We interviewed Titmouse founder Chris Prynoski to learn about his animation company’s origins and milestones working on hit shows like Big Mouth and Metalocalypse. Chris also shared a ton of insights into Titmouse’s approach in a changing industry and what up-and-coming artists need to know to prepare themselves for a career in animation.
Read MoreWant to Work at [adult swim]? Meet Creative Director Brandon Lively
We pull back the curtain for illustrators and talk to Creative Director Brandon Lively about why he loves working at [adult swim], why illustration is an important vehicle for [adult swim]’s voice, and what advice he has for those looking to join the team.
Read MoreJesse Dean: "The hilarious and deadly Kitchen Bros communicate with their middle fingers and shotguns."
WATCHING NOT WATCHING: FARGO
WATCHING NOT WATCHING: FARGO
You might say we're in the Golden Age of Televsion. There's a ton of amazing shows on TV right now, emphasis on a ton and amazing and shows on TV. To stay up to date on the million and a half shows currently streaming on every device possible, we frequently have to enlist our pop culture savvy members to find out what we should have been binging months ago. This time, we picked the brain of WNW Member #9134 Jesse Dean, an animator who has worked on Adult Swim shows as well as FX's Archer. Turns out his taste in television and film is as cool as his full name: Jesse James Dean.
Jesse opened up about his animation career before geeking out over one of his favorite shows, Fargo, of which he writes, "The cinematography and score are great but it's the writing and character development that really grab ya by the noodles. It’s one of those shows that makes you love the bad guys as much as the good guys and is hilarious and dramatic and violent and disturbing at the same time." Jesse credits the show's caliber to the Coen Brothers' involvement, adding, "Those guys know how to massage the brain of the audience."
Only in the Golden Age could a show exist that both massages the brain and grabs ya by the noodles.
FYI: This is a Spoiler Free Zone.
Work
How'd you get started as an animator? How have you seen your work change over the years?
Not including the filthy flip books I made in high school, I started animating officially in grad school. It took a good 2.5 years before I started to get a grip on it. I had the principles of animation down but it wasn’t until I started working in the industry, surrounded maniac animators and designers, that I learned the ins and outs of how to really make stuff look cool on screen. To this day though, I am still learning how to make it work better. Every day that I’m not animating, I get more crusty.
What’s it like animating for a show like Archer versus say, the Adult Swim shows you’ve worked on? Is Adult Swim its own breed of crazy?
My experience animating on Archer vs the Adult Swim stuff was totally different. A couple years back I had to do some key/tween drawings for Aqua Teen Show Show. The characters that I was working with had very limited animation. Though they had full dialogue, they were basically just bobbing up and down wiggling their arms around. I was given some existing artwork of the characters and was told what they needed to be doing in the scene. It was a very loose process. The animated poses were created in photoshop and then sent to the After Effects team to string together the actual animation. Working on Archer on the other hand was much more strict but at the same time more freeing because I could put more life into the characters. In the beginnings, Archer’s 2D animation was entirely created using After Effects. The illustrators created the artwork and then that was given to the After Effects team to animate. Nowadays, its half and half After Effects and ToonBoom Harmony. I was part of the Harmony team. We were given all of the illustrated characters and handled the fight scenes and more intricate crazy action’y 2D animation while the After Effects team handled the rest.
Of all the shows you’ve animated for, which one is most in line with your own creative style?
Of all of the shows that I have animated on, the closest to my creative style (design wise) would probably be Aqua Teen. The characters tend to be so much more gnarly and off the wall. The animation is very limited but I always loved the look of it. Archer was definitely the most fun to do actual animation for though. That show punched, kicked and smashed me into submission.
What’s next for you? Any projects or shows lined up that you’d like to talk about?
These days I am not in the big studio environment. I’m freelancing out of my house doing illustration and animation for random clients. I work with my girlfriend, who is one bad mamajama graphic designer. We are doing all sorts of stuff from websites to email blasts to stationary. If this venture gets dull, we will both be knocking at the big studio doors again for sure. I’m not working for the big studios these days but I am definitely still watching what they churn out. Really looking forward to the new seasons of Rick and Morty and Archer.
What’s one show that you would love to do animation for?
The main show that comes to mind that I would love to work on would have to be King Star King. The animation is very old school squash and stretch but has totally insane content that will melt your eyeballs. So much absurdity goes into one quick sequence. I really love what those folks are doing over there. Someday maybe I’ll get a chance to dabble in some work with them. Similarly Superjail had some really off the wall animation, though I’m not sure the show is coming back to us.
Fargo
You’re a big fan of Fargo. What lead you to illustrate The Kitchen Bros rather than other characters?
