Start: Liz Bernard

Studio: Digital Domain

School(s):

• University of Virginia '04
  B.A., Theatre
• Animation Mentor '10
  Character Animation
• Animation Mentor '11
  Animal and Creature Animation

When I was a little girl, I watched the Loony Tunes pretty much nonstop. I loved Daffy and Bugs, and I developed a pretty spot-on impression of Sylvestre the Cat's "thuffering thuccotash!", but my favorite was Wile E. Coyote. I watched those little cinematic desert farces so many times that I had the comedic beats memorized. Wile E.'s creativity and perseverance, his self confidence in his zany plans, and his optimism in the face of adversity all left an indelible mark on 8-year-old me. So, at age 11, after plastering my walls with drawings of my favorite characters, and saving up my allowance money to buy Chuck Jones' autobiography, I announced to my parents that I was going to be an animator. They were not surprised. Both are graphic designers, and they had been feeding my artistic habits with unlimited art supplies from their studio. The local community art centre was offering a Basics of Animation class, and my parents signed me up.

You might think that my path to a career in animation would be pretty direct given my early clarity and focus. But no...

Unlike so many of my peers who found their inspiration to become animators in Pixar's groundbreaking Toy Story, which came out when I was a teenager, I saw CG animation as the beginning of the end of traditional hand drawn animation. This made me very sad, and eventually steered me to try other artistic avenues, including theatrical lighting design, which is what I studied in college. I worked as a lighting designer and technician for several years in a variety of venues (opera, pro wrestling, political events, Shakespeare plays, etc), but found myself losing enthusiasm as the reality of making a living doing theatre sunk in. It was at that point that I was presented with the opportunity to go abroad and work in West Africa for two years. I jumped at the chance, and divided my attention between a part-time job at the Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and my photography business. I was self taught, and although I loved the artistic expression photography allowed me, I did not enjoy the constant search for new clients, the self-promotion, or the stress of running my own business. So, when I returned to the USA, I found myself not sure what to do next.

In 2008, adrift and living in Washington DC, I stumbled on the Animation Mentor website...as I researched the school a little more, I realized that maybe my childhood dream wasn't so childish; maybe it was a really great idea! CG animation and visual effects heavy films were exploding in popularity...maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find a job when I was done! Although my drawing skills were rusty, I was pretty quick to pick up computery things, and I knew from years of photo editing and doing complex origami that I had the patience to focus on something as detail oriented as animation. I love cartoons and movies, and have always skewed geeky (Who's got two thumbs and loves Star Trek? This girl!), so it seemed like an excellent fit. I signed up. I worked a full time job at the National Archives, and did my AM assignments on the weekends. It was a grueling schedule, but I think that having so little time each week to complete my homework meant that I became a faster and more efficient animator than I would have become otherwise.

My experience at AM started out kind of rough. I struggled at first and even failed the first time I took the Intro to Acting class. Taking that course a second time was when a lot of things like spacing and overlap really clicked for me. I started seeing beautiful arcs everywhere around me, and found myself totally fascinated by the way the animals moved at the zoo (humans included). I found it easy to lose myself in my animation assignments, spending hours and hours glued to my screen.

I completed my short film in class 6 --it's about a naked guy who accidentally gets locked out of his hotel room-- and then I started looking for work after graduation, but none of the studios I applied to were biting. When AM offered me the chance to pilot test their brand new Animals and Creatures class when it debuted in the winter of 2011, I jumped at the chance. I thought the A&C course was going to give my reel a unique edge, but it did so much more than that: it taught me that my true passion lies in animating animals. I still love to watch slapstick animation, but what I really love to animate myself is animals, the more physical the shot, the better. My final project was animating a 250 frame shot of a big cat taking down a dragon. It was pretty ambitious, but I loved finessing the physical details, adding little imperfections into the finished product. Creature animation, I could tell, was where I wanted to be.

At this point, it was really starting to sink in just how incredibly competitive the industry is. It seemed like the only fellow classmates of mine who were finding work were already experienced animators who had taken AM to improve on their skills. Those of us who had started from scratch were out of luck.

When I was feeling low about my job hunt and the state of the industry, my mentor Nicole Herr gave me some very frank advice. She said that, in addition to a great reel, you need two things in order to find a job as an entry level animator: a) you need to be where the jobs are, and b) you need to have some --any-- paid experience as an animator. Timing is important also...if a given studio isn't hiring, then no matter how good your reel is, you're not going to get a job there.

To fulfill item A, I realized I needed to move; Washington DC isn't exactly an entertainment hub. My boyfriend had recently been accepted to a PhD program at the University of British Columbia, and Vancouver seemed to have a lot of animation work, so in the summer of 2011, he and I took the plunge and moved across the country to BC. We arrived just before SIGGRAPH, and I immediately started applying to all of the studios in the area. I felt optimistic because many of the studios I talked to at SIGGRAPH said they would be hiring, but several months later...crickets. I was feeling pretty low at that point. Mentors and friends assured me that my reel was good and said, "don't take it personally" and I tried not to, but it was starting to feel like Wile E. Coyote...I just couldn't catch a break.

