"A Conversation with Aaron Blaise" By Jason Anders

Aaron Blaise is an animator, producer and director best known for his work on films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and director of Brother Bear. Here we talk about animating the final appearances of Roger Rabbit, the challenges of animating the character Pocahontas, and why Mulan is his favorite Disney film he worked on.

Jason Anders: Let's start with your time spent as an assistant animator on the Amblin short, Roller Coaster Rabbit; what can you tell me about the making of that short?

Aaron Blaise: One thing to remember is that I was a pretty lowly rank and file guy during the time Roller Coaster Rabbit was done, so I don’t have a wealth of knowledge about such things as the dispute over which film it was meant to be released with. I can tell you how I ended up on that film, though. Backing up a bit... I was an illustration major at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. I had, and still have, a passion for drawing and painting. My goal was to some day be a staff illustrator for National Geographic Magazine. I’ve always loved painting animals and nature. 

Well, I soon found out that National Geographic freelanced most of their jobs, and I had to figure out a new goal. I didn’t want to freelance, so I looked at who was coming to the school to recruit in the coming weeks. It was Hallmark and Disney. Well, Disney was first so I put together a portfolio geared toward what they wanted to see and was lucky enough to get accepted into a six-week internship in Burbank, California. I was lucky enough to be assigned to Glen Keane as my mentor. He taught me the basics of animation and after six weeks I was hired for the new studio in Orlando, Florida. It opened in April of ‘89. Our first film was Roller Coaster Rabbit.

JA: After working as an assistant animator on The Rescuers Down Under you animated The Beast for the Academy Award-winning Beauty and the Beast; what was that experience like for you?


AB: Working on Beauty and the Beast was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in my twenty-year career. First off, it was the first time that Glen and I had teamed up since my internship a few years earlier. Glen has a wonderful way of elevating anyone that works with him. I had never taken anything on at this caliber, but Glen had a faith in me that inspired me to want to elevate my game. 

Glen gave me the sequence where Belle is trying to bandage Beast’s arm in front of the fireplace. It was a meaty sequence and I spent weeks planning it out and doing little pose ideas we call thumbnails. It took me weeks more to animate it, but in the end Glen and I were very happy. It remains one of my favorite sections of any film I’ve worked on.

JA: What was unique about your experience working on 1992's Aladdin?

AB: Aladdin was another milestone for me in that it was the first time I was given my own character, Rajah, to design and animate. I love drawing animals and I also love animating them. Four-legged locomotion is fun to do. During the design process I did hundreds of tiger designs, trying to achieve the fluid Hershfield look that the film’s art direction was trying to achieve. 

I was struggling until one day I saw the hood ornament on a Jaguar car. The little sculpture had a lot of the qualities I was trying to achieve in my designs. I drew a lot of inspiration from that little piece of metal on the hood of a car! My designs were soon approved! Jasmine was supervised by Mark Henn. He and I were both based in Florida, and had a great working relationship. When I finished my Rajah footage for the film, I switched over to the Jasmine unit and helped Mark out.

JA: What was it like to work on the final theatrical short to-date to feature Roger Rabbit with 1993's Trail Mix-Up?


AB: Working on Trail Mix-Up was a lot of fun for two reasons; First, I was a much better animator at that point than I was on Roller Coaster Rabbit, and second, doing really broad animation is a lot of fun after a few years of feature work where you really need to hold back and focus on subtleties. I animated about the first minute or two of the short. 

One of my favorite scenes was the one where Roger is caught up in the rope hanging upside down. He is twirling around in a big circle while spinning. All the while it is slowly coming to rest. While this is happening, Roger is having to act. It was all very complicated to figure out, a lot of left and right brain stuff going on in trying to nail it all down.

JA: Did you take any trips to Africa for your next feature as supervising animator for the character of Young Nala on The Lion King in 1994?

