2014 James suhr: Professional Animator visits Q&A

What steps (applications, internships, etc.) did you take to get where you are now?

Kind of answered [in talk]. At the end of my junior year, I was given a copy of a Disney sketchbook, which had portfolio requirements. This information became my lifeblood for applying to UCLA and to animation jobs. Not only would I tailor my portfolio to their needs, I used that as a checklist as to what I needed to know. So I would go and research whatever topic, constantly refining what I know.

What is the single worst bad habit you had to break in order to make it as an artistic professional?

Procrastination and not double-checking my work.

Procrastination not because I didn’t want to do the work, but because I was afraid of failure—so not doing the work means I wouldn’t fail, theoretically. But it doesn’t work that way: if you don’t try, you’ve already failed. You shouldn’t be afraid to fail, because failure can teach you, if you are willing to learn.

I used to just do a task and turn it in without double-checking things. This would cause problems for directors and other peers, so always take the time no matter how rushed to double-check your work—for the sake of everyone involved in the production and your own.

What did you learn at Grad School? How did that experience shape your career?

I learned to research and be critical of my work (and others) on a level beyond what I used to do. I used the basics that they taught me to teach myself how to fish.

What is your favorite company that you've worked for thus far?

Nickelodeon was nice. A small studio called Shadow Machine has also be very good to me, despite their limited resources, but it still Disney has treated me the best.

How did you transition to living on the West Coast?

I ran from the cold of Michigan with open arms. I’m from the South; being in a hot environment is as natural as breathing.

But really, to give useful information, I’ve met many people from the Midwest there. What you bring in terms of expectations will determine your ability to adjust there. I’d seen movies from the 90’s about L.A. It was dirty, full of crime and concrete in the middle of a goddamn desert—everything I hate. It was shithole where they made movies. I really didn’t want to go there. So when I got there, my expectations were so low that my love for the city could only go up. For other people, I think that they thought the streets were made of candy and leprechauns danced around shitting gold, so surprise, surprise that it didn’t match their high expectations.

Which type of company/position do you recommend starting with?

Well, most studios don’t do animation in house (it’s mostly done overseas) so learning to storyboard would be the most useful for getting employed. Start with smaller studios. Here you can learn a lot and transition into the bigger studios. Also try starting out as a Storyboard Revisionist to learn the ropes of production (or how a studio in particular works) and what is expected in the real world.

What did you think your future would be like while you were still in school?

Doing blow off of hooker’s bellies while driving my rocket car to work (saving the world with animation). I don’t know what the future holds and I’ve learned not to imagine too much so as to be prepared for change. Again expectations can ruin great moments. All I care about is setting future goals, knowing roughly how they will pay out, and meeting those goals.

What is the best thing we can do to prepare ourselves for life after college?

Get to know the Career Services people at Kendall to start freelancing and working NOW! Also sharing information with each other—despite the fact that you are all in competition—is important because where one of you succeeds, another can follow and succeed as well. Learn how think of yourself as a business. Figure out the cost of your supplies, monthly costs, everything done to a science. Start being a business now, even if that business right now is small.

What's the best way to learn how to formally storyboard?

One way is to just get used to setting up shots. I have an exercise that I am sharing with the school that will help with this. The other best way is find scripts to shows. Find the boards to that show and dissect why the board artist did what they did. Analyze movies and try to figure out why the shots used in a sequence are chosen. Everything else is just your foundations class.

Is having your own personal style important in storyboarding or animation in general?

Yes and no. If you are working on someone else’s show (98%-100% of your career), no, having your own style isn’t that important as you will be applying the style of the show as best as possible. That is style, not voice (big difference). If you are pitching your own show, personal style is important. But getting your show past just a pitch to TV is astronomical in odds, so learn to be versatile in your styles.

Did you frequently inter/volunteer? How did you network? Do you have any suggestions for a student trying to network and get their portfolio seen more?

I did do internships, but I recommend doing internships for smaller, non-union studios, as you will have a chance to do more hands-on art. Union places aren’t that way. Unions are great—in fact, the best—but not for free labor (which is why we have them—to cut down on free labor because it benefits everyone). I networked like everyone has, using the people I know, friends. We would give each other leads to work (sharing, not being stingy) because where one can succeed, more can succeed.

Now I don’t mean to be mean, but if you are in the year 2014 and you don’t know about the greatest goddamn tool to get noticed, you need to be punched by a buffalo, then vomited on by rusty car with AIDS. It’s the Internet. The Internet is more than just a place to post what you ate and take selfies with camera looking down at you. I wish I had had the Internet as it is now, back when I was a kid. I could’ve cut out soooooo much agony, misery, and wasteful spendatures of times and energy. It is THE #1 tool, provided you are putting out content that is worthy of getting attention. Just because you do anything doesn’t guarantee success, but whatever you put up, don’t do it for the attention. Put the content up there that you want to share. This is your voice. Your style is part of your voice, but what you are saying with your art is the core of your voice. Let your voice be heard.

