#14. A Conversation with Monica Grue

MG: Hi Jason… Thanks for this interview! I'm still an unknown in this industry, so I am very flattered!

JA: Thank you for interviewing! Let's start off talking a little about Otis; a lot of great and legendary artists attended the school, you even became a teacher's assistant for life drawing during your time there as a student, what were your experiences and challenges like during your time completing a BFA in Digital Media?

MG: Well, going into Otis there was no way to gauge how intense it would be. Those who have gone to art college will probably agree that it takes up your entire life… if you let it. And I definitely did! I spent many nights and weeks in the computer labs during the three of my four years where I was in my major, I have to admit, my freshmen year was pretty painful too!. All I can say it was great experience, even with all its extremely frustrating periods of time trying to get things done and dealing with the insecurities of being an artist. Courses and facilities are one thing, but what really made Otis were the people.

I was really fortunate to have been with my class of 2008. I graduated with a really great group of kids, not just talented but extremely tight-knit, fun, and supportive. They really made my experience for me. I was also lucky enough to make friends with upperclassmen and alumni from my department who took me on as their students. Having graduated, I still feel as though I'm in school because I have made a set of friends to last my lifetime.

JA: Tell me about your time spent at Nickelodeon in 2006 as a Production Intern; what shows did you work on, and what did a typical day at that studio consist of?

MG: Getting to intern at Nickelodeon was a lucky break for me! While I was there I assisted on Go Diego Go! and the second Direct-to-video release for Dora the Explorer, after I left, Dora was picked up for some more seasons. Because of union laws, I wasn't able to do any artwork on the production as an intern, so my duties can be described as a go-between for the production crew and the artists, particularly the storyboard artists. I read and stamped a lot of boards in those few months! Not to mention made a lot of copies and read a lot of scripts. All the while it was awesome to be able to chat with the artists. It was pretty trippy to be able to be working with artists who had a hand in many of the shows I grew up watching. Jeff Degrandis, the director, directed Animaniacs, Kuni Tomita was an animator on Akira and many Disney TV shows such as Duck Tales that were animated in Japan for the U.S. market. Many of the board artists worked on Ren & Stimpy. Though all the artists have a lot of experience, I was really struck by how much understanding and generosity they had toward me as a student. I think all professional artists remember what it was like as a student… as a result, you will meet many friendly people in this industry who want to help you.

JA: Your first professional job was Matte Painter for Three Legged Legs in Santa Monica; tell me about that experience and what your paintings were created for.


MG: Three Legged Legs is a directorial collaboration by three graduates from my department at Otis, Casey Hunt, Greg Gunn, and Reza Rasoli. The time I worked on the AMP animated commercials, I was between my junior and senior year. At the time I was worried about how I was going to pull off a senior thesis and a little frustrated by the fact that I hadn't gotten my hands dirty with real professional work. I heard about their call for interns to help on an upcoming project, so I jumped at the chance to do real work. Again I had a case of perfect timing. The guys introduced me to the pitch, and they were happy enough with my junior work to let me matte paint on the project, along with my classmates and friends: Thomas Yamaoka, Wendy Park, and Matt Nava. I started on the production early so was able to work in the early concept phase for the layouts, as well as the final execution. It was one of those projects I was happy to have worked on without compensation. Everything from the team of artists to the final product was a dream project. In July I worked for them again, this time as a texture artist for another spot.

JA: You only graduated from Otis this year, but your work resembles that of a seasoned professional; when did you start drawing and painting, and at what point in your life did you know that you wanted to do it for a living?


MG: Wow, thanks! I have a long way to go and many things to learn, but I'm lucky to have caught up despite being behind along the way. I pretty much knew I wanted to be some kind of artist since I was three or four. The turning point that always stuck out to me was when I saw a behind-the-scenes special of The Lion King around the time I was seven. Before then I had little knowledge of what went into the making of an animated picture. I was very young when The Little Mermaid came out, and of course I thought the characters and worlds were real. One day I had doubts so I asked my dad, who told me that the movements are made by the flipping of drawings. What! I was totally shocked and blown away. Later when I was able to see more in depth into the making of an animated film, I was sure that was what I wanted to be involved in. Going through youth, I had plans on becoming a traditional animator. By the time I was beginning my last year of high school, I realized that the market was being flooded by 3-D animation and that traditional animation was becoming scarcer. Since my passion was in drawing and creating, I realized that my interests actually lay more closely in the realm of concept art, and the trends of technology were presenting me a sign of where I could translate my interests. My high school art teacher introduced me to Otis, but at the time I was still applying to many regular universities. I didn't fully realize that I had committed myself to a future in art until I signed YES on my letter of acceptance to Otis. I think I was still in shock all the way until I ended my freshman year!


For me, painting came much much later in the game. Traditional paint-wise, I had very little formal instruction; I consider myself very lucky to have come across friends and mentors who helped me gain years of knowledge in months. As a Digital Media major, most of my classes were focused on the areas of Visual Effects, 3-D, and motion, and for most of my education I still felt like my true passions were on the sidelines. To be honest, I didn't begin to constructively paint digitally until right before I became a senior in college, which was going to present a challenge considering I wanted my thesis to made up of paintings! I am grateful to my friends and mentors, Mike Lee and George Fuentes, who gave me the direction and feedback I needed in that last year to learn not just how to paint, but how to create focus and clarity, which were the most important things I needed to learn. Mike really made me understand how to create an illustration by giving me a foundation in composition, shape, construction, and value that I desperately needed. Both of them were a great inspiration and huge help to me and are always there to answer questions with wisdom.