AB: I didn’t take any of the Africa trips for that film. We did all of our locomotion studies at the studio. Young and adult lions were brought in for us to sketch. It was lots of fun and proved to be a huge asset to both the design and animation processes. 

The biggest challenge for me on that film was just getting the locomotion right. Four-legged walks, trots, and runs can be tricky, especially in the transition from one to another. Getting something to look natural while still getting the acting across can be difficult.

JA: What was your biggest challenge in animating the title character for 1995's Pocahontas?

AB: For me the biggest challenge in Pocahontas was the extreme subtlety that the directors required in the animation. A lot of live action was shot as reference for that film, and we were directed to really stick with what was shot. I felt very creatively confined at times. I was teamed with Glen Kean again and he really taught me to look for the creativity in the subtleties. I could still be creative, it just required me holding back. It was a huge leap from the Roger Rabbit cartoons.

JA: I remember seeing Mulan being made during a tour of the Orlando Disney studio...


AB: Mulan held a lot of pride for us at the Florida Studio. It provided for us the opportunity to escape our “second unit” status, and prove to the rest of the company (and the world, for that matter) that we were a talented studio worthy of our own feature. We worked extremely hard on that film. We all wanted to do something great! 

In the end, I think that Mulan provided not only a great story but is one of the most stylistically beautiful films this company has ever done. It was also a spring-board for many. Byron Howard and I worked together on that film and we both went on to direct. It was a great confidence-building experience.

JA: After directing the Mickey Mouse short, How to Haunt a House, you directed your first feature, Brother Bear, alongside Robert Walker in 2003; how was it stepping into the director's chair for the first time?


AB: When I look back on my experience as a director on Brother Bear, I almost shudder because I know now how much I didn’t know then. I knew nothing of what I was getting into. Bob, Chuck, and I often refer to it as our six-year filmmaking class. I really owe a lot to Tom Schumacher and Pam Coats for giving me the opportunity. 

When I look back, knowing now what I didn’t know then, I don’t know that I would have given me the chance. The visual side of things, animation, art direction, and layout... those were easy. Story was the bane of our existence. It was during those six years that I learned how to structure a story and tell it with emotion, fun, and clarity. It was just extremely difficult to learn this while directing a crew!

JA: How would you sum up your career so far in just one word?

AB: If I had to sum up my career here at Disney in one word it would be, just simply, lucky. I am so lucky to do what I do for a living. To do something you love as much as I love this makes me a very lucky man!

#26. A Conversation with John Sanford

JA: So let's start with your involvement in Walt Disney Pictures The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996; you are credited as being involved in the story department, how did you become involved with Disney, this film, and what had you done before this project that got you hired?

JS: I attended CalArts in the Character Animation department from 1990 to 1993. At the end of every school year, the faculty chooses the best student films for a special show called the Producer’s Showcase. All the animation industry bigwigs are invited. Anyway, my film was in the 1993 show and caught the eye, or eyes, of then Disney directors Gary Trousedale and Kirk Wise who had just directed Beauty and the Beast and were crewing up for their new film, which happened to be Hunchback. They asked me to submit a portfolio and called me for an interview. They told me they liked the way I thought, and thought the way I drew was perfect for feature animation boarding. They hired me as a story trainee, and eventually promoted me to a full story artist. This was a great experience. I got to work with Will Finn for the first time, as he was Head of Story on the film. We became great friends.

JA: You would continue to work with Disney's Feature Animation department with the 1998 film Mulan; tell me about your memories working on the 36th Disney animated feature, the first to openly deal with warfare, and also the first Disney cartoon to feature an Asian heroine.

