Episode list

For our first interview of the series, we spoke with animation veteran Richard Lico (Principal Animator at Bungie Studios). Over his fifteen year career, Lico has worked on eleven published games including X-Men: Legends, Condemned 2: Blood Shot, Halo 3:ODST and Halo: Reach. Lico was Senior Art Lead for Bungie's latest game; Destiny.

For our second episode of the series, we sat down with animation veteran Jason Ryan (Animation Director at Cinesite Montreal). Jason's animation career started in the realm of 2D animation in Europe. He then developed his skills to become a 3D animator at the prestigious Walt Disney Studios on 'Fantasia 2000'. During his 12 years at Disney, Jason has evolved from an Animator to a Supervising Animator on projects such as 'Magic Lamp' and 'Chicken Little'. He then moved on to work at Dreamworks Animation to supervise on projects such as 'Monsters vs Aliens', 'Shrek Forever After', 'Megamind' and 'Madagascar 3'.

In our third interview of the series, we spoke with animation veteran Eamonn Butler (Head of Cinesite Animation Division). Eamonn started his feature career at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a CG animator. There he worked on Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, and Chicken Little. Eammon has since transferred to the world of VFX animation and has been an Animation Supervisor on such movies as Iron Man II, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hellboy II, John Carter and Edge of Tomorrow. With a career spanning over 22 years, Eamonn has a wealth of knowledge and it was great to have him share some of it with us.

For our fourth interview, we spoke with Jalil Sadool (Former Lead Animator at Weta Digital and Dreamworks Animation) who has worked in the film industry as an animator for over 10 years. He started his career in the VFX industry on 'The Chronicles of Narnia', 'Night at the Museum' and 'Garfield 2'. He then moved to New Zealand to work as a Senior Animator and Lead Animator on amazing projects such as 'The Water Horse', 'Avatar', 'The Adventures of Tintin' and 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'. After years in the VFX industry, Jalil switched to feature animation at Dreamworks Animation where he worked on 'Rise of the Guardians' and was a Character Lead on 'How to Train your Dragon 2'.

In our fifth interview of the series, we spoke with animation veteran Jeremy Collins (Senior Animator II at Blizzard Entertainment). For the past 3 years, he has been working on the well know 'World of Warcraft' games. Prior to his game animation work, Jeremy as excelled as an animator in numerous feature films such as 'Tangled', 'Arthur Christmas', 'Alice In Wonderland', 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' and 'I Am Legend', just to name a few. He is very passionate and knowledgeable about his craft. It was a pleasure to talk with him.

For our 6th interview, we spoke with Senior Animator and Lead Previz Artist; James Bennett (CCO & Co-Founder of Zerply). He has more than 15 years of experience in the industry as an animator on many blockbusters such as Avatar, the Hobbit, King Kong, Iron Man 2, How to Train your Dragon 2 and Madagascar 3. Throughout his career, he has worked at studios such as ILM, Dreamworks Animation and Weta Digital. This made for a great interview full of insights about the industry and the art of animation.

For episode seven of the series, we spoke with the amazingly talented Aaron Gilman (Animation Supervisor at Weta Digital). For the past 15 years, Aaron has worked as a Senior, Lead and Animation Supervisor on some of the biggest blockbusters in the movie industry including 'The Avengers', 'The Hobbit Trilogy', 'Godzilla', 'Iron Man 3' and 'Avatar'. He also ventured into the world of video game development as an Animation Director for Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. Aaron is extremely knowledgeable and it was enlightening to talk with him about his craft.

For episode eight of the series, we spoke with Gunnar Hansen (Freelance VFX Supervisor). Gunnar has over 30 years of experience in the Animation and Visual Effects industry, including 18 feature films and more than 80 completed commercials to his credits. He has worked on projects such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Riddick, The Grey and Quantum of Solace. He is also a founding partner of three successful visual effects companies: FX Cartel, Voodoo Arts and Buzz. It was a pleasure to talk with him about his impressive career and passion for animation and visual effects.