Hey Iza, Thanks so much for the interview! Let's start at the top: What got you into animation and illustration?
OK,
so basically, I knew when I was a kid I wanted to make cartoons. As I
grew up though, I got into comic books, anime, and live action movies. I
took video classes in high school, and wanted to go to USC
for film school. I switched schools senior year when my family moved
down to California from Washington state. I wasn't able to take the
video class they had 'cause I had already taken more classes then they
had, so to fill the credit I needed to graduate, I took an animation
class. I fell in love with animating.
Who or what inspires you in your work?
I
have so many. Jim Henson, Tex Avery and all the Looney Tunes guys are
huge influences. Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken, Aaron Springer,
Paul Rudish, Chris Savino, CH Greenblatt, Craig Kellman, Lou Romano, Tim
Biskup, Scott Wills, Dan Krall, Daisuke Tsutsumi, Bill Cone, Osamu
Texuka, Akira Toriyama, Hayao Miyazaki, Thurop Van Orman, and many many
more.
Are
you formally trained? If so, where did you go, what degree did you
achieve, and what was the experience like? If not, how did you work up
your portfolio for professional work?
After the end of high school I had heard of CalArts,
but it sounded too scary or intimidating to me, so I didn't look into
it until years later. I ended up going to what I consider the McDonalds
of art school, the Art Institute of LA.
While I did learn some things, they had a weird agenda, and wouldn’t
let me focus on pre-production and 2D (I knew I wanted to get into
storyboarding and work in TV more than feature animation). I was
passionate about it regardless, and got myself an internship at Cartoon
Network, which was a fun and valuable learning experience, and met a ton
of awesome people.
What is your creative process like?
If
I really need to work something out when working, I'll either draw in
my sketchbook (to figure out paintings, illustrations or designs) or on
post it notes if I'm just thumbnailing out a storyboard at the
beginning.
What
programs and tools do you use in creating your work? Anything you're
especially fond of that you'd like to recommend to readers?
On the computer I tend to use Adobe Photoshop the most, and then I also sometimes use Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, Adobe Flash, and sometimes Adobe After Effects. I've also tried Paint Tool SAI and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.
For how long have you worked professionally?
I've
kind of been all over, from smaller studios to freelance and full-time
gigs at some of the larger studios for about the past six to
seven years.
What's your typical workday like? What's the typical "day-in-the-life" of a storyboard artist?
That
simply depends on where you're at in the process, and how things work
as far as production flow on any given production. Not only can it be
different based on what studio you're at, but even two different
productions at one studio will run differently. It's kind of all
dependent on the show creator/show runner and the Line Producers, and
Production Managers.Breadwinners for example is scripted (where the writers write up a script) and then they make a radio play (which is the character voices, some sound effects, sometimes finished music, or temp music, or simply a click track to show the general tempo of any given scene.) Then the board artist takes that, and working with their director, will work through the shots of their scenes of that episode, plot it out roughly in Adobe Flash, and then continue to board in Adobe Flash. Adding in more animation if something specific needs to be called out, addressing notes when you get them, making changes, and cleaning up as you move ahead.
How about your work space? Can you give us an insight into how and where you work?
For the most part I'm usually on my computer desk at work or home, working on a Cintiq and a Mac at work, and a Yiynova
and PC laptop at home. Each has their pros and cons, but I think I
personally prefer Mac/Cintiq when it gets down to it. They're both
doable though.
Here's my process:
- I draw the initial sketch I want. I copy it using my copy machine, and get it to a size I want to fit it within the board. I take a regular pencil and rub graphite on the back of the copied sketch.
- Next, I fit the copied sketch around the board and then use a pen to trace over it. This lightly transfers the sketch on the board.
- It comes out very light on the board, but just enough to get what I want.
- Next, I simply start painting with the background and work from back to front with any objects or details.
- From that point, I keep painting 'til I'm done.
Do you find time for freelance work? Additionally, what projects have you done in the past?
Occasionally.
I've gotten to do a little here and there, but while I have full time
work and am doing my short on top of that right now not a whole lot of
time for freelance. The last awesome bit of freelance I got to do was
character designs for a project in development at Disney TV. While
things didn't pan out ultimately for that project, it was a blast to
work on and just a fun experience all around.
As
previously mentioned, you're currently working with Nickelodeon as a
storyboard artist for the delightfully strange show "Breadwinners". How
did you get the job? What other projects/networks have you worked on?
I
had done a storyboard test for Breadwinners. By the time I had just
about forgotten I did the test, I was contacted by them to come in for
an interview, and then offered the job.
