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THE ROAD TO FEATURE
FILMS
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The story of how I got
into the film industry.
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I attended Cal-Arts for
only two years because it cost me an arm and a leg. Not only that- My
mentor, Bob Winquest, one day told me and a few of my buddies a little
secret about the animation business- He told us that he had SIX college
degrees, and not one studio asked him to show one. It's all about talent
baby! And most of us believed it enough to quit college early and go out
into the 'real world' to find jobs.
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Right after Cal-Arts
was the hardest years for me. It was not the school's fault, but mine-
because I wanted to persue the live-action business. I did everything
that could to take me closer to my Hollywood dreams of becoming a film
director, writer, or producer- which ever came first. After two years
of being a drained Production Assistant and eating off of raman noodles
daily, I decided I had enough and should go back to what I went to school
for- which was animation. It was a big risk, but what do I have to loose?
I struggled at first, working odd jobs here and there, and looking for
any jobs related to animation. I assembled a new portfolio, got some contacts
from friends, and managed to get my first animated job- working on a Fruity
Pebbles commercial at Renagade Animation Studios. I was inbetweening Fred
Flinstone and boy, I was on cloud nine! Unfortunately I did not finish
the work because later that week Disney Feature Animation had called me
up to take the "Pochahotas" inbetweening test. So I made up
some excuse to return the Renagade work and started practicing for the
test. I later took the test and failed miserably! I was mad for two reasons:
1) I lost the chance to work at Renagade and 2) because they didn't teach
us inbetweeing at Cal-Arts- They only groomed their students to become
great animators. So I had to start all over again. Again I was back to
eating raman noodles and working at odd jobs. I later got some short freelance
jobs here and there at small commercial houses- And most of the time not
knowing what I was doing!
(I considered it like getting paid to learn. So if you have the opportunity of getting hired, but feel inexperienced- Go for it!) |
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Finally,
my big break came when I was working at a book store in Burbank, California,
when I saw an ad in the Hollywood Reporter during my break. The ad needed
an animation clean-up artist and it was only minutes away (in Glendale)
from where I worked. So I called them up and took my portfolio in for
an interview. The company was called 7th Level, a CD-Rom gaming company
that produces 2D animated games. At the interview they gave me an unexpected
2 hr drawing test. All I had to do was put down a nice clean line over
on top of the animator's rough drawing- that was easy enough for me. I
ended up getting the job and worked there for about 2 years. (The people
I worked with were former Don Bluth employees and that's where I developed
my feature drawing skills. We were producing CD-Rom games at a feature
film level!) One day, I remembered that my dream was to work for a feature
studio like Disney and working at 7th Level wasn't going to cut it. So
I took some art classes at night; Inbetweening, Beginning Animation, and
Figure drawing classes at a new local art school (called Associates In
Arts). This is where I really developed my drawing skills. And some of
the teachers were working professionals. Imagine that, many years after
Cal-Arts and I'm just getting it!) Now I'm really on fire and my goal
for working at the major studios was almost at reach! So I stratergized
and secretly took up some freelance animated jobs on the side to fill
up my resume. It's a good thing too, because 7th Level had some finacial
problems and we all eventually got laid off.
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After 7th Level, it wasn't
very hard for me to find another animated job because: 1) my porfolio
was full of new drawings from the night classes I took, and 2) my resume
was looking pretty good with all the moonlighting I did. In fact, I had
two job offers right away- 1) a Clean-up supervisor position at Baer Animation
Studios, or 2) to become John Krisfalucis' animating assistant (the creator
of Ren & Stimpy)- Naturally, I took the supervising job because it
was for a feature film and I would get my first feature film credit. The
film was for "Paramount Picture's: The Beautician And The Beast."
After the project, I decided to jump ship and use my supervising title
to get me into the major studios- and it worked! I got a key Assistant
Animator job offer from Warner Bros. Feature Animation. (The movie was
for "The Quest For Camelot".)
From then on, I've worked on full-length animated feature films ever since. Starting from Warner Bros., to Disney, then to Dreamworks, then back to Disney, then back to Dreamworks, then back to Warner Bros. again. That's how the industry works, hopping back and forth from studio to studio. Thankfully, I currently have 13 feature film credits and couldn't be more happier. Maybe I would have been at a studio much longer if I didn't sleep so much at my drawing desk! (He he- just kidding!) -TAo! |
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Hey there, By the way... The picture on the left
is just |