360Kid SIGGRAPH Meeting
NEIA SIGGRAPH MEETING: June 16th 2010
Speaker: Dave McMahon, Art Director at 360Kid, davem@360kid.com always happy to look at stuff and answer questions!
How Dave Got to Where He is Today:
· Dave’s first job was drawing caricatures at Nathanial Hall.
· He went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut graduating with a degree in anthropology.
· Afterwards drew illustrations for anthropology and archeology magazines.
· He later moved to NYC with his band to become a rock star and illustrated flyers and album covers. He also dabbled in commercial illustration.
· He eventually learned about multimedia and moved back to Boston in the late 90’s, he also started up a t-shirt company that he still owns. He worked for companies such as:
- Learning Ways, who produced Math Blaster and Geometry Blaster.
-Planet Interactive who did work for companies like Gap
-Thing World who did work for The Beastie Boys, The Daily Show and Beanie Babies (doing stop animation)
· Dave eventually settled down at 360Kid as head of the Art Department. Their clients include: Sesame Street, Leap Frog, Hasbro, Dole, National Geographic, Pokemon USA, Nick Games, and many many others. He was also the main designer for the Zoombinis.
· In his spare time Dave is an active member in the art community. Participating in Bizarre Bizarre, a punk rock craft fair, and opening up a store in Davis Square called Mag Pie a venue for local artists which he co-owned until last year (it was voted Best Art Space in 2008 by The Phoenix.)
Sagely Advice: how to make art your career:
· “LEARN TO LOOK AND CONSUME MEDIA!” meaning- what do you really see and deconstruct it.
· Understand how things move and look at them critically, the will help continuity in a scene.
· READ! Reading very important and don’t skip over the classics like: Animation by Preston Blair, The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams, and Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas. Read blogs and websites pertaining to animation like Cartoon Brew
· BE APART OF THE COMMUNITY/ ANIMATION COMMUNITY! Go to art galleries, local businesses, fairs and constantly learn
· Learn to anticipate what client wants and remember they are hiring you based on your SKILLS.
· Look forward but also look back and learn from them look at Betty Boop, 1930’s Superman, Disney’s Jungle Book and Snow White, Mary Blair illustrations, etc. this people knew what they were doing and you can learn from them. KNOW YOUR HISTORY!
· BE ORGANIZED: be aware that other people will need to be able to navigate through your files. Be professional at work. Be passionate but flexible. Don’t take feedback too personally. Be prepared for the unexpected. Be able to scramble. Be able to communicate with clients, learn what they want and tell them if you are going to be late with something as soon as you know it not at the 11th hour. ASK QUESTIONS!
· Keep your personal and professional life separate. That means no portfolios on Facebook or myspace. Have a separate website. Don’t mix anything into your portfolio that not everyone will want to see.
Portfolio Do’s and Don’ts:
· Don’t neglect Adobe Illustrator and Adobe After Effects, they are very important programs for the future.
· Less is more. Show 5 really good pieces instead of 5 good 5 mediocre, example: if a record has 2 good songs and 10 bad songs then it’s a lousy record.
· When you make good piece follow through. Don’t ignore the final details. DOUBLE CHECK EVERTYHING! Don’t go the 80% then mail in the last 20%.
· Assume that everyone has seen every Photoshop trick, they want to see skill.
· Don’t blow off typography and don’t use Comic Sans or Papyrus, typography is a part of your visual.
· Have a resume, business card and/ or CD with your information.
· Tailor your portfolio to your needs. Show the work that is most applicable to that company but don’t be afraid to show what is awesome. Make it easy for the person hiring you to envision you working there.
Some More Sagely Advice:
· Take the fundamentals and basics seriously. Learn things such as the anatomy of a human and animals.
· Do walk cycles: 9 frames, 12 frames, etc.
· Know the basic lingo.
· Understand how your characters of thing move. Now how the characters are constructed.
· Make sure you do your own stuff. DRAW ALL THE TIME! Also draw and practice what you don’t do and tinker with things.
· Be Passionate! If you’ve created something and you don’t think it’s great it will be hard to convince others it will be. Be willing to re-work things.
· As far as the future in animation is concerned don’t wait go toward it. Do it yourself, or DIY, if you have an idea develop it and go to studio after studio and present it.
· LEARN TO USE TABLETS! Cintiqs aren’t common practice yet.
Info on 360Kid and Other Fun Facts:
· They do work for educational and other animation companies, as mentioned above.
· When working for kids they how to know what age group they are targeting and tailor their works to fit that demographic.
· The worked on the Pokemon Learning League. It was a 12 person team, 100 different lessons and 300 minutes of animation, however it is no longer available, unfortunately.
· They worked with Dole; the CEO’s son is apparently a comic book enthusiast and he wanted to create fruit and veggie superheroes for the company.
· You need to know what you’re working for so that everything will be compatible for example: one can’t animate the same way for a theatrical feature and a Nintendo DS.
· Brands (like Pokemon or Sesame Street) are weird, fickle, and you have to work within the universe they’ve created.
· Companies like 360Kid gets work from what is known as RFPs, or a request for prospals, this is when a company gives you a vague idea for something and you come up with characters, ideas, and animatics for them to see and decide if they want to use.
· And hey! They use Flash and Photoshop!
