Episodes
In our 100th podcast we interview Director & animator Lino DiSalvo. Lino DiSalvo is an accomplished artist in the animation industry, with a career spanning almost 17 years at Disney Feature Animation, DiSalvo has contributed to numerous notable projects. He served as the Head of Animation for the successful film Frozen and was a supervising animator on Tangled and Bolt.
Published 05/11/23
Published 05/11/23
In our 99th podcast we interview Animation Lead Ron Smith. Ron has been working in the animation industry for over 25 years. The majority of his career has been comprised of character animation at the feature level where he has worked at such studios as Blue Sky, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Reel FX, as well as Big Idea Production. He's worked on such titles as Tangled, Surf's Up, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, and The Peanuts Movie. But as of January 2022, he...
Published 05/11/23
n our 98th podcast we interview Animation Supervisor Marco Foglia. Marco has been teaching here in our creature animation workshops for the last five years and has had a passion for animated films and video games since he was 8. He never thought to get into animation himself until he saw Jurassic Park when he was 14. It inspired him to try to bring characters to the big screen and he started working towards that goal.
Published 05/11/23
In our 97th podcast we interview Valentin Amador, a supervising animator at Walt Disney animation studios. Valentin was born in Cadiz, Spain, and wanted to be a Disney animator since he was a kid. In 2012, he was hired by Disney to work on their box office giant, Frozen. He has been there ever since, working on movies like Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, and Frozen 2. His latest job was as a supervising animator on Encanto, where he led the characters of Pepa, Camilo and Felix.
Published 09/29/22
In our 96th podcast we interview Netflix's The Sea Beast animation director, Zach Parrish. Prior to working at Netflix, Zach worked for Walt Disney for about a decade, and on such titles as Tangled, Zootopia, and Big Hero 6. Zach has also worked for companies like Rythm & Hues, and Sony Imageworks, where he worked on titles like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Hulk.
Published 08/25/22
In our 95th podcast we interview Pixar veteran animator, and new Head of Animation at Spire Animation, Michal Makarewicz. Prior to taking on the new position at Spire Animation, Michal spent 19 years at Pixar where he worked on 14 feature films & 4 short films.
Published 08/25/22
In our 94th podcast we interview the very talented animator, artist, and Dreamworks' Director of 'The Bad Guys, Pierre Perifel. Pierre has been a professional animator for over 15 years. He's worked in both 2D and 3D animation, he's been a storyboard artist, as well as a character design. But he made the leep to Director with Dreamworks latest feature film, The Bad Guys, where he came up with unique look and style for the film. It was great to hear about Pierre's animation journey from France...
Published 06/22/22
In our 93rd podcast we interview the amazing character designer, Coran Kizer Stone. Coran has an amazing style when it comes to character design, and has worked for DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation, Hasbro, Marvel, and Warner Bros Animation. He's worked on such IP's as Spider-Man, Batman, Young Justice, and Transformers. He's extremely creative, as you can see via his online presence, where you can view his many unique takes on beloved characters. He had a very interesting story...
Published 06/22/22
In our 92nd podcast we interview Animation Director, and iAnimate Games instructor, Harvey Newman. As of this podcast Harvey is working at Build a Rocket Boy on an exciting AAA title. He has worked in the games industry for nearly 18 years and has helped publish such games as Battlefield, Battlefront, Horizon Zero Dawn, Crysis, Total War Warhammer and a few more.
Published 06/22/22
In our 91st podcast we interview Dreamworks Supervising Animator Rani Naamani. Rani has worked on such shows as Megamind, How To Train Your Dragon 2 & 3, and Boss Baby. Rani is currently working on Dreamworks newest movie, The Bad Guys, but before that The Croods: A New Age. On The Croods: A New Age, he had some great shots and acting choices that he posted on social media with Phil Betterman. We talked about his approach, use of reference, and workflow. This was a great interview!
Published 06/22/22
In our 90th podcast we interview Fortiche's Head of Character Animation Alexis Wanneroy, as they've just wrapped up on Riot Games & Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends season 1. Alexis spent almost 13 years at Dreamworks Animation, working on such titles as Kung Fu Panda, and Rise of the Guardians, before heading back to Paris leading the animation team of this ground breaking animation show. If you've seen the show, seen the Image Dragon's music video, or anything about Arcane: League of...
Published 06/22/22
In our 89th podcast we interview Bungie Senior Sandbox Character Animator, Mike Walling. Before Mike joined Bungie back in 2016, he was an animator at Dreamworks Feature Animation on Kung Fu Panda 2, and Croods. Before coming to Dreamworks Mike worked at Blue Sky Studios on the feature films, Robots, Horton Hears a Who, and Ice Age 3. In 2005 Mike took an opportunity to work at Sony Imageworks as a senior character animator on Open Season and Surf’s Up.
Published 12/11/21
In our 88th podcast we interview Insomniac Games Senor Animator, Lindsay Thompson. Lindsay is an accomplished animator who has worked in VFX, feature film, and in video games. She has worked for such companies as ILM, Weta, Animal Logic, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Sony Animation. She has worked on such titles as Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Avengers, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and Wreck-It Ralph. While at Insomniac Games, she has worked both in cinematic and...