JA: Do you remember your favorite cartoon growing up?


MG: I had so many! I'm glad to have grown up in the 80s and 90s when cartoons were at their best. I was a great watcher of all the Disney greats, Rescue Rangers, Talespin, and especially Gargoyles, which I think it was one the most original and mature cartoons made to date. I was on Nickelodeon mostly by the time I was a little older. I have to say Rocko's Modern Life was my all-time favorite. It had what I feel many current projects are lacking: excellent writing. In fact I think cartoons of the 90s are hallmarked by their writing. I'd like to see some of that come back. Rocko was such a genius blend of unforgettable characters and relatable scenarios… who knew such a crazy idea would be so amazing, but there it was.

JA: I am always curious when interviewing artists, what was the last picture you drew of?

MG: My last drawings were some sketches of coworkers' at a studio meeting. The room was dark and everyone was facing away, so imagine the back of heads.

JA: So now that you graduated and have some professional experience, what are you wanting to move onto next? Do you have an ideal dream position in the industry?

MG: Currently I am serving as junior concept artist for Electronic Arts (EA) here in Los Angeles, on an unannounced project. This will have been my first experience in games, baptism by fire so I hear! Having done some TV, and gotten a taste of animation… which is where I would ultimately like to end up, as I suppose one can tell from my work . I am hoping to end up in visual development for animation, since it's been my lifelong dream. But I have learned to be patient, and learned to relish all working experiences as opportunities to learn, grow, and connect for whatever comes next. All artists have one area they would prefer to work in, whether it's games or animation, but I say, don't shut out an opportunity even if it may be uncomfortable, and don't become jealous or upset when the job you wanted didn't come to fruition. Being uncomfortable only means you're going to learn a lot! I've learned to trust God to place me where I need to be. Right now that it's games, I can tell already I will become much more experienced and diversified by the experience.


JA: What other artists have you come across, either at school or in the field, that we should be keeping an eye on?

MG: There are so many, it will be hard to choose just a few. I'd have to make my shout-out to Wendy Park (http://www.wendypark.com), my friend and fellow graduate of Otis 08. Wendy is currently wrapping up an internship at Blue Sky Studios in New York. In the craziness of senior year, she was my constant work buddy. She has an amazing eye for shape and her work, whether drawings or colored illustrations, are always super clear and elegant. I think you should expect to see some great things out of her. I have no doubt she's going to do very well.

JA: What advice do you have for those either still in school or just graduating?


MG: Work hard, play later! Haha… harsh but true. I turned down a lot of fun times during school to work, re-work, and redo my projects. In retrospect I may have worried too much, but after graduation it was good to have no regrets about whether I could have worked harder. Learn as much as you can, get feedback! I didn't begin to ask for much feedback until my last year. We're all scared to put our work out there where it's vulnerable to criticism, but you're only going to move forward if you know what you need to fix. If you feel hurt, brush off the emotion, focus on the task, and keep going. I had a lot of instructors say, you have to distance yourself from your work. During school I felt like it was next to impossible to do that. Only now have I learned what it's like to feel separated from your work. When you let it go, you will improve so much. Don't be scared. If I could redo school, I would have gotten out more, been more interested in other things besides art. Don't forget about real life and real people! It's important.

JA: Now it's your turn, sum up your work for me in one word.

MG: Hopeful. Someone told me they get a message of hope and light from looking at my work. Just to be able to do that makes me happy to be doing this. What more could you ask for?

#13. A Conversation with Brianne Drouhard

JA: So let's start with the time you spent at CalArts, where you attended school for Animation; what was that program like as far as the challenges it presented to you, the work you completed for your portfolio, and how it compared to Innerspark?

BD: Thanks Jason, for the interest and interview questions! I will try to answer them as best I can without sounding like a complete moron. I grew up in the boonies of eastern Washington State, so being able to attend Innerspark (or CSSSA at the time) was fantastic! I never had friends who held the same interests as me, or had access to equipment to make real animation. We had trips to art museums, exhibits, tours of studios, guest speakers, all in the span of one month. The animation program at CSSSA was headed by Christine Panushka, with Corny Cole, Gary Schwartz, and Ruth Hayes also teaching. Everyday after lunch, she would screen short animated works from around the world. It was very inspiring, and she would explain the techniques used, the artists that made them, and why they made them, it was very extensive. Our animation assignments at CSSSA would range from flip books, figure drawing, zoetrope cycles, pixelation, animating directly on film, a group film called Exquisite Corpse, and finally a short film, usually 30 seconds to a minute long, recorded on video, with Gary Shwartz's Frankenstein cameras. I enjoyed the variety of the assignments so much, I was actually thinking about applying to the Experimental Animation program at CalArts, but Christine recommended that I apply for Character, since they focus on more narrative work. Going back to high school the next fall, I knew where I wanted to be and what I could do to achieve it. My high school art teacher, Mr. Michael Lewis, was the one who recommended that I try for CSSSA, and he also helped me get my portfolio ready for CalArts. I think he is still teaching up there, I hope Othello knows what they have.