In the meantime, another mentor of mine offered me a remote temporary gig working on the Animal Planet show, "Finding Bigfoot." It was only about 6 seconds of Sasquatch (sorry, folks: spoiler alert) on the small screen, but it was enough for me to put a new line on my resume. Just a month or so after I reapplied to a few studios and let them know that I had landed that remote gig, I started getting nibbles from studios. Suddenly, I had three promising interviews in one week! One of those was with Digital Domain, one of the best studios in the world for realistic visual effects. Digital Domain was up there with ILM and Weta as one of those dream studios that I hoped to work at sometime in the distant future, after I had cut my teeth at a local television or commercial studio for several years first. When they offered me a three month gig on Jack the Giant Slayer, I was over the moon! After over a year and a half of looking, I finally got my big break. Wile E. smiled.

Three months was just the beginning. I am still animating at Digital Domain, having just wrapped up a full year of work on Ender's Game. I started on my fourth feature film this past Monday, Disney's Maleficent. I am very happy at DD, and I still wake up every day excited to go to work. Getting to this point took years of training in which I had hardly any free weekends, and then an incredibly demoralizing period of time desperately trying to land my first break... It wasn't easy, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but the most passionate aspiring animators, but now I get to do what I love every day with some of the most awesome people I've ever met, and that is worth all of the lost weekends, the tedium, the exhaustion, all of it. Sometimes I have to work seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day. Sometimes it's boring, or frustrating, and the last thing I want to do is animate. But seeing a character or creature come to life in my shot is the most gratifying expression of my artistic self that I have ever experienced.

Advice for future animators:

If you are nice to everyone and show enthusiasm for what you do, people will want you to succeed, and will help you do it.

Start: Casey McDermott

Studio:

●     Blizzard Entertainment

School(s):  

●     Gnomon School of Visual Effects; 

●     AnimationMentor.com; 

●     The Animation Collaborative

My name is Casey McDermott, and I like to call myself an animator.  Lets jump right into WHY animation.  Why would anyone choose a craft that takes so long to master(if mastering is even possible)?  A craft that when you start it becomes your whole life, in and out of work.  Anything I see in motion or in pose or even inanimate, I can't help but think to myself, “I can use that someday!” 

Since I could remember I would (and still do) run around in my batman pajamas, cape included, and act out crime fighting scenes alongside the TV with Adam West.  I would watch Pinocchio three times a day, and every time Monstro would come on, I would gather everyone in my family and lead them by the hands all the while yelling the words, “Mon, Monstro,” which obviously means, “COME ON GUYS, MONSTRO IS ON TV RIGHT NOW LETS WATCH THIS!.”  It was quite obvious I have an infatuation with playing characters and imagination.  So much so, that one time my mom dropped me off at daycare as one Casey McDermott, but when she came to pick said “Casey McDermott,” you better believe there was not a single Casey McDermott at that daycare!  There was, however, a Peter Vankman (from Ghostbusters), as I told (and convinced!) everyone that was my name.

   I didn't have a normal childhood, but really who did?  Half of my family were artists.  My mom was ink and paint at Disney and Hanna Barbera, and she worked alongside her mom and aunt who were also Ink and Paint artists at Hanna Barbera, Disney, and Filmation.  My other Aunt and Uncle also worked at Disney in the animation and effects departments, respectively.  My dad was and still is a contractor, but has built some amazing and breathtaking homes and structures, some of which I have had the great fortune of growing up in.  I was surrounded by constant creativity and support.  My family loved and still loves getting dressed up for ren fairs, pirate fairs, halloween, christmas, and any other sort of occasion that allows for it.  We all love to pretend.

            So of course I would grow up doing art right?!  Wrong.  By the time I hit 10 years old, art was the furthest thing from my mind.  All I wanted to do was be a baseball player.  It’s all I knew about and cared about.  But I still loved to pretend.  I pretended every day that I was a professional baseball player, playing in front of screaming fans booing and cheering, sweat dripping, muscles tight and me fighting the tightness to keep them loose, the smell of chalk, dirt, and grass stains infusing together to create the unique aroma that maybe only baseball players can understand.  There I was, stepping up to the plate in the bottom of the 9th, the score all tied up, and one swing away from making history and winning a championship.  It was always so vivid in my head.  Even though I was playing baseball, I really believe that this mindset has helped me today.  I don't like to start working until I can see what I want in my head.  I always want a vivid image and aesthetic so I know what I am striving for.

  In college I wound up ramming my knee into a pole during a game and cracking my patellar and tearing my medial and lateral meniscus.  I was in an “immobilizer” for 9 months and additional 4 months of physical therapy afterwards.  This was a very hard time in my life, thinking I was done with my dream and coming to terms with it.  I attended a Junior College in Chico California (this is also where I met my lovely wife) during the time my leg was in an immobilizer and I started taking “3D multimedia classes” to get my mind off of my nonexistent sports career.  With some great inspiration and support from teachers there I learned that I could make a new living with “multimedia.”  All of a sudden my passion for baseball started to shift to animation and multimedia.