JS: Mulan was fun, but a real challenge. We knew we were dealing with war, but I don’t think we really worried about it too much. We used the war story as a backdrop for the story of this young girl who selflessly takes her father’s place in the army. This was the thing that I liked best about the film, and that, I think, has been largely overlooked. Mulan is not your standard Disney heroine. She is totally, and completely selfless. She is also flawed. She’s clumsy, she says dumb things, and looks messy in the morning. And she fights! She’s one of the most fully realized Disney characters ever, and it can all be credited to Chris Sanders who fought to make her an atypical three-dimensional character. Working with Chris was great. He has so much energy. He is truly an amazing talent, and totally inspiring. I was still very young and learned a lot from Chris about drawing, writing, and character.

One of the things that people probably don’t know is that it was a huge deal to have Mulan physically confront the villain, Shan-Yu. I remember the script has Mulan trick him in some girly way and then he tripped and fell in a giant fire pit. Yawn. Chris was scheduled to do this sequence and decided that he wanted to do something different than what was expected. We ran into each other in the late Tempo records in Valencia and started talking about the sequence. We talked about how cool it would be to have Mulan actually have to face this monster and even exchange a few blows with him. Then we somehow decided, right there in the record store; that Shan-yu should be blown to pieces and that Mulan should be responsible. You see, Chris and I have a huge pet peeve about animated movies and how the villain is dispatched: most of the time, the villain does himself in. For some namby-pamby, PC, “Free to be You and Me” mealy mouthed reason, people always think that if the hero does the villain in intentionally, it somehow detracts from his or her heroism. That is a load of garbage. If anything, having the villain die by his own hand weakens the hero for the obvious reasons. We fought long and hard to ensure that Mulan was the one responsible for ridding China of this heinous monster.

I really loved working on that movie. I got to work with some of the coolest people I’ve ever worked with like Chris, Chris Williams, Dean DeBlois, and Tim Hodge. I grew to love these guys and stayed friends with all of them to this day. I probably learned more working on Mulan than any other movie.

JA: In 2001 you became the artistic supervisor for the story department of Atlantis: The Lost Empire; this was the first Disney animated film to be given a PG rating by the MPAA, what were some of the challenges you faced as you took on more responsibility with Disney for this film, and how did the work you had done so far prepare you to take on directing?

JS: The head of story position varies from film to film. Some Heads do a lot of boarding, some just supervise the artists, while others get very involved in the writing. I was kind of an amalgam. I did quite a bit of boarding, but I also worked a lot with the other guys on the crew, jamming on ideas and things like that. I was also involved in polishing dialogue and working with the directors to solve story problems. More than ever, I had to try to keep the whole movie in my head, and was constantly trying to make sure all the other story artists were on the same page in terms of tone and character. After that, I thought “hmm, maybe I should try to get into directing.” The challenge was to convince management that I was ready.

JA: In 2004, you would write, direct, and even act in Disney's animated feature film, Home on the Range; this would be the 44th and final traditionally animated film project for Disney at the time, and yet another to obtain a PG rating. Tell me about pitching the original idea for the film being based on the myth of the Pied Piper, alongside writer and director Will Finn, and also about the challenges you faced having so much control over a major motion picture.

JS: Well, we didn’t pitch that idea. Home on the Range was a movie we were asked to direct after they had removed the original directors. The idea of three cows who become bounty hunters in order to save their farm from foreclosure was already in place when we took over, as well as the Pied Piper idea. Here is how Will and I got involved: In 1999, story on Atlantis was winding down, so I began thinking about what I’d do next., Don Hahn suggested that I try pitching my own idea to direct, kind of like the way Chris pitched Lilo and Stitch. Well, I always loved superheroes and decided I’d try to pitch a superhero movie. I had an idea that I kind of jammed with Sanders on, so I wrote a treatment and turned it into Leo Chu, who was vice president of development at Disney at the time.