Who were your mentors as a student, both at KCAD and at UCLA? How did you connect with them and what were some key things you learned from those experiences?

Two of my foundation teachers at that time were so influential that I still hear their voices in my head to this day. My Drawing I & II teacher, Sandra Stark, taught me how love drawing from both the concept to the sheer enjoyment of moving a pencil on paper. The other was Sandra Lummen (the name Sandra had nothing to do with the influence, pure coincidence), my Color Theory teacher. Lummen was hard and harsh—but not unfair. She really toughened me up for surviving the criticism and objectivity of being a professional artist (plus she was a DAMN good color theory teacher—simply the best).

Second half of my time at Kendall would be Bill Fischer (seriously, not trying to ass kiss here) as he opened my eyes working on the computer and helped teach me to keep improving a picture with each step you take, don’t just figure out where you are going and just plug things in and accept those results.

At UCLA there was almost no one because it was a research school, so really all of us students were just pushing and pulling off each other. But I would have to say Glenn Vilppu. He had so much knowledge of drawing and the practicality of acting like it was a business, that I loved every moment I spent with him—even when he would say I was doing things wrong.

Professionally, it would be Dave Wasson and Dave Knott and Dave Thomas (seriously, what is up with repeating names in my mentors?).

Regarding your mentorship of Ed Kindsvater- Is this the fist time you've done something like this? Why did you make it a priority to fit this into your hectic schedule? Was it that you wanted him as an individual to succeed, or that you believe in the larger merit of preparing the next generation of talent in your field to succeed and drive the field to new places? Or was it a bit of both?

No. Ed is benefiting from some earlier experimentation at being a mentor. I would often help other students at UCLA—I was a T.A. there—and that is where is I got my general basis in style of how I mentor. David Van Tuyle was probably my official first person, but now we are friends and peers in the business. It’s been wonderful to help him and watch him grow. My only regret is that I learn as I go, so a student 10 years from now will hopefully be learning more efficiently from me than David was able to.

What have you both learned from this experience? I'm especially interested in the perspective of the mentor; how has this relationship helped you? What have you learned from it?

I try to stress that the arts are about communicating with clarity. What is it that you are trying to say? Are you conveying that clearly enough? Well, you really have to work hard to live by that rule if you want to mentor someone with that philosophy. If I want to say the same old things that I’ve heard in the past (things that might not be that useful), I could just coast by. But I don’t want to do that. My pathway into this field was really winding and hard, and I want to make it easier for others.

Does critiquing others' work contribute to your own creative process or your own professional development? Why or why not? What, in your mind, makes for a good critique experience, both for the giver and the receiver?

Yes and no in terms of creative process, but definitely yes to my own professional development.

What's more exciting to you? Personal successes, or seeing the medium of animation succeed and progress as a whole? To what extent is collaboration important to a successful career in your field?

Damn, the first part to this is a hard one. This has taken me a lot of thinking for me to answer. I think that a large part of how I identify who I am is rolled up in my career that it is hard to separate personal successes from the field. I also think that when any artist triumphs and succeeds in the industry, we as a collective group benefit.

To answer the second part I’ll say this:

1 Creator/Writer/Executive Producer

5-6 Executives who look over our scripts, boards and animatics

1 Head of Story

4 Writers

4 Regularly Used Voice Actors

1 Art Director

2 Episode Directors

2-3 Character Designers (1 specializing in ‘special poses’)

7 Storyboard Artists

2 Storyboard Revisionists (1 helps on Character Layout/Key Animator)

1 Character Layout Artist/Key Animator

1 BG Designer

3-4 BG artists

1 Prop Designer

2 Color Stylists

1 Cleanup Artist

1 Checker

1 Line Producer

2 Production Managers

1 Production Assistant

…and a good Secretary

With communication and everyone having their own thoughts and processes on things (and our show is about average in terms of people at this kind of studio), what do you think the importance of collaboration is?

What drives you to give - as Ed put it - 1000% commitment each and every day? How do you convey the necessity of that drive as a mentor?

Well, first you have to realize that you are your own business. You bring your own set of skills that people are hiring you for. Without these skills staying strong, or improving, your career will reach a ceiling and stagnate. To get where I am has been be playing chess with life for many years. So how do you convey was has taken many, many years? My solution was to only choose the most important things (a handful of theories) and repeat them over and over and over till the person is sick of hearing them. Take studying (use scar on inside of hand as example). The more I show you the scar where I was stabbed on my palm, the more you are able to recall it when I ask you to. This is the power of repetition. Now point to it on my hand. See, when asked of you to perform a task with that information, you are more capable to carry it out because your mind is ready and in the place needed to carry said task out.

Breaking things down into small digestible chunks and having someone repeat the process over and over I got from both Glen Vilppu and my Martial Arts instructor. They both had similar teaching styles. My M.A. instructor would say that, “Practice makes?” (pause for answer) No. “Practice makes for habit.” “Perfect Practice makes for perfection.” What you practice and how you practice (and how many times) can sharply affect your outcome.