I jump at the chance for some cyber socializing considering I'm an animator, and animation is an extremely isolating job...even when you're in a room with a team of other animators. You mostly stay isolated in your own little world with earphones on pumping dialogue into your ears as you lip sync, key frame and work your way through a tediously painstaking scene at 30 frames per second. As many of you on here, I'm a multi-discipline entertainment professional: I'm a Director, writer, actor, producer animator. I'm a recent recipent of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for a feature animated film I wrote/directed/produced on BET Network last year. Before launching out on my own to start my own creative development/animation company, I served as Senior Animation Director for TBS for 10 years. I directed commercials and on-air content for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim mostly. After leaving Turner Broadcasting to start my own gig, after I completed my flagship feature for BET, I got the opportunity to start writing/producing and directing an animated Webseries for the National Institute of Health. It was great to do something episodic after so much time doing shorter form commericial projects, but it was also a great deal of work. In addition to the demands of the NIH webseries, I began writing and pitching more original stuff of my own to other networks, and working on an original pilot an animated project I had rolling around my head for a while. It meant burning the candles at both ends...working like crazy on the out-of-house projects and then clocking out and clocking back in on my own projects into the wee hours of the night. Over the past four years on my own my social life has been literally non-existant, but it seems like the sacrifice and hard work has paid off. I just got my original pilot greenlighted for a major Network. I'll share more about it later after the deal firms up and goes through (nothing is official until the ink dries, right?), but I'm really excited about the opportunity I'm being given to do a passion project. I write all of this to say, this industry is hard and difficult, unfair and sometimes it seems that commercial success is damn near unobtainable...but keep digging. Keep dreaming. Keep making art and pursuing your goals and ultimately fairytales do come true. Here's to pixie dust!
Introduce Yourself : Hello Stage32ers by Jai Husband
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Nice to meet you! Congrats on all of your success! Nice to know hard work pays off. I'm a V.O. artist and actress, wouldn't mind connecting with some animators...
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Great to make your e-quaintance, Stephanie. I'd definitely love to hear your demo reel...I've always got my ear out for unique talent. I actually just hired a guy who was my server at a fav local resataurant I frequent. He came to refill my tea, I heard his voice and asked him to schedule an audition. I hired him and he's now part of the cast of my new project. You never know where talent and opportunites lie!
Many creative endeavors take place in isolation, Jai. That's why it's so important to have a supportive network of fellow creatives. Think you'll find exactly that here on 32. Great to have you in the community!
Jai, I just loaded my V.O. demo reel on here this evening. It's under my Reels Section on my profile. I will try to figure out how to post it directly in this thread. Thanks for wanting to listen!
http://www.stage32.com/video/701436105181898099
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There, I think that link will work as well. Thanks again!
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Thanks Stephanie. I will give it a listen and inbox you my feedback. Best!
Alle, I'm sure there are animation studios with diverse cultures...I remember working at Disney Feature Animation was extremely social, but it was also a huge "machine" of a company with mass compartmentalization. At smaller studios (like my former employer, Turner Studios/Cartoon Network in Atlanta, we were not so compartmentalized. Fewer animators had to "do it all" as opposed to "just inbetween" or "just clean-up" or "just keys." ...that's not to say that larger studios didn't have their "crunch" times when one much hunker down and close off to get the footage quotas, but with fewer crew and smaller budgets, we were cranking out projects to capacity and there just wasn't much time for socialization. Even if you worked right next to someone as opposed to being isolated in an office alone, you were typically "lip syncing" your own scene and thusly fitted with earphones to scrub through your dialogue...earphones that made you seem a million miles from even a person sitting next to you...and all this 10 to 12 hours a day under constant deadlines...so...to answer your "not quite sure it's a question as opposed to comparing your experience to mine," that's why I feel isolated when I'm animating. I'm actually in an office suite right now with four animators: all of us are wearing earphones engrossed in our scenes and it's been dead-quite all day...I'm a very glad to know your experience has been different...but clearly we aren't all so lucky.