You've
got an animated short coming up for Nick. Firstly, congratulations! I'm
excited to see it. Secondly, tell us about it, please!
Yes, thank
you, I could not be more grateful to Nickelodeon and all the executives
and people who've been nothing but supportive and helpful of me and my
vision with my short. (Gabe Swarr, Mary Harrington, Jill Sanford, Joanna
Leitch, and Kevin Lee to name a few!) The shorts program usually takes
the finished shorts and puts them online at some point. As to when
exactly I'm not sure, but once anything happens, you'll hear me speak up
about it for sure. They might also put them on TV, but again, not sure
if or when. I've been having a blast learning the whole process, and
getting to pick some individuals to work with on it! I really cannot
wait to show everyone once it's done! They had posted a kind of basic
premise for my short online already, so I'll post that again here (I
don't know if I can say much else aside from that).Shelf Life by Nickelodeon storyboard artist Robert Iza – While working at a warehouse full of everything, overprotective cat Ashley is driven to the brink of madness after her oblivious best friend Max gets himself fired.
You've
done work for group gallery art shows. What's your preferred medium
when creating a piece for a show? Do you want to do a solo show (or show
with one or two other artists, where you'd be creating multiple pieces
to fill the space with fantastic design)?
Gouache and cel vinyl
acrylic are my media of choice for pieces in shows. There's something so
calming and therapeutic/medatative about working with traditional
painting. I've gotten to have pieces at QPop Gallery in Little Tokyo, downtown LA, and a few other gallery spaces like Meltdown Comics, APW Gallery in NY, and Gauntlet Gallery in San Francisco.
Your web comic, The Eternally Injured Ninja,
went on indefinite hiatus this past year. Understandable considering
the work discussed above. What other comics have you created in the
past?
It did. Haha, yes, I had simply gotten too busy, and it's no
easy task keeping up a comic with a deadline of once a week. I think
lots of people don't understand how much time has to go into it when you
have a full time job and a life, as well as whatever may pop up
unexpectedly. But it was most certainly a lot of fun and a nice
challenge. If anything, I'd be most hard on myself about it. It was hard
to put up something I wasn't fully happy with, but it's what you'd do
sometimes because you just didn't have the time to make it the way you
really want to. Either way I'm so incredibly grateful to Gabe Swarr,
Katie Rice, and the whole Dumm Comics group for having given me the opportunity to be a part of Dumm Comics for the long run that I did!
Do you plan on (or just hope you can) continue EIN? Any other comic plans for the future?
I've
done a couple comics with the art collective Lava Punch and their
anthologies. The most recent one was a large full color anthology called
The Black Torch that we had a Kickstarter for. I've only ever done one
Eternally Injured Ninja printed mini comic, and have enough material to
do a nice little book of the comics I did for Dumm. I have an idea for a
new mini comic with EIN, so hopefully I get around to doing that as
well. It's certainly not dead, just on the back burner. I really want to
work hard on the writing side of that comic, and make sure it's really
fun and silly.
What are your overall future goals, as an artist (or as an animator)?
My
big goals right now are to get my own show, continue to make cartoons,
and contribute to great fun, silly stuff. Hopefully have my own gallery
show, make more printed comics, toys and puppets and whatnot. I also
want to do more cooking, and get better at it. To continue taking improv
classes and sketch writing classes and get better at writing in
general. I also don't play any instruments, but would like to take a
stab at learning the banjo. Travel to a few places I really want to
visit, and try to do my best to stay positive and enjoy as much about
life as I can.
What words of advice do you have for aspiring animators?
The biggest things I would say to do are:- Practice, Practice, Practice!!! You can never do too much working on your skills and studying things!
- Nuture your friendships and connections with friends in the industry, it’s super small, everyone knows everyone, there’s no point in being a dick to anyone.
- Put your work out there!!! What good is working hard and getting better if no one sees it? If no one knows you can do that? Super important!
- Be persistent! This isn’t a quick and easy thing to work out. But if you’re super determined, and have good support from friends and family, it will work out eventually.
- Do you know what you want to do specifically? Then do it! Do LOTS of it! Don’t stop! If you don’t know, try lots of things and figure out what you enjoy and can get super passionate about. If you’re motivated to do something you’ll totally do it no matter how challenging. Focus on doing the things you enjoy when you can, but it’s also good to have a basic understanding of the whole process. Study the work of people you admire, try to break down why you like it, why you don’t, why it works or not, and all aspects of it.
- It’s all gonna take time, so utilize that time as best you can! Don’t stress out too much, be flexible yet have goals.