Leo was super cool. He’s a comic book fan himself, so he gave me some great notes and guidance. We gave the revised treatment to then Feature Animation President, Tom Schumacher, and he liked it a lot. Tom told me to work up a beat board presentation, but cautioned me that they had a similar project up at Pixar (The Incredibles) and that I should try my best to my project away from theirs. This was difficult as all I knew about The Incredibles at that time was that it was about a family of superheroes, focusing on the Father, and that they were in a sort of witness protection program and that they lived in the suburbs. Well, I only had one hero, a girl, and was focusing on the relationship between the girl and her mother with the superhero story being a framing device, much the same way we used the war story in Mulan. I worked on the project for about 4 months. Man, that was fun. I got Jeff Ranjo and Joe Mosier to do rough character designs and got to work with Chris Williams for a few weeks to hammer out some structure issues. This whole time, I was working with Leo, who was great. I got to write and draw superheroes for four months at Disney, and got paid for it! Anyway, at the end of the four months, we made a big presentation to Tom and Pam Coats, the head of development. Tom said “This is great. I can’t believe how well you’ve thought this out. It’s got the right tone, it’s emotional, the relationships are fun. It’s great. Unfortunately, it is still too close to The Incredibles. This would be our 2004 release, and I cannot see releasing two superhero movies this similar in the same year.” Later, I’d see The Incredibles and see that he was right. There were story beats in both that were identical! Anyway, Tom liked it so much, he told me to go try again with a different idea.

I went back to my office and tried to come up with different feature ideas.


Meanwhile, they were having trouble with feature number 44, then titled Sweating Bullets, which was being directed by Mike Gabriel and Mike Giaimo. The film had been through countless iterations. It started as a sort of Captains Courageous in the old West where this rich kid learns how to be a cowboy, to the story of a little bull on a cattle drive who encounters a ghost town, to ultimately, the story of three cows trying to save their farm. They were still struggling just to get the movies up on reels. Management finally decided that Mike and Mike weren’t a good fit for the film, and so they had to be replaced. Will Finn had been working in story on the movie and was scheduled to be the supervising animator on Maggie. They went to Will and asked him to take over as director. When asked who he’d like as a co-director, Will suggested me. The rest, I believe you know.

This movie was challenging for a number of reasons. One, it was a musical, and I don’t like musicals. Never have, never will. The second is that I particularly struggled with the juvenile tone of the film. At this time, the studio felt that we should be aiming our films at very young children as a reaction to the relatively poor box office reception that Atlantis received. Now, I have always believed that when writing for animation, you should first write something that would amuse you and your friends. You see, the kids are there just because it’s animated. The tough thing is to hook the grown-ups. This is why the Warner Bros. cartoons endure to this day. They wrote those things to amuse themselves. Kids just happen to like them because they are animated, and they laugh at the slapstick. The adults laugh at the character interaction and the word play. This is not the way we were directed on HOtR. We were told to play to the little kids first and then the adults will come. Backwards!

We’d have screenings with the crew, and we’d have gags and jokes that got big laughs. Then, we’d have a screening for a bunch of school kids and the kids wouldn’t laugh, so we’d cut the jokes! Horribly frustrating! There is a lot of stuff in the movie I like, but for the most part, it bores the shit out of me. I can’t watch it. If it’s on cable, I turn the channel. We were also constantly at the mercy of these songs! Ugh! The cool thing about directing HOtR was that I got to work with Will again and that I got to meet and work with a lot of cool people.

JA: You would also direct the short A Dairy Tale for home video release, which would bring back many of the voice talents from the film; what are you favorite memories working for Walt Disney Feature Animation?

JS: Yeah, Dairy Tale was fun. They were planning to do a whole series of those, so we boarded a bunch that never got made. Sam Levine boarded one with the Willy brothers (Alameda Slim’s idiot nephews) where they are in jail and are telling their version of how they wound up in jail. You get to see the story from their point of view. It is only three minutes long, and is about a million times funnier and more entertaining than the movie. Will boarded one that was a parody of the Wise Little Hen with Audrey the Chicken that was also a lot of fun. I boarded one that was a parody of the Ugly Duckling. It was the story of the Duck on the farm. I made him a miniature Don Rickles, constantly insulting everyone. Everybody but management thought it was funny. Then the movie tanked, and they cancelled everything.

