Sarah Blank is a freelance animator, compositor, designer and sometimes-writer/director. In the episode, we chatted with her about CG and live action compositing, Travel Oregon and user interfaces in VR. Links: Website: www.thesarahblank.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-blank-96062b11/ Travel Oregon: https://bit.ly/2N7dnfb NYU Tisch: http://…

Lisha Tan is a Creative Director at The Mill in Los Angeles, CA. In the episode, we chatted about The Story of O.J., reading YouTube comments and managing creative limitations as a director. Links: Portfolio: http://www.themill.com/portfolio/filter/collection/103/lisha-tan The Mill: http://www.themill.com/ Lilchotchke: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lil…

Wesley Louis is a Director at The Line Animation out of London, UK. In this episode, we talked about The Line’s team structure, hiring freelancers and Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit. Links: The Line: www.thelineanimation.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/librabear/?hl=en Tumblr: https://librabear.tumblr.com/ Blogspot: https://librabear.blo…

Manddy Wyckens is a director and designer at Studio AKA. In episode 57, we talk with her about giving direction, doing things she loves and finding a voice. Links: Website: https://www.manddywyckens.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wyckns Tumblr: http://manddywyckens.tumblr.com/ Studio AKA: https://www.studioaka.co.uk/ 99 Percent Lifestyle Intervi…

Handel Eugene is a motion designer and instructor for Mograph Mentor and Otis College. In the episode, we talked about his journey to Full Sail University, failure motivating success, and his obsession with documenting life. Links: Website: http://handeleugene.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/handel_eugene Spider-Man: Homecoming: https://vimeo.com…

Joe Russ is a director, illustrator, motion designer and one of the developers of indie game Jenny LeClue. On the episode, we talked about his transition from freelance motion design to game development, impostor syndrome, and the journey of making Jenny LeClue. Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mografi_Joe Jenny LeClue: http://jennyleclue.com/ J…

Tuna Bora is an illustrator, production designer, and content creator living in LA. On the episode, we talked about working with Nexus Studios, Hussein Chalayan, and getting out of your head.Links: Website: http://www.tunabora.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/tunamunalunaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tunamunaluna/Nexus Studios: https://nexus…

Alex Griendling is the co-owner of Lunar Saloon with his wife Meg. On the episode, we talked about movie posters, creative freedom, and making what you want. Links: Lunar Saloon: https://lunarsaloon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexgriendling Stardeck: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lunarsaloon/stardeck-space-grade-playing-cards MCAD: ht…

Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot joined us for episode 52. We talked about rising to expectations, Intercept, Star Trek lens flares, and relying on the talents of a team. Links: Website: http://www.videocopilot.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/videocopilot Element 3D: https://aescripts.com/element-3d/ Action Movie FX: https://apple.co/1kehsvC SENTiN…

Austin Mann is a travel photographer who is constantly on the move creating content for today’s best brands. He also founded Weld, a co-working space and community for creative pros. On the episode, we talk about fostering creative communities, how to face closed doors in your creative career and how to pitch yourself. Links: Website: http://austin…

Wesley Slover is the founder of Sono Sanctus, a sound design studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On the episode, we talk about Wesley’s music library, learning to think like a designer, and his love for game development. Links: Website: sonosanctus.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/SonoSanctus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wslover/ Marmoset Mus…

Ross Plaskow, is a freelance animator and creator of Meat Mysteries. Having worked with the likes of Google, Target, Disney XD, Hulu, and Facebook, he told us a little bit more about his university beginnings, falling into freelance and the London animation scene. Links: Website - www.rossplaskow.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/rossplaskow Instagram …

Daniela Negrín Ochoa and Iria López are the co-founders of Wednesday Studio based in London, UK. We talk about how they work together as a team, why they often exchange roles, and the importance of always having a personal project on hand. Links: Website - www.wearewednesday.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/WeAreWednesday Instagram - www.instagram.com…

Lana Simanenkova is an animator and designer at Animade in London, UK. On the episode we talked the Animade created program, Boords, gathering inspiration from tumblr, and the Estonian animation scene. Links : Website : http://lana.land/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/LanaSketch Animade : https://animade.tv/ Notes : -Animade -Character work -Talking…

Lauren Hartstone is a new staff creative director at Sibling Rivalry, having worked with a myriad of companies like Stardust, LoyalKasper, MTV, Imaginary Forces, and Gretel. On this week’s episode we talked about the pros and cons of being scatterbrained, how she approaches a pitch, pulling references, and the necessity of learning from other peopl…

Bee Grandinetti is an independent graphic designer, animator and illustrator who is currently working on a team at Google Creative Lab. On the episode, we talked about her consistent desire to learn, her love for small companies and working in her PJs, and how she manages to still be social while working so many hours. Links: Website: http://www.be…

Daniel Savage is a designer and director based in Los Angeles, CA. On the episode, we talked about his deep love for Instagram, why animation is best done in the context of a team, and the reason for mixed parts. Links: Website: http://somethingsavage.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/somethingsavage Motionographer Article: http://motionographer.com…