The Kitchen Bros from Fargo season 2 are a couple of bad dudes. They rarely speak and whenever they do, it's always a little whisper into the ear of their bossman Mike Milligan. These guys bring such a strong presence to the screen, not only through the actions of the characters, but the art direction of their wardrobe. They compliment each other in all aspects.
Do you tune in and watch Fargo weekly or do you binge all at once?
Lately I have been tuning into Fargo regularly. If it was available to binge watch right now, I would be on the couch doin’ it. I'm also currently halfway through binge watching Jessica Jones. Finished Narcos and Bloodline, both binged. Always ready for new episodes of Munchies and eagerly awaiting the new season of Broad City.
What is it about Fargo that draws you in? Which of its two seasons do you like more?
My initial curiosity about the show came from my deep love of the film. I say curiosity because I expected it to pale in comparison to the film but I was proven wrong. It absolutely stands on its own, whether you have seen the film or not. The cinematography and score are great but it's the writing and character development that really grab ya by the noodles. It’s one of those shows that makes you love the bad guys as much as the good guys and is hilarious and dramatic and violent and disturbing at the same time. Season 1 was so great that it made me nervous that the second season wouldn’t hold up, but season 2 sort of went the True Detective season 2 route, without the suck. Fargo Season 2 is a new story, new actors and characters, ties into season 1 and does it all very successfully.
Does the show do a good job of capturing the peculiar world that the Coen Brothers created almost 20 years ago?
That is part of what makes this show so great. The characters and general mood of the show lends very much to the Coen Bros film. The show hits all of the feelings from hilarious to very dark and grim. I’m sure its success has a good bit to do with the Coen Brothers being producers on the project. Those guys know how to massage the brain of the audience.
Is Fargo, and television in general, a source of creative inspiration or escape for you?
TV has always been and I’m sure will continue to be a creative inspiration and escape for me. I’m guessing the same could be said for everyone who watches it. Its a good way to tune out the mania in life and get sucked into another world. I do also enjoy creating some fan art time from time to time.
What other shows or films do you recommend to the WNW community?
Some more recent shows that I would recommend are: Munchies, Bloodline, The Affair, Broad City, Rick and Morty and Silicon Valley.
Some films: Mad Max: Fury Road, Ex Machina and Dope. One that I definitely recommend as a movie night group watch is Bone Tomahawk. Kurt Russell. Huge mustache. Cowboys and Cannibals. Do it.
What’s one song that always gets you into a creative rhythm?
Want to talk to us about the shows and films you're watching? Email us.
HOW TO FEED YOUR CREATIVITY A BALANCED MEAL: BRANDEN COLLINS
HOW TO FEED YOUR CREATIVITY A BALANCED MEAL: BRANDEN COLLINS
After a stint at Savannah College of Art & Design as a 3D animation major, WNW Member #6527 Branden Collins realized a need to alter his trajectory. Branden now sees this moment as a turning point, and we couldn't agree more. He has since led an incredibly successful career as a designer, in the broadest sense of the word.
Branden runs an interdisciplinary collaborative studio named The Young Never Sleep, but it could just as easily be titled "Branden Never Sleeps," since he has already conquered so many different roles. "I think the way our society is structured, in this overly-competitive way, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s room for everyone to be successful if they work hard at crafting their own individual voice."
We spoke to Branden, who recently moved to San Francisco, about his different creative outlets, how he grew from his experiences at Adult Swim, and what he has his eyes set on next.
Who is Branden Collins and how did he get here?
I’m an artist and designer from Cleveland, Ohio. I recently relocated to San Francisco after living in Atlanta, GA for about 6 or 7 years. I was born and raised in Cleveland and spent a lot of time moving throughout the South in my teenage years. Post high school, I attended the Savannah College of Art & Design for about 2 years as a 3D animation major before dropping out. My experience at SCAD really changed the trajectory of my life and what I saw myself becoming in the years to come. The most valuable things I took from my college adventure were the people I met and a better understanding of the work that I actually enjoyed creating. It was not 3D animation. After leaving SCAD, I started collaborating with several college friends, establishing an art and music collective called The Big Up. Even though the collective was short-lived, it provided a lot of insight and inspiration for my interdisciplinary collaborative studio, The Young Never Sleep.
Adult Swim offers such unadulterated and unbridled creativity. Its output is sometimes completely off-the-wall insane, but never tame. What do you take away from your time there? How did your experiences there inform your creativity, and the eclectic paths you explore now?