Going to CalArts though was pretty different. The Character Animation program seems to be changing all the time, not the same teachers or classes are there every year, so anything I experienced while attending may be completely different now. I'm pretty happy with my experiences at CalArts for the most part, and felt very fortunate to be there. Being out of state and unknown, going to CalArts let me have a group of close friends that I still see regularly in Los Angeles. The morning classes we had for character animation seemed more focused on fine art. They were mostly figure drawing, painting, and bg layout classes. The evening classes were more industry focused, storyboarding, traditional 2d animation, and character design. I often felt at odds trying to combine what was taught from the day time classes with night classes, but learned much from it. The first half of the year they taught us the fundamentals for animation, and had us figure out what our student films would be for that year. The second half of the year was juggling classes, animating, and completing a student film, with critiques and help from the teachers. There were a lot of late nights around the pencil test machines with fellow students, and I learned more from watching other people testing and sharing what they had learned in their different classes. I didn't sleep a lot, and spent all spring breaks animating and getting sick. For those of us straight out of high school, we were also taking "critical studies", doing papers on film theories, art history, cultural studies, literature and etc. I spent my summers with Internet classes to make up credits so I could spend more of my college time on art and animation. CalArts isn't going to wave a wand and grant animation knowledge. You have to push yourself there, the teachers aren't going to care if you don't show up for class, or if you don't turn in a film. I felt if I was there I had to do my best, or it would be a waste leaving home, especially if my family was helping me attend school.

By my sophomore year, I was pretty sure I would never have a chance having a job as an animator, especially when Disney axed their feature animation department the following year. I still learned as much about animation as I could, but started focusing more on design and illustration. My animation teacher for my Sophomore and Junior year was Mike Nguyen, and he let me intern at July Films on My Little World for a summer. So I still did get a chance to do theatrical animation, although I was pretty wobbly with it. There weren't many teachers working in TV animation at the time I was attending CalArts, so it was depressing my senior year having some newly unemployed teachers walking into class and telling us to try a new career. I had an animation reel when I graduated, but my portfolio was all over the place, I had no idea what people working in TV were looking for. The year I graduated in 2002, very few of us actually had found full time work in animation. I ended up at a 3rd party video game company in the boonies, but it was work and experience.

JA: You received special thanks for the production of X-Men: Next Dimension back in 2002, what involvement did you have there?

BD: None. They had just finished that game when I started up at that company. I think even the boss's dog got special thanks on that. He was a cute little ancient pug. I spent the summer following graduation as freelance until they decided to hire me full time. It was for 3D Studio Max in-game animation. I worked mostly on Backyard Wrestling, animating men punching, kicking, throwing, and hugging each other. The in-game animation they needed for that game had to be very short time wise. We had to take out most of the acting, follow through, anything that made the move last too many frames. If the moves were too long, it slowed down game-play and could make it boring for the player. Working there made me realize what it was I really wanted to be doing. I missed drawing. I did get to do some development designs, and some intro animation for the Insane Clown Posse that appeared in that game. I, along with a lot of other artists that worked on that game, received no credit on it. I was at that studio for nine months until I was laid off, and I spent another year trying to find work actually drawing. I missed it. I have friends who still work in games. Most of them are doing well and are quite happy.

JA: You are listed not only as being a part of the animation department for Teen Titans, but also as a voice actor; how did you get involved with the series, both in animation and voice?

BD: Haha, I have never done a voice for anything! That might be a typo on IMDB or something. My voice is annoying in real life. I'm listed as an actress for "Episode 257-494", one of the photos used in the episode is actually the art staff on Titans. I think I'm on the floor to the right. We were all dressed up as nerds, big stretch, being hypnotized by the T.V. The infamous photo is on Hakjoon Kang's blog. It's only been a few years, everybody looks young! The opportunity to maybe work on Titans came through www.motionzoo.com (may it rest in peace). One of my classmates from school, Matt Youngberg, posted it on the job forum. I was pretty low on funds and considering moving back to Washington State. I sent them my website, shitty portfolio, took a design test which was a full-turn of Jinx, and they took a chance on me. I learned a ton from that crew. Glen Murakami was the art director, Derrick Wyatt and Jon Suzuki were the character designers who did a lot of the amazing character designs on the show. They put up with me and taught me how to make my drawings less ugly. They would go over designs with me, and give me notes. It was a lot of fun there, I have a photo somewhere of a giant wall of random Post-It drawings we all did one night. Being there was an experience I feel very lucky and fortunate to have. Everyone was really excited to be working on the show, the artists and writers worked well together, and the directors put a lot of heart into it. I was very spoiled having that be my first full time job drawing. I also don't think I'd have been able to stay in LA long enough to find work on Titans if it hadn't been for Regional Maple Leaf Communications. I won their Ben Wicks contest right after being laid off from the video game job. They had me illustrate two different versions of their Teenage Survival Handbook. It was handed out in schools and clinics up north. I used the money to buy a computer to help with portfolios, for rent, and such. The computer is the same one I still use today.

JA: What work have you done for Nickelodeon?

BD: Not a lot. I did some freelance design for My Life as a Teenage Robot, the designs were based off of what they had in the storyboards and what the art director, Alex Kirwan, wanted. I can't remember what episodes they were for, but I did a lot of fish kids, and little round aliens. It was fun, I got to work on it during my breaks from Teen Titans. I guess I work on a lot of shows with teenagers in them.

JA: To go off subject for a moment, I love your version of Slush Puppie! Was that something you did for fun, or did the company actually use it?

