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.

Interview with Encanto Supervising Animator Valentin Amador

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.

Interview with The Sea Beast Animation Director Zach Parrish

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.

Interview with Pixar Veteran Animator Michal Makarewicz

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 to California; from animator, supervising animator, to directing a brand new IP.

Interview with Dreamworks Director of The Bad Guys - Pierre Perifel

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 on how he even got in to this industry. Give this a listen and let us know what you think.

Interview with Amazing Character Designer - Coran Kizer Stone

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.

Interview with Animation Director - Harvey Newman

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!

Interview with Dreamworks Supervising Animator - Rani Naamani

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 Legends you won't want to miss this interview!

Interview with Arcane Head of Character Animation - Alexis Wanneroy

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.

Interview with Destiny 2 Senior Sandbox Character Animator - Mike Walling

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 in-game animation, where she has animated and lead teams on such titles as Sunset Overdrive, Spider-Man, and the PS5 Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Interview with Insomniac Games Sr. Animator - Lindsay Thompson

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 motion, and how that translates to CG.

Interview with Blizzard Animator Justin Rasch

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 has worked on Cinematic shorts such as Hearth is Home, Honor and Glory, and multiple World of Warcraft: Battle of Azeroth cinematics

He is currently working on Overwatch 2 and getting back into 2D animation.

Interview with Blizzard Animator Brad Faucheux

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 Tunes' shorts, 'Ugly Dolls', 'Rock Dog', and numerous 'Best Fiends' shorts. Rod's passion for this industry and what he does screams through in this interview, and it was a real treat to spend some time speaking with him.

Interview with Storyboard and Layout Artist Rod Douglas

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 at large studios like Blue Sky Animation, as well as leading animation teams for the first time.

Interview with Lead Animator Roy Stein

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 to speak with Kirby and hear from someone who has over two decades of experience, as well as written, directed, and been in the trenches as an animator. He is currently Head of Development over at Brazen Animation.

Interview with Writer, Director, and Animator Kirby Atkins

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! Listen to his story, his time on some amazing films, and how he came to develop this versatile and 'hard to animate without' tools.

Interview with Animator & animBot developer Alan Camilo

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.

Interview with Principal Animator Kyle Kenworthy

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 resilient in achieving his dream of working in the animation industry.

Interview with Directing Animator Omar Morsy

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 Age short for Blue Sky at Arc Productions, Detective Pikachu at MPC and A Babysitters Guide to Monster Hunting at Method Studios. She recently joined the Montreal game studio Game On as Lead Animator for gameplay and cinematics.

Interview with Animator Tara Donovan

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 experimented with more cartoon-like movies such as "Rio," "Ice Age," "Peanuts," "Ferdinand," "Epic," etc. Attracted by the palm trees and constant warm weather of California, Patrick finally moved to LA to work for Dreamworks Animation Studio. Since then, he has animated on "How to Train Your Dragon," "Abominable," "The Croods 2," etc. From these amazing experiences around the globe, Patrick became skilled in many different animation styles, ranging from hyper realistic to super cartoony.

The iAnimate.net Podcast

The iAnimate.net Podcast

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