            My brother in law, who is an editor, told me of a Production Assistant internship for the summer at Sony Computer Entertainment America.  With a little good fortune, and some good recommendations, I got the internship.  While I was there I got to be a part of all aspects of game development, from the art side with Maya, to production side with directors and project leads, and finally I got to do a little voice over work.  It was this summer I knew for a fact what I wanted to do for a job.  While at SCEA, I asked what schools were best to further my education.  They all said Gnomon was the top school at the time.  I applied there thinking nothing of rejection.  Then I learned they only accept 24 students a year.  I had a very puny art portfolio and they saw that in my 1 on 1 interview with the school board.  All I remember is when I left my interview, i confidently said, “I am excited to come here,” and “See you in August.”  Maybe I tricked them into thinking they had already accepted me. 

Gnomon was a great experience and taught all aspects of CG and art, more of a generalist course at the time.  I wouldn't trade my experience there for the world.  Working with a such a small class size, with individuals who all had different fields that they wanted to specialize in made it fantastic for collaboration.  2 weeks after graduating, and some guidance from some mentors of mine at Gnomon, I had the great opportunity to start working at Rhythm & Hues, and a week after that I started attending AnimationMentor.

Ignorantly enough, I thought this would be easy to attend school and work at the same time.  Well the production schedule is very unforgiving and became very jealous at the fact I was also attending school.  I wound up having to take a leave of absence from AnimationMentor.  Well worth it.  However, the entire time I worked at Rhythm & Hues questioned everything I did and looked at everyone’s gorgeous work, which put me into some despair.  I did not feel adequate at all, in fact I felt like I knew nothing (Jon Snow).  The first dailies I attended were very eye opening.  One animator, (also a friend, peer, and mentor to me) by the name of Jeff, presented work so beautiful that it looked like dancing.  He had beautiful texture and timing, with great hand and finger flourishes, and the dialogue was so clear and appealing, I was sick to my stomach.  I didn't take lunch for 2 months, in hopes that during that extra hour, I might get better or learn something to make my hideous animation not stand out like a sore thumb.  However, during my time there I sat next to 3 incredibly talented artists and animators, including Jeff, that helped shape me with honest feedback and support.

After my contract ended, I thought it best to go back to AnimationMentor to learn again.   At the end of school I picked up some freelance gigs from some studios such as BrainZoo and MPC, along with several others, for little 3 to 6 month gigs.  Animating at as many studios early in your career I think is a great way to learn, not only about the studios, but about yourself.  It is sort of like the dating scene, in my opinion.  You have to date around a bit to see what you like and don't like, and until you find studios that fit you as a person and as an artist.

That is how I got started.  The reason WHY I animate is that I love to create, imagine and pretend.  It is in these callow fantasies that I really feel comfortable and free (as ridiculous as that sounds).  For anyone who has made it this far in the story I have some words of advice.  Firstly, whenever anyone ever asks me “should I get into animation?” my answer is NO, the fact that you even ask that question means this is probably not the medium for you.  As I tell my students, animation takes a certain type of patients that many people do not retain.  Hell, I question if I am patient enough.  And to reiterate, you will be animating at work for 8-12 hours a day, then you will come home and animate more, or see things you want to animate, or be inspired to animate, or depressed that you don't know how to animate, or be thirsty for more animation.  Your average work day is not enough to quench that thirst. 

Secondly, with schools nowadays attempting to make animation look very fun and bubbly, I say, don’t be fooled.  Yes, animation can be fun, but by god is it frustrating.  See through the facade, and realize that these bubbly personalities are, for the most part, business’ advertising.  No, we do not all act this way.  Schools will not make you great.  They will give you great information, but in the end, you have to do the work to make it successful.

Thirdly, keep a vivid imagination.  It’s ok to pretend, in fact, it's encouraged.  Always plan out your shots thoroughly, being sure to be proud of what's in your head before you put it on paper, or in a CG program.  “Fail early and fail often.”  Collaborate your ideas early and often, show early and often and get ready to fail.  It’s the only way we learn and get better, and by collaborating with others, you will be absolutely amazed at how much your craft and storytelling can soar.

Lastly, stay passionate and thirsty.  The reason why we have chosen this art form is because we are passionate about telling a story through it, and letting the viewer see a piece of us.  It is a very vulnerable feeling and you MUST grow a tough skin in order to grow.  Love what you do, even when you hate it.  It’s important to feel proud of something you have created, but don't be satisfied, keep chasing the next big thing. 

Thank you for your time, and hopefully this is useful to anyone who reads it.  Hopefully someday our paths may cross.  Best of luck in all of your personal careers, and “keep animating,”  or don’t... it’s up to you, if you want to that is, of course...!  :]

-C

One Word of Advice for Future Animators: 

Leave your ego at the door so that you're not married to any 1 idea, because the best idea can come from anywhere/anyone!