I've posted several times about 2009 Eisner-nominee Chris Schweizer, author and artist of CROGAN'S
ADVENTURES. I'm looking at a framed page of his original art right now. Chris is in the midst of a huge step, that of quitting his day job of teaching about making comics at the Savanah College of Art and Design and devoting his day entirely to creating art and making comics, notably more Crogan Adventures. In fact he is moving to Nashville and starting a studio with two like minded artists with the goal of taking on design work from outside to finance their personal projects. He asked me about what to put on a website to best showcase their talents for the animation industry.
I answered him, and because I am nothing if not long-winded, wrote enough that Chris thought I should make it a blog post. And because I haven't posted in too long a time, I dood it!
From Chris: Anyway, to my question: when you hire someone (or a studio, if you ever do that) to do production, is there anything specific that you look for so far as the website/portfolio goes? My assumption would be that a variety of aesthetics would showcase the studio’s versatility, but is that the same trap that you have in comics and illustration, where folks are reluctant to hire you because they don’t know what they’d be getting?
Let me get the negatives out of the way.
- 1) You live where?
- 2) How long did it take you to do these?
- 3) I don't know you.
- 4) Get in line
1) You live where?
In this age of electronic media and free global communication, location shouldn't matter. But it does, at least when you're starting out. My key character designer on most of my projects moved to Colorado years ago but still works for Disney. Even so, he makes the trip to Burbank every once in awhile to stay connected and get a chance to work on new shows. So that's the best way, establish yourself in town where they're going to trip over you and then when you become indispensible, move.
Not helpful to you though but think about building up a travel fund. If you succeed at getting work it can quickly turn into a steady gig and making some face to face contact, getting the feel of the show, getting to know the personalities of the producers, etc. is invaluable.
2) How long did it take you to do these?
Nobody knows how dependable you are until you work for them or someone they know. Even then, artists flake out. I had an artist on my pilot that cost me MONTHS of frustration. He took on too much work and I got screwed. Immensely talented, fantastically talented and very personable and still employed at Disney... but I'll never use him in any freelance capacity.
But for you, this will be a non existent problem because you will deliver on time, you will do beautiful work and you will be a joy to work with, open to last minute changes and producer whims. Cuz you're you. You have a great attitude about work.
3) I don't know you.
Cultivate animation connections. See what you can get out of social media. You sort of want to know some people so that when you have an online portfolio ready you've got someone to send links to. That doesn't mean becoming a pest, it means AFTER you've got your talent to a professional level, you ask for specific advice about who's in charge of submissions at that studio.
Think about joining some animation organizations like CTN or online professional forums. Don't worry about posting, soak up the atmosphere. Eavesdrop on the professional conversations.
4) Get in line.
Everybody wants to be a character designer. I talked to a bunch of recent animation college graduates at CTN this year and was amazed at their talent. And most of them wanted to be character designers. I guess it's because it seems like all you need to do is draw well and have a great sense of design. Yet I never got a decent designer, except for Genevieve Tsai who was awesome but too busy to do more than a couple of characters for me. I guess that proves there are opportunities even though there is a ton of competition.
A successful character designer must be able to mimic the styles of others. Your first assignment is probably not going to be designing a series. It will be doing background characters. Think of being given the model sheets for Phineas and Ferb, TMNT, AdventureTime and Hellboy. The trick is not being able to draw those characters, it's being able to come up with new characters who look like they exist in the same world as the stars.
Few can master that kind of diversity but the more styles you can handle, the better. Actually, the above might be a good way to create a website. Search for model sheets of drastically different shows but ideally shows that all appeal to you. Get comfortable drawing those characters then design their best friends, mothers, pets and grandparents, which will show you can populate their world. Don't label what show you're working from but do a page of new characters from each show. And include a turnaround or two.
Specifically, what am I looking for? Mostly it's strong drawing, imagination and an aesthetic that matches my own, no matter what the style of the show. But your stated concern was weird from my point of view: "... where folks are reluctant to hire you because they don’t know what they’d be getting?"
If I don't know what I'm getting, I don't hire you. You get the job because I've seen something in your work, or have given you a test of some sort, that has convinced me you can handle the style of my show... whether it hasn't been created yet or has been on the air for years. Then we go over how I see the characters and their role in the story. Then you draw roughs. I have you make the head bigger while shrinking the ears and enlarging the teeth. And change the clothes and make that one a girl, a girl monkey.
Here's a thought for would be character designers: Consider designing props and finishing them in Illustrator or some other vector program. Props aren't as glamorous as characters but are sorely needed. Plus, prop designer can be a stepping stone to other design areas. Check out this guy's portfolio: http://lancefalk.com/ He's someone who's been in the industry for years so he has a ton of content but look how it's arranged, easy to find and done with a bit of personality.
So that's what I sent to Chris, although I've added some thoughts here and there. I hope you would be animation artists get some benefit from it.
And if you do have a website, blog or tumblr that showcases your work. Send me a link and I'll include it in my next post. Get drawing! -- Tad
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