Joey Korenman is the founder of School of Motion and author of The Freelance Manifesto. During the episode, we talk about why and how he started School of Motion, a few tips from The Freelance Manifesto and his love for teaching, his kids and a short commute. Links: The Freelance Manifesto http://www.freelance.how/ School of Motion: https://www.sch…

On this week’s episode, we were live at Blend Fest 2017 with Andrew Kramer, Patrick Osborne and Erica Gorochow. During the panel, we talked about how originality is a byproduct of authenticity, how their is power in saying yes to something you may not be ready for and the importance of creating in new mediums. Links: Andrew’s website http://www.vid…

Ted & Adam are the founders of the NYC-based design and animation studio Block & Tackle. During the episode, we talk about what it’s like to work with FX, the difference between being fine artists and commercial artists, and how they balance the fear and unknown in projects. Links: Website: http://blockandtackle.tv/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/blo…

Ian & Nick are the founders of Gunner, a Detroit based animation and illustration studio. During the episode, we talk about their studio mantra “no bad frames,” how they attract good artists to their studio, and finding inspiration through old books. Links: Website: www.gunner.work Twitter: www.twitter.com/gunneranimation Highlights: -Six people - …

Dave Chenell is on the motion team at Google. During the episode, we talk about his love for designing games, his new found joy in creating music, and the importance of finishing and sharing your passion projects. Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/davechenell Website: thewaterbear.com Highlights: -Job at Google -Studied information studies -Faile…

Zac Dixon is the creative director at IV in Nashville, TN and also happens to be the host of this very podcast. During the conversation, our guest host, Jay Grandin, (creative director / owner of Giant Ant) and Zac talk about why he started Animalators, how he built up his studio in Nashville and his love for personal projects. Links: Twitter: twit…

On this week’s mini episode, Zac shares about our new Animalator product: limited edition t-shirts featuring the animalators designed by our guests. For our first t-shirt, we chose Justyna Stasik’s hermit crab (Ep. 36)! To check out the t-shirt go to iv.studio/store. Fifty percent of all the profits go to the artist, while the other half goes to he…

Linn Fritz is a designer and animator from Sweden, currently working at Buck in Sydney, Australia. During the episode, we talk about her experience at Hyper Island, the importance of being outside your comfort zone, and how she started Punanimation. Links: Website: www.linnfritz.com Twitter: twitter.com/linnfritz Buck:buck.tv/ Hyper Island: www.hyp…

Michelle & Chad are the owners of Yeah Haus a collaborative studio in Detroit, Michigan. During the episode, we talk about Michelle’s history in children's book illustration, a breakdown of their Short film: Victor, and the complex balance between work and life. Links: Website: http://yeahhaus.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/YeahHaus Short Film: …

Justyna Stasik is a Polish illustrator based in Montreal, Canada. During our conversation, we talked about her journey of developing her own style, how she begins personal projects and the importance of finding time for them in the midst of client work. Links: Website: http://www.justynastasik.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/birdiebrains Highligh…

Xoana Herrera is an artist at Buck, a production company in Los Angeles, CA. During our conversation, we talked about how she finds inspiration, what it’s like working for Buck and the importance of finding a unique voice and having courage as an artist. Links: Kyle Brushes: www.kylebrush.com/ Twitter: twitter.com/xoanaherrera_ Website: www.xoanahe…

Ed Barrett and Tom Judd are the founders of Animade, a studio based in London, England. During the episode, we talked about the pros and cons of pitching, their storyboard tool: Boords, and the importance of delegating. Links: Website - http://animade.tv/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/animadetv Boords - https://boords.com/ Highlights: -Co-founder an…

Agatha Yu is a mechanics designer at Oculus in San Francisco, California. During our conversation, we discussed her experience working at Adobe and Oculus, what it means to be a mechanics designer and the importance of tools and how they shape what we create. Links: Moonwalking with Einstein book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346975-moonwal…

Sarah Beth Hulver is a designer at Odd Fellows a creative studio based in Portland, OR. During our conversation, we discussed why she loves using social media, how she ended up at Odd Fellows, and her passion for encouraging women in the animation community. Links: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/wonderfall/ Website- http://www.sarahbethhulver…

Samuel Fast, Josef Andersson and Björn Johansson are the three founders of Brikk, an animation studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. During our conversation, we talked about how they navigate creative challenges, how they built their team and why it is important to stay curious. Links: Website- http://brikk.se/eng/ twitter- https://twitter.com/brikk_a…

Ryan Moore is a creative director at Gretel based in New York City. During our conversation we talked about how Gretel handles pitches, the process of boiling down a brand and how to anticipate the evolution of brands. Links: Website- http://gretelny.com IFC Case Study- http://gretelny.com/work/ifc/ Viceland- http://gretelny.com/work/viceland/ High…