My favorite memories? Oh man, let’s see, I loved working on Mulan in Florida with the guys. Some of my favorite memories are from when we were on Atlantis, just working in the common area with the story crew on our sequences. That was a great time, hanging with Chris Ure, Kevin Harkey, Kirk and Gary. We had a lot of fun.

JA: Let's talk about your creation, Chippy & Loopus; where did the idea come from, and where do you see it going?

JS: Chippy and Loopus was an accident that was born of a lot of influences and circumstances. In June of 2005, I started working at Sony with an entirely new group of people. After 11 years of working at Disney, I found myself at a new company and thus free of the “Disney influence”. Friend and fellow story artist, Jeff Ranjo, started a blog called Story Boredom, and got a bunch of us involved, so I got into posting my artwork online for the first time, which was fun. At the same time, I started listening to both the Ricky Gervais Podcast, with Karl Pilkington, the most amazingly stupid person in the world, and The Howard Stern Show on Sirius, where Howard was completely uncensored for the first time. It was amazing to hear just how funny he and his crew could be when they could say anything they wanted to.

Then, one day, Jeff Ranjo drew a little comic strip on one of the little strips of paper that we usually use to write in dialogue on a story board, or used to use when we drew them on paper. He immediately posted in on the blog with an explanation of how he did it. He started by just drawing blank panels on the strip, and then just filling them in with images, making them up as he went. It was like improv on paper. I decided to try my own. I drew a panel, and then drew a little rabbit and a wolf in the panel and proceeded from there. When I got to panel four or five, I discovered I had a punch line that just happened to contain the f-bomb. I shrugged and filled it in. At that moment, fellow story artist Jack Hsu walked in to see what I was up to. I showed him the strip and he laughed.

“That’s genius!’ he exclaimed in his Jack Hsu-like way. “You think I should post this on the blog?” I asked. “Of course!” he said. Everyone else at work loved it too. Jeff Ranjo challenged me to draw one a day for a year, using the same method. I accepted. It was fun. It was a great way to exercise my brain and get out a little surplus creative energy. I continued to draw them on those little scaps of paper measuring 2”x8”. Eventually, I had to start my own blog and began to develop a little following. One of the things I tried to do with the strip is what Charles Schulz suggested, which was to begin with characters with no pre-concieved personalities and to let the personalities develop through the gags and the business, and that is exactly what I did. Slowly but surely, Chippy emerged as an ill-tempered but loyal scrapper with incredible strength and amazing fighting skills, Loopus developed into a character that is so remarkably stupid that you could probably categorize him as legally retarded. The other characters followed in a similar fashion.

I think I’m actually better known as "The Chippy and Loopus guy” than for Home on the Range, which is just fine with me. I was told that when I applied at Pixar, someone heard my name and said “Oh, isn’t that the guy who does Chippy and Loopus?” I think I was hired there almost purely based on my work on the strip. I’ve recently had to take a little hiatus from the strip due to some personal and professional issues, but I’m still writing and plan to bring the strip back soon on it’s own dedicated website.

I’ve been working hard to develop the strip into a full-fledged webcomic. I’m drawing them bigger, on nice paper and making an attempt to learn how to ink. The scribbly little drawings with the illegible lettering are gone. I’m trying to make it a feature that you can read and enjoy everyday with your coffee, just like PVP or Penny Arcade, and part of that is making it look like a legitimate comic strip. What will not change is the characters, which will continue to change and grow, and the tone of the humor and storytelling (ie yes, the characters will still swear like long shoremen). I did toy with the idea of toning down the language and submitting the strip to newspaper syndicates, but I looked at what Scott Kurtz and others were doing with web comics, and the editorial freedom they enjoyed and I thought, “Why not just stay on the internet and keep doing what I’m doing”. My focus is to put it on a site where you can more easily access the archives and eventually sell books and merchandise.

