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GC: Well, I graduated CalArts in 1984, and I was offered a job at a little studio in Cincinnati as an animator where I worked on commercials for three years. But I missed Los Angeles, and I was lucky enough to move back to work on a presentation for a Garfield movie, which did not sell. For I while I animated on several of the Garfield prime-time specials. I also worked on some of those later Charlie Brown shows they were doing over at Melendez, which was fun. Then they sold the “Garfield and Friends” series, so I moved onto that series as a storyboard artist. After a couple years they sold a show called “Bobby’s World,” so I was moved onto that show as a storyboard artist, and then I became a director and then a producer, which lasted for six years. When that wrapped up, I went to Nickelodeon as a storyboard artist on “The Angry Beavers.” They asked me to direct, and I moved into directing again. After that, I moved onto “Dora the Explorer,” which was brand new, as its director. From there I went to a little studio in San Francisco called Wild Frame Brain where I directed a series for them called “Mr. Baby,” and then I came back to direct “Fairly Oddparents” for four years. From that I moved on to “Danny Phantom,” and from that to “Random Cartoons,” where I am now.
JF: What was it like to be a producer and then being a storyboard artist again?
GC: It was actually my choice. Although I enjoyed producing, it wore me out. What I learned from producing was both creative and administrative, and I realized that what I really loved about this business was the creative side. I actually was offered another producing job after “Bobby,” and I turned it down – and the money – to go back to storyboarding. I was so happy to just be focusing on that, as opposed to having so much to deal with. But I think I would produce again. I wouldn’t rule it out. |
Image coutesy of Gary Conrad