Profile: Gary Conrad
JF: Are there personality traits new people in the industry should foster?
GC:Well, let me say that I don’t mean to discourage taking classes. It’s always a good idea to learn new things and keep on top of things with independent study. The other half of it is that it’s always good to be known and to be acquainted with people who are on the inside. And people obviously like to work with good team players and people who have good work ethics and are simply nice to be around.
Image courtesy of Frederator/Nickelodeon
JF: Have you made any mistakes along the way that you care to share?
GC: Looking back on it, I would say there were probably times where I took it too seriously. And I have since learned that, for heaven’s sakes, we’re making cartoons, and that should be fun! But I’m at a point now where I try not to forget how lucky I am and to be grateful for the fact that I get to make cartoons for a living.
GC: As I mentioned, I used to make little super-8 movies, and when super-8 died I got some video equipment and started making little silly video projects. I’ve continued to do that, and I’m actually working on a little documentary project, just for the fun of it. I’m real lucky to do animation for a job, but the fact that there’s a paycheck obviously means you’re doing it for someone else. Doing your own personal project just for the joy of it really does recharge your batteries and is a great outlet.
JF: Didn’t lots of people from CalArts get trained solely in the Disney style?
GC: More so in 1984. One thing about working in animation, it’s important to be versatile. I do think sometimes people will look at what you’ve done and say, “oh, that’s all you can do.” And there is an unfortunate fact that sometimes people get typecast doing only one kind of thing. But I do think that for the most part, animation people find that they can adapt and move around.
JF: Drawings for film storyboards seem less on-model than drawings in TV storyboards. How important is it to draw in different people’s drawing styles?