Why do I do it? I love comic strips, particularly old comic strips like Pogo, Popeye, Peanuts, Krazy Kat and Calvin and Hobbes. Comics used to not only be funny, but they used to tell stories at the same time. I haven’t seen a comic worth reading in the newspaper since Calvin and Hobbes ended. I’m basically drawing the comic strip I wish I could see. It’s fun, I have complete freedom, and to be honest, I hope to eventually make a little money with it. We’ll see. First, I have to get it going again!

JA: Do you have a favorite cartoon of all time?


JS: I have too many favorites to name. I love Magical Maestro by Tex Avery. There is also a Frank Tashlin Daffy cartoon, I always forget the name of. The one where he’s a little girl’s pet and the girl’s father is trying to get rid of him. What Makes Daffy Duck by Chuck Jones. Rubber Nipple Salesmen by John K. These are just the cartoons that keep popping into my head as I answer this question. Lambert the Sheepish Lion is good. I love the old Warner Cartoons, I love the old Tom and Jerry cartoons. Mostly old stuff.

JA: What originally inspired you to become an artist, and what does it take to make it in the entertainment industry as a working professional?

JS: I loved drawing as a little kid. I’d copy Peanuts, B.C., and Popeye. When I was 12, my Mom bought us a book called The Art of Professional Cartooning by Jack Sidebotham. That book inspired me. It was then that I decided I would be a cartoonist, and no one could talk me out of it. I was obsessed. Then I got the Preston Blair book and my fate was sealed. To make it in this business, I believe you must be a skilled artist, and you have to draw well, but you also have to have a point of view and a unique way of seeing things. However, you must also be ready to compromise. You must be flexible, amiable. You have to know when to stand up and fight for something, and when to compromise, and when you do fight, you must do so in the most diplomatic way possible. Diplomacy and tact are very important skills in this business.

JA: You also have worked for Pixar, and are also employed by Dreamworks; tell me about the work you have done for these companies.

JS: At Pixar, I was doing story boards, which in Pixar terms, means basically making incredibly articulated animatics with camera moves and tons of drawings. They practically animate the boards up there. You work on a Cintiq in Photoshop, and the average sequence has between 800 and 1200 drawings. You do very little writing as a story artist up there these days, you pretty much just stick to the script. You basically make lots of pretty drawings with perfect layouts in a ridiculously short amount of time. It used to be different, the story artists used to write more and contribute more ideas, but these days, the story artist at Pixar is just a technician. That’s okay, it’s just not my cup of tea, so I wound up leaving.

At Dreamworks, they are far less precious about the drawings. The story artists contribute business, dialogue, acting, and ideas. The story crew is a lot more involved in developing the story. The boards are just a tool to get the story right, very often drawn quickly, and just as easily thrown out in favor of a better idea. I love it here. There is a lot of exciting stuff going on here. People like to knock Dreamworks, but I feel the studio showed it’s true potential with Kung Fu Panda. There is a lot of incredible talent here. It’s an exciting place to work.

JA: If you had to sum up your career in one word, what would it be?

JS: Umm, I hate questions like this. I’ve had a lot of fun. Can I say “Fun”?

#25. A Conversation with Sandra Equihua

JA: You grew up in Tijuana developing a love for character design at a young age, and would find your niche for illustration thanks to Rafael Lopez at Art Center in San Deigo; how did he serve as an influence, and what were your impressions on your future career as you went to school for Graphic Design?