BD: Slush Puppie was for my little brother's birthday. He just started his first job up in Seattle, so I try to do something special for him every year. I was having trouble trying to figure out what to draw him, but I got out of bed one morning and Slush Puppie just popped up in my head. We used to get those drinks during the summer coming home from his soccer practice and my pottery classes. If Cadbury wanted me to redesign Slush Puppie, I would do it! But I think I'd have to work on him a bunch more than just that one drawing. It has a lot of problems. I don't think it would print or look very nice on a cup. It's too detailed. I still like the old Slush Puppie the best. Ahhh memories...

JA: What inspired you to become an animator? Do you remember your favorite cartoons growing up, and how do they compare to your favorites now?


BD: It's abnormal I think to carry an obsession like animation to adulthood, but my parents were very supportive. I was pretty asthmatic when I was little, so putting a pencil in my hand kept me calm and quiet. They kept me supplied with art books, paper, pencils, and let me travel to go to California when I was in high school. They let me grow. They told my brother and I we could be whatever we wanted, except farmers. It's such a risky, stressful business, but it's kinda funny because animation seems just as precarious. Our parents wanted to offer us the chances they didn't have growing up. In 1995 we took a trip to Washington D.C to get some culture, and the National Children's Museum was offering a week long class on animation, taught by Willie Moore. He was the first animator I ever met and was very inspiring, there were three other kids in the class, but I lost contact with them long ago. The Children's Museum actually had murals drawn by Chuck Jones on the walls! Afterward my parents got me a little camcorder, that had the option to record eight frames per second. I still have it. I made dumb little films with it, one was called Yippie, the Accident Prone Dog to Harry Nilsson's The Puppy Song, for my Senior project in high school. As crude as it was, it got me an NFAA and Scholastic scholarship for college.

When I was about three or four, I remember the neighbors bringing a vcr/beta/magical box to our house and watching Disney's Alice and Wonderland on the TV. When I was five we got the Disney Channel. They actually used to show old cartoons and Wonderful World of Disney on there! I remember being obsessed with Dumbo, and after seeing the animation process explained, that was what I wanted to do. I watched a lot of old Disney and Warner Bros. shorts, all that stuff was aired all the time in the 80's and 90's. We had a satellite dish since cable wasn't offered in our rural area, so I got to watch some anime too. There was a lot: Batman, Space Ghost, Herculoids, Tiny Toons, Freakazoid, Sailor Moon, Macross, Disney Afternoon, and anything Nickelodeon was showing. Movies I was really into were My Neighbor Totoro, Nightmare Before Christmas, Sanrio movies, and the older Disney animated movies. I guess the same things everyone else was watching. I started watching a lot of stuff from the National Film Board of Canada too, and collected a lot of vhs tapes of independent shorts. There were a lot of video games I'd play too. I'd collect the game guides and magazines because of the artwork that was in them. Most of them were RPG's. There weren't any comic book shops in my area, so this is what I nerded out on and drew during class.


Animation that I've been obsessed with lately is Gainax's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (it's on the SciFi channel on Mondays) and Gunbuster 2. The backgrounds in the latter are so gorgeous, they use so many different colors for outer space, and it works so well. The animation is very lively also, it's hard to balance a dramatic story but allow goofy moments and characters. Everything seems so fresh. I actually got depressed after watching Gurren Lagann, because I can't imagine being a part of a project like that in the U.S. I think my work design list for that week had a "toenail catapult" on it too. It was sad. I ate a lot of chocolate. I also have been watching Venture Bros., Flapjack, Ben Ten: Alien Force, and Chowder. I watch most of the shows I freelance/worked on also, which lately has been Transformers Animated. Honestly I haven't had much time to keep up with current animation, I only watch an hour or two of TV a week. Whenever I try to record Teenage Robot, Avatar, or Mighty B off Nickelodeon, I end up with iCarly or something. Comparing shows nowadays to what was on in the 80's, doesn't seem fair. I watch what I do now because of what I watched back then. I'm glad there are less shows based off of toylines and backwards hats, but I wish studios were more interested in making original shows for everybody, not just boys with ADD. But I guess that is where the money is. At least the internet has allowed a lot of people access to films that they may have never seen before and a venue for independents to be seen easily. If you like something though, please support the artists by buying the dvds and artwork! Hopefully that will promote more diversity in the animation that is out there.

JA: John Kricfalusi has made comments about your work saying, "her designs are real designs, not just collections of unrelated abstract flat shapes. They have hierarchy - an overall statement that is then broken down into levels of sub forms and details that obey the planes of the larger forms...beautiful shapes, contrasts, large negative areas, clear silhouettes, line of action, construction....the whole shebang of good drawing skills, and to top it off, a lot of individuality and fun!" Has John approached you about being involved in any Spumco work?

BD: He did a while ago, but I've been trying to focus on my personal projects with my free time. Those first two years out of school taught me how important it is to continue on with my own projects. The comment he made is very flattering, but I feel like I still have a long way to go with my artwork. Which is good, because if something is perfect, what's the point in keeping up with it?

JA: What was the last picture you drew of?


BD: A doodle I started in my sketchbook while hanging out with some friends at a yuppie coffee shop. I've been focusing most of my drawing time on my projects, but being around nice people let's me chill out. My brain turned off on this. Ummm, she has birds in her hair? I think she uses bird shampoop on it. Probably Lisa Frank brand.

JA: Having worked for major companies such as Warner Bros., July Films, and Mattel; what advice do you have to offer artists trying to break into the industry?

