova, Joseph Kim, Peer Lemmers (mentor), Jason Martinsen (mentor), Agata Matuszak, Valerie Morrison, James Pearson, Eddie Prickett, Philip Rudolph, Tania Simeons, Chad Stewart (mentor), Alexander Snow, Karen Trieu, Melt van der Spuy, John Vassallo (mentor), Tobias von Burkersroda, James Ward, David Wesch, and Daniele Zannone.

Showcase Shot Breakdowns, TooIn case you missed the news, three of the alumni were also featured in the Student Showcase. Watch as James Pearson, Tania Simeons, and David Wesch break down their Showcase-winning shots.

One, Two, Three … CheeseA big Animation Mentor thank you to alumnus Fredrick Fassé for gathering the Sony 30 for this fantastic group photo. And to our graduates and mentors at Sony Vancouver — a big shout out to all of you for your passion, dedication, and reminder of everything good about this world we love. We are so proud of you (and we can tell by the look in your eyes — you’re proud, too).

You have completely inspired us.

— The Animation Mentor Crew

There are so many stories to tell.Tell yours.

Animation Mentor students and alumni come from all walks of life. Some have never animated before and some come into the program to improve their animation. But despite their skill set, they learn from each other, the mentors, and with a proven curriculum to help you become industry ready.

There’s nothing stopping you from starting, so let’s begin your first chapter in your story.

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