SE: During my years in university, I would attend the yearly design conferences given by the AIGA in San Diego. It was here where I first heard of Rafael Lopez. He presented some of his work and I was really taken aback by it. It was so colorful and he employed substance in everything he did. So years later, when I discovered he'd be giving an Illustration class through Art Center at Night, I signed up without thinking twice and took the course. He taught us to conceptualize and to experiment with technique, color and ideas. He had absolutely no shame in sharing any of his theories, which is what I've found a lot of professionals not doing. Although I've strayed a bit from Graphic Design, I feel that I still find myself applying a lot of the theory I learned throughout university in composition, shape, and logic. I tend to be very geometrical and strive to be a little more organic. I graduated with a BFA and worked in the Graphic Design field in Mexico for a year but didn't feel very inspired or connected. It wasn't until I moved up to LA where I finally discovered that I could blend my three favorite things: character design, graphic design and illustration, and have them actually work together!

JA: How did you meet Jorge Gutierrez?

SE: I met Jorge in Tijuana, Mexico when I was 17 and he was 18. My older sister had become friends with him first and kept telling me about this guy who I would really get along with because "he's crazy and likes art, just like you!" She insisted so much, that I finally agreed to meet him. So she set up a blind date and we all met at a rock concert for a band called La Lupita. From day one, Jorge promised me that I would never be bored so long as I was with him. It's been quite the ride ever since!

JA: The two of you would go on to develop a groundbreaking series together for Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera; tell me about the origins of the characters, story, and how it went from concept into production.

SE: Well, it took a while! From the moment the idea is born to actually getting it out there takes some time. A lot of the character's traits are based on Jorge's personality and childhood memories. Mine as well. The same goes for the storytelling since we really wanted to use true experiences, not only ours but the writers and artists. If anyone had any sort of idea, they were more than welcome to throw it into the pot. The pilot itself took about nine months to make and from the day the show was optioned to the day it premiered it was about two years. We discovered that patience really is a virtue!

JA: What was it like seeing the characters brought to life with amazing voice talents like Alanna Ubach, Eric Bauza, Charlie Adler, Carlos Alazraqui, as well as guest voices such as Bruce Campbell and Danny Trejo?


SE: Seeing our characters talk for the first time was amazing! All the actors brought such life into our designs. It felt as though the characters were meant to be voiced by the people we chose! It was uncanny. Voice casting can be a very laborious and extensive process. You need to listen to a plethora of voices that come in to try out for the part. But there will come a time when one voice stands above the rest and that's when you know you've hit the jackpot! That's how it was with Alanna Ubach, Grey Deslisle, Carlos Alazraqui, and Eric Bauza, our main characters! We were so fortunate to have been able to collaborate with such diverse and cooperative talent! All of them gave it their all 110% of the time. It didn't matter whether they were sick, or hungry, or having a bad day. All of them had such patience! They would all show up and wow us every single time. On the show, we would love it when the voice talent would bring a little something extra to the script, be it ad-libbing or putting an emphasis somewhere we didn't expect. It just made it all the more special and these guys were so good at it. They made making the show all the better!

JA: Speaking of bringing characters to life, you also had a brilliant team of artists like Katie Rice, Fred Osmond, Luke Cormican, and many more working on the show; tell me about the process of assembling a team like this one to get your series running.


SE: It seemed as though the stars were aligned for this one! We met the great talents that are Katie, Fred, Luke earlier on which meant that we got to meet other great talents as well such as Gabe Swarr, Gerald de Jesus, Eddie Trigueros, Joseph Holt, Steve Lambe, Katrien Verbiest, Ray Morelli, Miss Mindy, Jeremiah Alcorn, Chris Battle, Su Moon, Steve Lambe, Eric Gonzales, Aaron Horvath, Fred Gonzalez, Brandon Kruse, Stella Lee, Matt Gadbois, Tod Polson, Denise Chavez, Dave Thomas, Roman Laney, Sean Szeles, and Ricky Garduño. All of them so humble and modest in what they do, but have such extraordinary and enviable talent! When I heard we were going to get to work alongside all these amazing people my head almost exploded! Who wouldn't want to work alongside geniuses on a daily basis!? I learned so much about playing around in new styles, trying out new techniques, having fun with new color palettes, etc. Not to mention there was always a good attitude from everyone, despite the crazy crunch times we would sometimes have, our crew would make the best of it. The more we worked in the animation industry and went from show to show, the more people we got to meet. Eventually, we found ourselves with quite a team. Dave Thomas did an amazing job as Supervising Producer and Director, Roman Laney as Art Director was a god sent, what else can I say. It was a pleasure to have worked with such a stellar team and one never stops learning!