BD: Know what job you are applying for. Most of the time studios are looking to fill a specific job, so it helps if the portfolio is focused in one area, i.e. character design, props, storyboards, backgrounds, etc. Also be familiar with which show you are applying for, show that you can draw in that style. When they have a position to fill, they need the new people to hit the ground running, they don't always have time to train people. Try to have the artwork in the portfolio not look like a class assignment. Still use the fundamentals you learned in school if you went to one, but your creativity is a plus too. I still have a hard time knowing what artwork to put in my portfolio, I'm constantly updating it. It's also good to realize that most animation made at studios is a team effort. A majority of the people there are artists. I've known many people who started off as production assistants. Some have made the jump to an artist's job, and others opt to stay in management so they can have more free time on their artwork outside of the job. Some studios offer internships, which can give you an idea how a show or feature is made. If you have the time, get a website or blog online. It's sometimes easier for employers to go to a website than dig around for your portfolio. Make sure you label all your artwork online and off, people right click images all the time, and I've seen a job recruiter's cube plastered with art from different portfolios. If there is contact info on the image, even just a website, they'll be able to find you if they want work from you. Plus, in general, it's better to be safe than sorry. Times are tough right now. Keep putting your portfolio out there, you never know what events will occur.

It is still a good idea to try to have a life outside of a job though. Go to movies, museums, concerts, parks, and read books! Get a pet! See friends who don't work where you do, get some diversity! Keep a sketchbook! Work on your own projects! This will help you stay inspired. All jobs in animation end. They only last as long as the show has episode orders, until that feature movie is finished. If you have something of your own, it will allow you to push yourself and try new things when times are slow. You don't have to rely on a large corporation to create something good. I've been working on two children's books. One is digital illustrations for a family friend's book, the other I'm writing and illustrating with marker. They've both been on hold the last few weeks. I'm learning how to storyboard again for a short film. At the end of September if it's not approved, the characters from that will hopefully continue on in another form. Don't let anything go to waste!

JA: Sum up your work with one word for me.

BD: Wonky!

#12. A Conversation with Jorge Gutierrez

JA: Let's start with your time spent at Cal Arts, you were accepted in the Experimental Animation program while still considering Painting and Live Action; did you have any second thoughts about your major while enrolled, and what was your time in the program like?

JG: First of all, thank you Jason for asking me to do this. I'm really honored. Gracias!

On to the first answer, the great thing about Experimental Animation (which Jules Engel founded and ran at the time) was that it allowed and encouraged me to take classes from the other CalArts schools & programs, so I was able to take design & color, character design & storyboarding from the Character Aimation program, sculpting and painting from the Art School, and lighting, editing, and screenwriting from the Directing for Theater and Film school. I felt like I was like a little fat kid in the world's biggest candy store! I wanted to learn and do everything, and I kind of feel like I did; the doing, not the learning. I made so many student films! Most were terrible, so bad they would give you eye cancer if you saw them. I did abstract & narratives, comedies, dramas, 2D, 3D, stop motion, cut outs, sand, Flash, pixelation, anything you can think of. Even live action, which I really want to do again one day.

Looking back I sometimes think I should have concentrated more on the obvious fundamentals, like film theory, figure drawing, and perspective, and not done so much crazy work and partied so much. But the reality is that having done all those things made me the artist I am today. All that experimentation led me to, for good or bad, develop my own personal style.


JA: Tell me about your internship working on Stuart Little, what was it like to be part of such a big project, yet be so creatively limited?

JG: A year before I graduated, I submitted my CalArts MFA thesis CG short, Carmelo, to the Television Academy and I won the student Emmy internship, which sent me to Sony to work as an intern on Stuart Little for the summer. The people there were super amazing and I learned a ton of stuff. It was my first taste of the real world.

Some very lucky and talented people are born to be character animators. I learned that I am not one of those people. It is a very specific skill and discipline and, like all the arts, not everyone can do it well enough to get paid for it. As an intern, I quickly learned that a character animator on a feature film has very little if any creative input on the two things I love the most in animation: Story & Design. So that was it, I decided I didn't want to be animator.


If I ever wanted to create my own show or film ideas, this was not the way to do it, for me at least. To me, there is nothing more fun, and painful, than coming up with stories, characters, and worlds, and then developing them into an inventive and original world. Story & Design was and is what I'm really passionate about. After I finished Carmelo, it won the Student Emmy and I nervously turned down offers to go into CG. Unemployed but full of rebel spirit, I began pitching an internet show idea called El Macho and Sony bought it. And that was it, I was hooked on making my own stuff. Looking back, it might not have been a safe career path, but it was exactly what felt right at the time.

JA: While working for Sony's Screenblast you had no limits on your story ideas, desings, and colors; what was it like working for a company that allowed you that kind of freedom?

JG: It was the greatest thing on earth! Seriously, I had just graduated from the Animation program and a big studio said, "here's a bunch of money to make your own cartoons". I felt like I was the luckiest macho on earth. I hired my pal Roman Laney (who would later become the El Tigre art director) out of CalArts and with Sandra's help, we went at it! It was so much fun! It was also incredibly scary. If anything was bad, which it often was, we had no one to blame but ourselves. But mostly me.

That also set very unrealistic expectations as to the idea of getting paid to do my own thing. Like I mentioned earlier, I was hooked and after El Macho ended, I thought it would be easy to get another show going. Getting that to happen again took years of breaking our backs, blood, tears, and many heartbreaks. We had four shows die in development before El Tigre finally went to series.

