Live Q&As

This is my first Google Doodle!  I'm not sure how many animators or designers they have on staff at Google, but the team I worked with was great.

Little bit of both.  The computer is fast to work in, but sometimes the tactile experience of paper is necessary.  I'd love to be in a gallery one day if someone will actually do it.  I did my first gallery show in January and it was really great. Maybe more of that in the future.  Who knows.

Hi Jazz.  Since I was a kid.  There were never any other options for me.  I always loved comic books, animation and just plain geeky stuff.  

I'm not sure what kind of stipulations they have.  They are big fans of Martha Graham and asked me to do this, and how could I say no?  They were fantastic and really allowed me to be creative.

Thanks for the compliment.  I don't really consider myself very talented.  I look at other artists and animators that I aspire to and those are the guys I'm trying to be like.  I don't suppose an artist actually ever gets to the point where they think they're talented.  The moment they do, then the learning stops and they become stagnant.  Whoa, that's kind of profound!

I think it's all fixed now.  The amount of sudden traffic caught me off guard and my hosting service.  Check them now though.  

Yeah, I love the cintiq.  It's a really fast way to animate.  I also use a lot of After Effects for the compositing and right now I'm really looking into Toon Boom as my animating software instead of Flash.  But the reality is, I miss flipping the paper.  I miss my sore right arm from flipping paper. :)

Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica (the old ones), Gi-Joe, all those great things that keep the imagination and creativity flowing.

It all depends on the idea.  I have big plans to make a feature one day.  That'll take years.  But I also have this crazy little idea picking at my brain for a 30 second short that should only take a couple months.  It's all a matter of free time, ya know?  Cause there's always a million other things that get in the way.

Yes, I used Flash, but I don't use it like most people do.  For me its just a digital pen and paper.  I still write out my timing charts and do things the old fashon way.  I don't use scripting or really any tweening cause I like to be able to do all the drawings.  It's a bit teedious, I know, but I like it that way.

It always starts with an idea.  Something that inspires me and then I try to visualize the whole thing out first.  Then I try to figure out how to do it.  It may be with computer software or it might not be.  But that thinking time is really critical for me.

Hey Cheryl!  Good to hear from you.  Strange in a venue like this, but still good.  I suppose it's the ideas that have the most impact on me.  The ideas that you can't seem to get out of your head no matter what you do are the ones that will stick!  I know you have them in there too.

They contacted me back in March and it was absolute coincidence that the Martha Graham Dance Company was coming out here to perform only two weeks away from that first phone call.  A really "twilight zone" coincidence.  We met up when they were here and choreographed the dance with a fabulous dancer.  Then I drew like a mad dog!

I like Flash to animate in.  After Effects to composite.  But I'm really looking into Toon Boom these days.  Paper animating is always a plus, but the digital drawing seems to go so much faster.

I always like the exploration process to be on paper.  But when it comes to actually getting the job done, digital seems to be the most effective for me.  It's just faster.  And yes, I draw them directly on the cintiq.  

I hope so.  I have the whole thing sitting in crates waiting for some Gallery to want to show it.  I suppose if I had more time I'd actually go out and try to find a gallery, but my salesman efforts on that end had to get cut due to too much other work.  Hopefully, I can get back full swing into that arena cause I really do like the independent artist stuff.

Kristen sounds like a very sweet girl.  Go for it!!!

Yes.  And happily at that.  With three kids that serve as huge inspirations to me.

The process is very fluid and it changes a lot.  I obviously film the dancer in a lot of different ways and costumes.  I want to really get a feel for the move and the energy - that helps me to then think about the animation and what I can introduce to make it even more powerful.  I have to use live dancers for reference cause I'm not a dancer (at least my wife tells me so), so I don't know the proper technique like they do.  The collaboration between the dancers and the animator is really a great one.  I do play it back on a screen, over and over and over until I really understand what's happening.

The old guys!  I love the old Disney animators that had no idea what crazy process they were pioneering.  Today, we have animators reference that go back a hundred years, but they were looking at real life and trying to solve the illustion of life with a pencil. Absolute pioneers!

Big time.  I love to be around the passion that students have.  It keeps me wanting to create and invent all the time instead of just paying the bills.  I have a lot of freedom to explore artistic avenues here at the school and that is something I highly value.  

I think that every artist/animator needs to follow what they are passionate about.  If they are passionate about 3d, then that is exactly where they should go.  The same goes for any form of art or any part of the animation process.  The trick is figuring out what that passion is and always strive to compromise with other influences.  At the end of the day, when you're in your death bed and your family is looking at you, you want to say to them that you followed your dreams.

No it doesn't really bother me.  It's part of the process. I liek to call the disposable art.  It's so fun to be a part of the process of these films that it's no bother that they all get trashed in the end.  The ideas stick and that pretty cool to claim that

Keep a sketchbook and draw from life.  Your life makes you a better creator and animator.  documenting your life in a sketchbook gives you that connection and resource.  

Just don't be afraid to fail.  In fact, I expect it every time.  When I did Thought Of You, I let it sit in my computer for 4 months before I put it on the web, cause I didn't think it was that good and no one would like it.  Seriously.  I had other projects in the past that failed, so I wasn't too worried about it.  But you just have to do it, or that craving will start to eat you alive.

Awesome.  I'm glad you've had a little spark of life this morning.  I suppose that's the real goal of most artists - to touch individuals one way or another.  Thanks for sharing, single mom from Texas!  Keep the stars big and bright!