Aharon Rabinowitz is the head of marketing for Red Giant based in New York City. During our conversation, we discussed the importance of work life balance, his start as a production intern at Sesame Street and why artist’s feel personally offended when you reject their work. Links: Red Giant- http://www.redgiant.com/ Website- http://allbetsareoff.c…

Luca and Ilenia are the founders of Illo, a studio based in Turin, Italy. During our conversation, we discussed their self-driving video bot named Algo, how Illo was formed and how they’ve crafted a unique office culture. Links: Website- http://illo.tv Twitter- https://twitter.com/illotv Vimeo- https://vimeo.com/illo Algo- algo.illo.tv Highlights: …

John Schlemmer is a motion lead at Google in Mountain View, California. During the conversation, we talked about team dynamics between animators and developers, how to create the best possible user experiences through animation and the importance of finding the best solution not just the fastest. Links: Twitter- https://twitter.com/johnschlemmer We…

Seth Worley is a resident filmmaker at visual effects software maker Red Giant and the director and writer of short films. During the conversation, we discussed the importance of making client projects your own, learning how to pace and structure story development and how to receive negative feedback on the work you create. Links: Website- http://w…

Kirsten Lepore is a director and animator based in Los Angeles, CA. During this week's episode, we talked about how Kirsten is learning the art of appreciation, the specifics behind her Adventure Time episode and how photography has influenced her stop-motion. Links: Website- http://www.kirstenlepore.com/ Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/kirstenl…

Ryan Summers is a freelance animator based in Los Angeles, CA. During the conversation, we discussed the how to network, balancing budgets in a project, and the importance of always adapting and learning in the industry. Links: Website- http://ryansummers.net/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/Oddernod http://tjpeters.ca/tj-dailies Highlights: -Comic Bo…

Daniel Chester, Dave Prosser and Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits are the founders of Moth Collective based in London, England. During our conversation, we talked about their start at Royal College of Art, the fight for a good story and what it was like to pitch The Guardian. Links: Website: http://mothcollective.co.uk/ The Last Job on Earth The G…

Michael Jones is the founder of MoGraph Mentor based in Bend, Oregon. During our conversation, we talked about the power of visual journalism, the ins and outs of MoGraph mentor and the future of art education. Links: Website: http://michael-jon.es/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelJones7 MoGraph Mentor: http://www.mographmentor.com/ Highlights:…

Andrew Vucko is a freelance design director and animator based in Toronto. During the show, we talked about how Dance Dance Revolution changed his life, his personal project: Original, and the challenges in posting work for the world to see. Links: Website- http://vucko.tv/ YouTube Gaming- http://vucko.tv/portfolio/youtube-gaming Original Short- ht…

Erin Sarofsky is the owner and executive creative director of Sarofsky based in Chicago, IL. During our conversation, we dove into her process and workflow habits, how she began her company, and what it is like to work on projects with Marvel. Links: Website- http://sarofsky.com/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/Sarofsky Art of the Title article- http:…

Claudio Salas is an independent animator, director and designer based in London. During our conversation, we talk about the tension of being a generalist or a specialist, how to collaborate within the animation community, and a few of Claudio’s latest projects. Links: Website- http://www.claudiosalas.com/ Childline Project- http://www.claudiosalas.…

Phil Borst is the lead motion designer at Spread Truth based in Normal, IL. During our conversation, we discussed how to balance two jobs and a family, learning to perfect camera movements, composition and scene layouts, and the importance of getting feedback from other artists. Links: Vimeo www.vimeo.com/philborst Ligonier https://vimeo.com/157529…

Aaron Ray is one of the founders of Legwork studio based in Denver, Colorado. During our conversation, we talked about how the studio got started, the ins and outs of creative project management, and the importance of having creative outlets. Links: Website http://www.legworkstudio.com/ Twitter https://twitter.com/aaronjray Animated Storytelling ht…

Rachel Yonda is the seniorgraphics producer for The Late Late Show with James Corden based inLos Angeles, California. During the conversation, we discussed hertransition from television to freelance and back to television, howto escape creative dry spells and where to go for creativeinspiration. Links: Website: rachelyonda.com Twitter: twitter.com/…

Greg Gunn is a creative director at Blind studios based in Los Angeles, California. During the episode we talked about the importance of creative weightlifting, the pros and cons of art school and the importance of developing and sharpening ideation skills. Links: Mythical Mondays: https://vimeo.com/151205483 Website: http://www.ggunn.com TLDR: htt…

Chris Kelly is a creative director and co-owner of Odd Fellows, a sateen design and motion studio in San Francisco, CA. During this episode we discuss how Odd Fellows grew into the company it is today, the role of Creative Director, the advantages of blending styles on a project, and the difficulties of making the transition from artist to manager.…

Marcus Eckert is a programmer and motion designer based in Oslo, Norway. During this episode, we discuss Wide Sky, taking negative feedback, where to start when learning code languages and the importance of developing new skills and improving on the old skills. Links: Website: http://www.marcuseckert.com/ Squall: http://www.marcuseckert.com/squall/…