JA: El Tigre was Nickelodeon's first all digital production; what sort of problems did you encounter creating an entire show without the use of paper and pencil?

JG: It was a lot easier than you think. Most of us had never worked on Cintiques before, so we all took the plunge at the same time. We had all worked on previous productions, so the Tigre digital pipeline was based on everything we thought really didn't work, and worked, on other shows. Tim Yoon, Dave Thomas, Roman Laney, and myself worked really hard to make sure we got the most bang for our buck.

As far as Tigre being Nick's first ever Flash show, things went incredibly well. Better than expected even. A lot of us had worked together on previous Flash productions like Mucha Lucha at Warner Bros. and The Buzz on Maggie at Disney, so by the time we started developing El Tigre we had a very good idea as to how far we could push the technology to get the look we wanted. Our Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, After Effects pipeline was super smooth, and the series, I'm very proud to say, was always on time and on budget. Aside from the just unbelievably talented crew we had in the US, we were very lucky to work with the kick ass artists of Boulder Media in Ireland, and Six Point Harness in LA for our "overseas" animation.

I'm actually starting an El Tigre blog where I'll be braking down how we made the series: http://tigreroar.blogspot.com/

JA: Tell me about the group of artists you worked with to get the show running, including director Dave Thomas.

JG: This might take a while! It was kind of ridiculous really. We had a plethora of bad asses. Just to name a few: The incredible Doug Langdale (creator of Dave the Barbarian) was our story editor, super genious writer Scott Kreamer wrote more incredible scripts than anyone, the super man of animation, Dave Thomas, was the Supervising Producer & Director, the infamous Gabe Swarr was the board supervisor and then a director, Roman Laney & Gerald de Jesus art directed the hell out of the series, Shawn Patterson composed his heart way with the music, the lovely Sandra Equihua designed most of the cute and sexy girls, and won an Emmy for it, super star Steve Lambe (and Miah Alcorn) helped out on character designs & props, layout genius Fred Osmond became an Assitant Director, the BG crew was just awesome with Katrien Verbiest, Joseph Holt, Su Moon, Dee Chavez, Eric Gonzales, Kyle Newswald, super star art director Tod Polson doing half the color scripts, the world famous Katie Rice was doing layouts, special poses, and designs. Matt Gadbois and Aaron Horvath editing and animating, Su Moon, Stella Lee, Javier Guzman were inking away. And on storyboards we had the perverse genius Ricky Garduno, super funny drawer Eddie Trigueros, ex-Spumco mad man Luke Cormican, cinematic genius Sean Szeles, power house Fred Gonzales, and then Ray Morelli, Miss Mindy, and Katie Rice helping out with board revisions, and Dave Thomas (and later Gabe Swarr) doing at least 20 pages of bad ass beat boards to get each episode started.

Check out Dave's beatboards here: http://ownerofwendys.blogspot.com/ If I forgot to mention anyone, I am incredibly sorry. We really were a big happy family and even hung out outside of work. I would kill for my crew, I owe them everything.

JA: Do you have a favorite episode of El Tigre?


JG: Without a doubt it's our Halloween & Dia De Los Muertos special, The Grave Escape. It's really close to my heart. So many great elements in this one: a funny & tragic script by Doug & Kramer, Dave's superb beat board and razor sharp directing, super inventive boards by Ricky and Eddie, Roman, Jerry and Todd went nuts on the BGs and colors, Shawn's intense & heartfelt music; man, there's just too many things to mention. Plus it dealt with all my favorite themes: tradition, family, sacrifice, fathers & sons, legacys and death. And I believe it's the best reprensentation of my all time favorite Mexican holiday, The Day of the Dead, we even got married that day. I also worked extra hard on this one since it meant so much to me as my grandfather had just passed away. This is also the episode I submitted to ASIFA the year El Tigre won the Annie for best show. It was really rewarding to see how it turned out in the end. Only time will judge the work we did on the show.

JA: If you could sum up your work in one word for me, what would it be?

JG: Heartfelt. Without heart, the work is meaningless.

#11. A Conversation with Fred Osmond

JA: Let's start with the work you've done for John K.; how did you get involved working on Weekend Pussy Hunt as a clean-up artist?

FO: Weekend Pussy Hunt was by far one of my favorite cartoons to work on at Spumco. It was probably one of the biggest learning experiences I've had in animation so far. I started cleaning up the work of some really super talented artists like Jim Smith, Aaron Springer, and of course John K., and a lot of others. It was such a great opportunity to learn in a way that hasn't really existed in animation outside of feature for the past several decades.

I remember during that period at Spumco, John would have after work drawing lessons for the crew at his house. He would put on a laser disc of some amazing Looney Tunes cartoons and freeze frame certain poses. We'd all be there with our clipboards and printer paper drawing Bob McKimson poses of Bugs Bunny. John would disappear for about 20 minutes, then he'd come back in and go over our drawings. He'd look over your shoulder and say "Here, lemme sit down" and then he'd grab your clipboard and start drawing the pose and pointing out where you went wrong, the whole time sweat would be dripping from his head onto your paper because he'd just spent that last 20 minutes tap dancing in his garage. We'd repeat that process for the next hour and a half or so and by the end of it, we all had these great studies by John that were just drenched in sweat! I have to say though, that was such a great learning experience.