Published 12/11/21
In our 87th podcast we interview Blizzard animator, Justin Rasch. Justin has been working as a professional animator for over two decades, which has ranged from video games, to stop motion feature film, to cinematics on such IP's as World of WarCraft, Overwatch, and Hearth Stone. While at Laika, Justin put his stop motion skills to use on two of their features films, ParaNorman and Kubo. It was a treat getting to talk with Justin and hear how he uses reference, the magic and workflow of stop...
Published 07/29/21
n our 86th podcast we interview Blizzard animator, Brad Faucheux. Brad has been working as a professional animator for 10 years, ranging from film, television, VR, web series, cinematics, and now in video games. A past student of iAnimate and he believes always learning is the ultimate key to being an animator. He spent 2 years at Reel FX working on Free Birds and The Book of Life, then headed to Kelowna, Canada for work on Tales of the teenage mutant ninja turtles TV show. Now at Blizzard he...
Published 07/01/21
In our 85th podcast we interview Reel FX Storyboard and Layout Artist, Rod Douglas. Rod is a very talented artist with almost two decades of experience in the animation industry, dating back to 2002 at DNA Productions on such shows as "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and "The Ant Bully." After DNA Productions, Rod went to Reel FX, where he has spent the majority of his near two decades. At Reel FX, Rod has had the opportunity to work on such shows as 'The Book of Life', 'Looney...
Published 05/27/21
In our 84th podcast we interview Lead Animator, and iAnimate Alumni, Roy Stein. Roy has animated and lead teams at such studios as Blue Sky Studios, Bron Animation, and currently CineSite; and has worked on such films as Ferdinand, Leap, Little Prince, and The Willoughbys. Roy is also an inspiring Filmmaker, and with the help of many artist, released a short thriller, titled Too Late. It was great speaking with one of our alumni and seeing their experience and growth in the industry, working...
Published 05/13/21
In our 83rd podcast we interview writer, director, and animator Kirby Atkins. Kirby has been animating in the early years of CG, cutting his teeth on the TV show Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Since that time he has worked at such studios as Weta Digital, Sony Pictures, and ReelFX, and animated on such shows as SCOOB, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and The BFG. Last year he had the opportunity direct his first feature animated film, Mosley; something he had written over a decade earlier. It was a treat...
Published 04/29/21
In our 82nd podcast we interview animator & animBot developer Alan Camilo. Alan is originally from Brazil where he started as a 2D animator. He eventually made his way to Canada and has worked at such studios as Reel FX, Sony Animation, and Method Studios. During his time at Sony he worked on such films as Storks and Hotel Transylvania 2, and developed such such tools as aTools. This aTools would eventually launch him out on his own where he would create the amazing animBot for Maya!...
Published 03/25/21
In our 81th podcast we interview Schell Games Principal Animator and iAnimate.net instructor, Kyle Kenworthy. Kyle has been working professionally since 2006 and most recently was the Lead Animator on Star Wars Jedi Challenges & Until You Fall. Past projects also include working for clients such as Marvel, Pixar, & Walt Disney Imagineering.
Published 01/21/21
In our 80th podcast we interview directing animator, Omar Morsy. For over 20 years Omar has been Directing, Heading, Supervising, Animating, and working in both the VFX and Gaming industry. He has worked on projects such as Assassin's Creed, Paddington, Wonder Woman, Jumanji, and the Call of the Wild. Over the past 23 years, Omar found a second passion for teaching and inspiring artists to pursue their dreams. In this interview Omar shares his passion for animation and how he had to be...
Published 12/22/20
In our 79th podcast we interview animator Tara Donovan. Tara's animated journey spans many styles from Richard Williams’ meticulously hand-drawn 'Thief & the Cobbler' to the VFX blockbuster Godzilla vs King Kong. Balancing teaching and freelancing with family life, Tara gravitated towards leadership roles, directing animation on the TV series Dot for CBC/Sprout at Industrial Brothers, directing a series of shorts for History/SyFy at Chuck Gammage Animation, and leading animation on an Ice...
Published 12/22/20
In our 78th podcast we interview Dreamworks animator, Patrick Giusiano. Patrick has been working in animation for over 20 years. His passion for visual effects pushed him to move to London with his wife and three daughters, where he worked on heavy keyframe-oriented movies such as "John Carter," "Paul," "Scott Pilgrim," and more at Double Negative Studio. From there, Patrick moved to New York to become a lead animator for BlueSky Studios. Throughout the eight years he worked there, he...
Published 12/10/20
In our 77th podcast we interview animation supervisor, Wes Mandell. Wes has worked in the animation industry for over a decade and a half and has worked on and lead some amazing shows. Wes was a senior animator on Spider-Man: Far from Home, head of animation on The Book of Life, senior animator on Madagascar 3, and most recently an animation supervisor on the unique Netflix original The Willoughbys. It was a pleasure to sit down and talk about animation with someone who has worked in both VFX...
Published 10/28/20