How and Why did your journey into animation begin?
I think my original love for animation started when I was really young. I used to watch a lot of animated films as a kid growing up and the love never really dwindled. Some of my favorite earlier films were Akira, The animated Hobbit movie, and Hoomania. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I really started to practice and aspire to be an animation filmmaker. I had played around with being in different fields like engineering and graphic design. I finally found myself creating 3D models for video game experiences and then got really tired working digitally. This led me to start working with sculpture and then ultimately wanting to make my sculpture pieces move, to make them come alive. I made my first animated stop motion film at the end of my undergraduate studies at Indiana University, and have been making films ever since.
What are your sources of inspirations
I find many sources of inspiration and I love a lot of the animated films that are out there. Looking back I realize how much films like Akira had an impact on me as an animator and filmmaker. But as I grew as an artist I really started looking for inspiration anywhere I could find it. Some of the artists I find myself continuously looking to are Goya, Švankmajer, Pink Floyd, David Lynch, the Surrealist, and the whole history of painting and its many periods. I am also heavily inspired by some of the absurdities of everyday life and some of my own observations of watching people as I am out in the world. There is just so much to see and view that I can help used what I observe as a tool to inspire my films.
Tell Us about your creative process
My process is a bit all over the place. I don’t sit down and write a script typically, I usually start by just gestating ideas in my head and then doing quick sketching and storyboards of these ideas. I tend to focus on the character I want to create, and the creation of these characters usually informs the stories that I want to set them in. Sometimes these stories come from real-life experiences, sometimes they come from the stories I had the pleasure of hearing about, sometimes they’re just absurd things that I come up with in my head. Once I find a narrative that I like or want to convey, I then put it down in the form of a storyboard, and from there I start to build and create the physical world that these characters will inhabit. Then I shoot and hope I have something solid to work with at the end.
What bores you and what inspires you
I get really bored with the editing process and final moments of completing a film. I am usually ready to just move on by the time I get to that point and really need to push myself to sit down and finish everything.
I love the puppet-building process. Sculpting and building the character makes them really come alive for me and this is the part of the process that I seem to be able to really focus on every aspect of the film. In a lot of ways this part is meditative for me, I can really think when I am focusing on just working with my hands, and the creation of new ideas seems to flow much more smoothly while doing so.
How would you define the animation scene not linked to big brands? Is there an audience? What channels do you use to post and reach as many viewers as possible?
The Independent animation scene seems to be flourishing at the moment! There are many wonderful animations coming out these days that it is impossible to keep up with everything. There are so many platforms available now for people outside of the mainstream media umbrella that it just feels like people can create and exhibit on a scale that hasn’t been available previously. That being said I am really terrible about using Social Media as a tool for sending out my work and getting eyes on it. I really commend those artists who understand the system and can get that type of engagement but it is just too much additional work for me so I just post things when I get bored and then rely on just submitting my films to festivals to get people to see them. Probably not the best strategy but I am not cool enough to keep up with the various trends need to get social media levels of engagement.
New projects in the pipeline?
I have a new film coming along! The animation is almost done with just a few sets left to go! Hopefully a release to come soon!