Eventually I got bumped up to Character Layout on that show and by the end John had me teaching my own class at the studio. He wanted me to take all the new people that were coming in and teach them construction. It was kinda like a basic cartooning class and we would do the same kinda thing. I'd put on an old MGM Tom and Jerry and freeze frame one of the great poses by Irv Spence or somebody and we'd all draw from that. I skipped the tap dancing though! I still needed the practice, so I'd draw the pose and then walk around and go over everyone else's drawings. Teaching that class was an amazing learning experience in and of itself. There were people in there that went on to really make names for themselves -- Katie Rice, Eric Pringle, Jerry DeJesus, Eric Bauza, Leticia Lacey, a bunch of people I'm probably forgetting right now. I wish I could say I was responsible, but I think I learned more from all of them then they ever did from me.

JA: You went on to work on two Jetsons shorts; what was that experience like, and how were the episodes generally received by fans of Hanna Barbera?

FO: Those were fun. I think John was in Canada when we worked on them, so Gabe Swarr wound up directing at least one of them. It was a nice change of pace working for a different director, and I learned quite a bit from Gabe as well. From what I recall, we didn't have a lot of time on these shorts, and we had a really small crew, so it was kinda like get 'em done quick. I believe Derrick Wyatt was art directing. He has a really great style that was well suited for HB cartoons which made it fun. As far as how well it was received by HB fans, I don't remember. I'm sure there were those people out there that thought the stuff was sacred and shouldn't be messed with though.

JA: You became a Layout Supervisor on Ren & Stimpy: APC, which episodes were you involved in, and is there one lost episode that stands out as being your favorite?

FO: I was involved with most of the episodes, however there were some like Naked Beach Frenzy that were mostly done in Canada. (Katie Rice and Luke Cormican did do some great layouts on them here though.) Overall, the show as a whole was really tough to work on. John had super high expectations for all of us and it was really difficult to live up to the original series. I think it was twice as difficult too, because John was splitting his time between both the U.S. and Canadian studios. He'd fly down here and yell at all of us for a month or so and then fly back up and yell at the Canadian studio for awhile. But they really had it made up in Canada. We were in some dumpy little building in North Hollywood dodging bullets while we worked (literally there were bullet holes in the windows and blood stains on the sidewalk and little old ladies getting mugged right outside our building.) The Canadian studio meanwhile had leased this amazing old house with beautiful hardwood floors, a wooden staircase, and something like 15 rooms. It even had a meadow just outside with the greenest grass and trees you've ever seen in your life. Even so, there were some really great people working up there. Unfortunately, I never really got to meet any of them face to face, but I did see a lot of the work that they did and there was some really good stuff. Nick Cross, who was the art director on the series, produced some absolutely amazing drawings and paintings.

As far as "lost episodes" go, I think the one I was most looking forward to was Life Sucks. The board for that episode was so amazing and I think if it had ever been made it would have been one of the best Ren and Stimpy cartoons ever.

JA: What was it like going from working with John K. at Spumco, to working for Disney with The Buzz on Maggie?

FO: Oh wow … it was actually super inspiring and a bit depressing at the same time. I mean, we worked on the very same lot where Disney made some of his greatest movies from the 1940's - 1960's. Sometimes a group of us would walk through the old animation building and think "Wow, I wonder if Ward Kimball sat in here, or maybe Milt Kahl." That part of the experience was super inspiring. The depressing part was that no animation whatsoever goes on in the old animation building anymore. Now, it's full of production offices. In fact, most of the TV animation people are in this 80's looking office building that looks out onto the old animation building, or even worse, off the lot entirely at a separate location in Glendale. Unfortunately, those buildings have almost sterile-like environments too. Not the most conducive environment for creativity! That being said, the people on Maggie made it a fun place to work

So yeah, it was very different there! No more muggings or blood stained sidewalks right outside. The crew was great, Dave Wasson was the director on that show and, as far as I'm concerned, he made a huge difference when it came to making the show as good as it was. I mean, as cartoons go, it really wasn't my cup of tea, but Dave was great at letting all of us board artists plus it as much as possible. He even encouraged us to put in a lot of funny expressions and cartoony acting. Quite a few of us Spumco people made the transition to Maggie not too long after Ren and Stimpy A.P.C wrapped up -- Luke Cormican, Katie Rice, Gabe Swarr and Ray Morelli. We all got to know and work with a lot of talented people over their, many of who ultimately went to go work on El Tigre.

JA: After working for a while as a Storyboard Artist, you arrived to work on Nickelodeon's El Tigre; tell me about your experiences working on this all digital series, and some of the artists who worked with you.

FO: El Tigre was great! Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua were the creators, designers, and executive producers on that show. I got to know them while working on Maggie. When their show got picked up, they were able to bring a lot of the Maggie crew over onto El Tigre. It was a really smart decision on their part too. The Maggie crew got along great and worked so well together. They saw that and really took it into account. I appreciate Jorge and Sandra's approach to "networking" as well. Sometimes you meet people in this industry that think networking means "How can this person get ME to where I want to be?" Jorge and Sandra's approach is more like "How can we forge a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with this person" which ultimately is better for everyone and is better for the industry as a whole.

Dave Thomas, and later Gabe Swarr, directed on El Tigre. I learned quite a bit from Dave Thomas. I think he was a little more into filmmaking than some of the other directors I'd worked with in the past. I learned a lot about things like shot selection, when and how to cut from one scene to another and the difference between formal and informal compositions.