What’s interesting about working at Adult Swim is, although many of the things they produce on the surface seem unpredictable, there is quite a bit of thought and planning that goes into everything they create. I learned so much working at Cartoon Network/ Adult Swim. The wide diversity of projects I was involved in constantly, from event design to print, illustration and product design had a big influence on how I navigate my personal creative work. The 2013 Adult Swim Singles covers I created gave me a taste of how rewarding it could be to really art direct a series and see it come to life across multiple platforms. The process of concepting, constructing sets and costumes, directing a shoot, adding motion then seeing it all come to life in print and web was an “aha” moment for me. It was like, “yea, this is the kind of stuff I want to be doing”.
It’s difficult to pin a single creative role to you, as you’ve branched out into diverse fields like costume design and created short films. Do you feel most at home in one realm in particular? And when inspiration strikes, how do you decide which creative hat to put on?
I can’t really say I feel more comfortable in one role in particular. I seriously enjoy them all. I will say, there’s something special about getting physical with a project, hand-illustration, set design, costume design, and crafting it all into a final series of images. It’s fun to see things come to life across disciplines. Which creative hat to put on depends a lot on the type of project and the team I’m working with. I’m always collaborating, and in this way it allows for others to add strengths to the process in places that I’m lacking. For example, I work a lot with artist/stylist Madeline Moore, and when we work together I take on more of a concept-driving role where she acts more as a quality-controller. She has a real talent and aptitude for dialing in the fine details and making sure the things we produce, especially any tangible work, is the best that it can be.
What’s one creative role you haven’t yet explored that you’d love to dive into in the future?
Growing up, I sang in several choirs, played trumpet and still fiddle around on the piano from time to time. I’m always talking about making music of some sort, an EP or album, and it’s something I want to make happen at some point. I’m also excited at the prospect of getting into interior design. A long-term dream has been to do visual direction of some sort on a short or feature-length film.
You formed the studio The Young Never Sleep. What do you see as the pros of solo work vs. the pros of collaborative work?
The pros of working solo or collaboratively, to me, can also be the cons. It’s great, to a degree, to be in complete control of a project but it’s also very important to have outside input. More so than having outside input, I think it’s important to understand and gauge whose input is valuable and whose isn’t. Listening to the right people makes a big difference. In the same way, doing collaborative work has the benefit of a diverse base of perspectives and input. However, it’s really easy to slip into a “too many cooks” scenario, so balance is so essential to that process.
Do your parents understand what you do for a living?
I was raised for the most part by my mom and she’s always been super supportive of my work. I don’t think she really UNDERSTANDS a lot of it initially, but she understands me and whenever we get into a conversation about what I do or the ideas behind what I create, it makes a lot of sense to her. I think she and other members of my family recognize that I find a lot of self-value, identity and even companionship from the things that I make, so even if they don’t fully understand the what’s or why’s, they’re happy to see me making.
What moment or project in your career so far has made you the proudest?
The project so far that’s made me the proudest is the apparel and accessory series I produced for Cartoon Network. It was a self-initiated project and my very last while working full-time at the network before leaving this past spring. I sought out to connect Cartoon Network with Print All Over Me, whom I’ve worked with on several previous occasions, in a way that would bring some new life and a fresh perspective to the network’s consumer products. I designed the apparel and accessories, then had them produced through Print All Over Me. I developed the concept and directed the shoot, styled the models and constructed a set to compliment the clothing. It was a pretty involved endeavor and took a lot of work to pull off, but in the end it was totally worth it. My experience at Cartoon Network was incredibly rewarding, so to leave with this as a final project was sort of a way of saying “thank you” to everyone on the creative team there.
What do you do when Not Working?
I’m usually working haha. If I’m not working when I’m not working, I’m usually reading some article about quantum physics or biotechnology or social injustice. Either that or watching really bad movies like Tremors or some other B horror movies from the 80’s - 90’s. I also like to dance. A lot.
Who are some other WNW members you admire, and why?
Joseph Veazey and Chris Golden. I know them both personally and have worked with them in the past. They both have wonderfully unique visual styles and create high-calibre, cross-disciplinary work. It’s awesome watching them grow as creative peers and I always feel constantly challenged by the work they produce. I think the way our society is structured, in this overly-competitive way, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s room for everyone to be successful if they work hard at crafting their own individual voice. So it’s rewarding to have this healthy competitive/collaborative relationship with Chris and Joe. It’s exciting to see them succeed and grow.
What song always gets you in the creative zone?
If you weren’t a designer, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
Something in science. Biology, astrophysics, teaching. I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer when I was in elementary school.
Any tips or advice for fellow creatives?