I just think we all had so much history together and our paths had crossed so many times and we knew what our best qualities and strengths were, that it was inevitable for all of us to work together. I really hope we can get everyone back together on future projects!

JA: I have interviewed various people involved with the series, from Katie Rice in storyboarding to Myra Lopez in post-production, which really makes one appreciate all the different talents that have to come together to bring the show to life; these talents would eventually get the show recognized by People Magazine as one of the Top 10 TV Shows of 2007, also receive an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Children, and you personally would take home an Emmy for Individual Achievement in Animation as a character designer; tell me what it was like to be so widely recognized for your hard work.

SE: It felt flattering and so surreal! Such a whirlwind of successions from start to finish! To this day were still getting tons of fan mail, and always a treat, fan art which is a constant reminder that El Tigre was appreciated and that putting all our effort into our show was totally worth it. We all worked so hard and during the entire time, there was so much camaraderie, it never really felt as though we were laboring through the day at a job. It seemed as if we were working as a little family, very intimate. I truly believe that this element of togetherness brought everyone closer and pushed us to do our best all the while still having fun. It was a win, win situation.

JA: Let's talk about your work as a character desinger; you have worked for Disney on The Buzz On Maggie, Warner Bros. on Mucha Lucha, and Nick Jr. on Wow Wow Wubbzy; how do these major studios differ from each other to work for?

SE: For me I guess it wasn't so much about the studio, I guess it was more about the project I was working on and the people I was working with and got to meet along the way. On WB's Mucha Lucha, I was hired as a freelance artist under Jorge's supervision, so I was lucky enough to have a private teacher to guide me through and teach me the ropes. Designing on the show was a fun and enjoyable experience. When I got to Disney to work on The Buzz on Maggie, I felt that, thanks to my previous experience on Mucha Lucha, I was ready for anything. Unfortunately, I couldn't have been further away from the truth!

This was where I had my first chance to work under very compressed time. Everything was very fast and had to get done quickly. So by the end of the show I felt like I was a fully graduated design ninja! It was as though I was on a sugar high 24/7, just go, go, go! So when I started on Wow, Wow, Wubbzy, I came in with the same frenetic mentality which was, I guess, the wrong kind! Everything was a little slower paced in the character design department so I was thrown a little off track. Bob Boyle was incredible in steering all of us and eventually, I got the hang of the rhythm and learned a ton of things along the way. Wubbzy was a great show to work on!

JA: Do you have a favorite cartoon of all time?

SE: That's a toughie, but if I had to chose one, I'd have to say Tex Avery's The Flea Circus. Everything from the animation, the BG's, the color, to the design of the characters to the voice talent. Avery is a genius! Everyone knows that! That being said I'd have to add all the "of Tomorrow" cartoons that he did like The House of Tomorrow, Car of Tomorrow, TV of Tomorrow, and Farm of Tomorrow. All too good!

JA: What are some of your favorite memories working in animation?

SE: Well, all of my job experiences hold something near and dear to me. But in general, I'd have to say that knowing about great talent and then actually meeting them, that never gets old. I still get extremely flustered whenever I meet someone I extremely admire! Working with friends has also been a huge plus! There's nothing quite like working with a group that you respect, admire and get along with. That, and of course the entire El Tigre experience including our Annie wins, the Emmy, honorable mentions, nominations and very recently, seeing indigenous children in Patzcuaro, Michoacan playing with El Tigre pogs!

JA: If you had to sum up your career so far with one word, what would it be?

SE: Unexpected! Definitely unexpected.