The best thing about working on El Tigre though, was all the different jobs I got to do. I started out on boards, then later I was doing full character layout on all of the key scenes in each episode. I also did quite a few specialty designs and got to dabble a bit in doing promotional artwork for the show. Later on, I was promoted to Assistant Director where I got to supervise all of the jobs I previously had on the show. So that job was a lot of fun but a lot of work at the same time. That was definitely the most involvement I've had on a show and it was great! When you're in a position like that you get to see things pretty much all the way through the pipeline, from the board artists hand out and thumbnail pitch all the way to layout and inks.

JA: Being involved in so much of today's television animation, what are your thoughts on the industry today compared to what you grew up watching?

FO: You know, today you hear so much talk about children's shows being so crappy, but there's actually some pretty good stuff out there … especially when you compare it to the stuff I watched as a kid. We basically had only three channels that would show cartoons and even then you'd only really see them on Saturday mornings, or for about an hour or two on weekdays after school. Most of it was crap too. Stuff like Smurfs, Snorks, He-Man, She-Ra, etc. But now, thanks to cable, DVD's and the internet, you can pretty much watch cartoons 24-7. There is some pretty good stuff out there too. Mighty B is a really beautiful looking show that's pretty funny, and of course Sponge Bob is consistently good. Chowder over on Cartoon Network is great. And one show that really stands out right now is The Misadventures of Flapjack. It is by far one of the funniest cartoons on TV ever. It's hilarious! I highly recommend watching it if you have the opportunity.

JA: Do you have an all-time favorite cartoon?

FO: That's a tough one because it's always changing. If I HAD to choose one though it would be the Looney Tunes cartoon Book Revue by Bob Clampett. I love the pacing and rhythm in that cartoon. The contrast between the super fast-paced, almost manic scenes, with the very slow laid back scenes is great. And the way it builds into this huge crescendo towards the end, it's almost like a great jazz solo by Charlie Parker. GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!

JA: What advice do you feel is useful to students of animation looking to break into the industry?

FO: That's a great question, and I'm almost afraid to answer it honestly because I don't want people to get the wrong idea. When I was first trying to break into the industry, I had a pretty tough go at it. I'd keep sending my portfolio off to all the studios and they'd keep sending it back with a rejection letter. Every time I got that letter I'd think "Jeez, I must really suck!" So, I kept redoubling my efforts to get better and better at drawing. However, no matter how hard I tried I kept getting these rejection letters. It wasn't until I moved up here and started making some connections with people in the industry that I realized you rarely ever get a job by just submitting a portfolio. You get jobs mostly through people you know. The really important thing to remember though is that you KEEP jobs based on the quality of your work. So work at getting as good as you possibly can, then make some connections, and finally keep working to get better at your craft so you can retain and even expand those connections.

JA: Tell me about the creation of Dumm Comics, and your weekly contribution of Earthward Ho!.

FO: Well, to me, Dumm Comics is at least partially a result of El Tigre getting canceled. One of the more frustrating aspects of working in animation is that you always have to deal with layoffs, and as a result you start to feel that your destiny lies in someone else's hands. This is a way for all of us at Dumm Comics -- Gabe Swarr, Katie Rice, Luke Cormican, Sean Szeles, Ricky Garduno, Matt Gadbois, and myself -- to sort of regain some of that control and make the kind of entertainment that we want to without any outside involvement. It's really exciting to see what everyone is doing with their comics too. Seeing everyone's work really does help to encourage and inspire one another to do their best work possible. Another great thing about Dumm Comics is how it's set up. None of us really has the time to put out a daily comic, but all of us together can each put out a weekly comic. This gives the site new content 5 days a week.

Earthward-Ho! is definitely a labor of love for me. Even if no one in the world ever read it I think I would still have made it in one form or another, and the fact that I get to do it for Dumm Comics just makes it all the more worthwhile. If you're into sci-fi, or you really like cartoony stuff, or if you just like really weird stories, go check it out.

The way we have set up Dumm Comics also allows us, as artists, to build and grow. If the process was similar to how today's TV animation is run, Earthward-Ho! most likely would have been canceled right after the second or third strip was aired. But because I work with a bunch of people who are familiar with my work, and who can see the potential in something even if no one else can, it has the opportunity to grow into something really good. To me, that's exactly what Earthward-Ho! is doing right now. It's evolving into something much better than it was. I'm super excited about the direction it's taking, and judging by reader reaction it seems like people are starting to dig it more and more too. I'm actually having more fun working on it now than I did even in the beginning. The really fun part is figuring out how everything is going to evolve. Where is this story going and how are the characters changing, what's next? With some of the TV animation out there, it seems that once you have the formula down and the characters set up there is very little leeway for the evolution of the characters or stories. You're sorta stuck telling the same stories with the same redundant characters over and over again.

When you look at some of the best cartoon characters ever created like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck you see how the artists didn't limit themselves. If you watch those cartoons chronologically, it's very clear how each of those characters evolved. The creators/directors just kept what worked and discarded what didn't.


JA: If you could sum up your work with one word, what would it be?

FO: Thankful. I am very thankful for being able to do this for a living, thankful for having been able to work with as many great people as I have. Thankful for all of the great projects I've been a part of. And I'm especially thankful for a wife who not only puts up with the sometimes long hours involved with this work but also encourages and supports me in it.