I’m not sure I have much in the way of advice for other people. We’re all learning and take unique lessons from our own paths. Trust yourself, trust your own journey. Stay constantly immersed in the kind of work you want to see yourself creating. Define and continue to redefine your own meaning of success and seek that. Those are some things I constantly tell myself.
BONUS ROUND!
Two Truths and a Lie
Near-death experiences can be explained by new research on the abnormal functioning of dopamine combined with the extreme fear of dying and the loss of oxygen and blood flow to the eyes. The ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and out-of-body experience are due to the combination of chemically induced hallucinations and preconceived notions.
I like burritos.
Astrology.
Last 3 things You Googled
Choppa Style
Wrap Magazine Issue 11
Mega Bus from San Jose to San Francisco
Top Pop Culture Influences
Cities you’ve lived in, summed up in one word
Cleveland: home
Atlanta: friendship
San Francisco: refreshing
Things you would tell your high school or early twenties self
You’re going to fall in love a lot. Be patient.
Save your money dude.
Anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t asked?
I think that’s all. Check out my blog?
Are you a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share? Email us!
WATCHING NOT WATCHING: THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW
WATCHING NOT WATCHING: THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW
In the last installment of Watching Not Watching, we interviewed WNW Member #2772 Sam Taylor about his favorite show, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The consensus was that It's Always Sunny captured human depravity and selfishness at its finest. So where does that leave The Eric Andre Show? WNW Member #2819 Kyle Platts, a big fan of the show, answered this question and others, and shared an original illustration. Kyle helps us dissect a show that somehow manages to attain an even superior level of depravity, moving into the full-on grotesque. And each frenzied episode clocks in at only 10 minutes! For those who have yet to see an episode, Kyle nails it with this description: "It’s a great show because it doesn’t have any inhabitations. What they have done is taken the tired talk show format and spiked its drink with acid."
Do you tune in and watch The Eric Andre Show weekly on Adult Swim or do you binge online during vacations?
I don’t really have vacations much but yeah I binge on it hard. I think I’ve seen all of them now so it’s just a case of watching my favourite ones over and over again. One of my favourite moments is when Tyler, The Creator is a guest and Eric tells him his dad is here, and his dad is this creepy mutant looking white dude hiding in the rafters, and Tyler cries. That makes me crease every time.
What is it about The Eric Andre Show that draws you in?
I honestly feel like the show was written just for me and my friends. It’s pitched so perfectly and is the type of humour that makes me laugh uncontrollably in my most unreserved embarrassing laugh. The intensity is what I enjoy, the editing and timing is so perfect too, and I love how each show is all crammed into about 10 minutes.
There are plenty of bad shows trying to be good. But only a handful are good shows trying to be bad. Do you prefer this brand of inverted art that has a camp sensibility?
I mean sometimes it’s great to have good shows that are trying to be good shows too, but yeah I love how The Eric Andre Show has this low budget aesthetic and ‘not giving a shit’ sensibility. The best thing about it is the way it has that jovial look, but it’s actually really self aware and considered. It’s a great show because it doesn’t have any inhabitations; what they have done is taken the tired talk show format and spiked its drink with acid.
Your illustrations often capture humanity at its most comically repulsive. As an artist, how do you approach the grotesque while also letting your audience know you're in on the joke?
There are no mechanisms I use to achieve this that I can describe, I just think it’s something that seeps into my work via osmosis because I have a certain humour and it just comes out in my work.
Do you consider an artist's intention when evaluating their work, or do you let the work stand on its own?
The motivation for an artist is important for me and I think a lot of the time with good work you can see the intention without having it explained to you. I recently saw a Rashid Johnson exhibition here in London and immediately you can tell that he is politically driven in the tone of the work.
Is The Eric Andre Show, and television in general, a source of creative inspiration or escape for you?
I don’t watch shows as a form of escapism, I feel really conscious about using time wisely so I like everything I watch to either be inspirational, funny or informative. But having said all that, I watched Taken 3 the other day and loved it. I suppose that would come under ‘funny’ though.
What other shows/films do you recommend to the WNW community?
I just recently watched The Raid 2, which is incredible. It’s probably the best film I’ve seen from The Raid franchise this year. Every fight scene is so intense and it just keeps turning up from scene to scene until by the end you feel like your head is going to explode. Also The Lego Movie; don’t let anyone tell you it is not the best film ever made. Liam Neeson’s voice as the good cop is so funny to me.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Yeah if anyone has suggestions for a good low fat alcoholic drink that would be great. I’m an illustrator and I sit drawing at a desk all day, so I’ve realised that if I keep drinking beer at the rate I am now I’m going to start looking like John Belushi pretty quick. Please send suggestions to platts.kyle@gmail.com.