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FWAK! ANIMATION Website: http://www.fwakanimation.com.au |
Interview
with Fwak! Animation gallery on Chaos Generation at http://www.chaosgeneration.com/gallery/fwak_animation
CURRENT
PROJECTS
What projects are you working on at the moment?
LC: We are working on Mucha Lucha Season 3 - which is 13 x half hour episodes. We have just completed a 1/2 hour pilot for Cosmic Baby; and are currently also developing new TV series projects.
GETTING INTO
ANIMATION
How did you first become interested in animation? Did you always draw a lot as a child or did you fall into this field much later on?
LC: I have been drawing ever since I was little. I loved drawing as a kid and from the time I saw my first animated cartoon, I fell in love with animation and knew that I wanted to be able to make drawings come to life. However I didn't pursue animation as a career until my mid-twenties. I used to think that only geniuses and the supertalented could break into this field.
EM: I've always drawn cartoons - just cartoons - since I was able to hold a crayon. I always saw Animation as some God-like process that only special, annointed people like Mr. Walt Disney could do. Even though I've always loved cartoons in every shape and form, it was only about 10 years ago when I realised that maybe I could have a go at this Animation thing.
What is the first character that you developed?
EM: I guess the first character I developed for Animation, was a character called 'Dr. Amoeba'. I animated and co-produced a 7minute short called 'Dr. Amoeba Does Sex!' in 1996. The character came about when I was asked to develop a character for a children's book on biology! At the time though, I had more interest in Animation than Illustration, and talked my Co-Producers into making an animated short. Dr. Amoeba has since gone on to appear in two online Fwak! cartoons.
The first characters that Lili and I developed together were those in 'Mucha Lucha'.
What skills or training do you need to get into the animation field?
LC: There are university and TAFE courses. Walt Disney TV Animation (Australia) also recruits trainees. Ultimately, it's up to each individual to strengthen their visualization and drawing skills, to impress animation studios enough to get a break. It also helps to be really obsessed, focused and patient. Animation is a very labour-intensive, time-consuming, repetitive, and anti-social process. (when you sit at a desk all day).
EM: While most of my Animation knowledge came from working in the industry, I have to say that nothing beats actually watching and freeze-framing cartoons, to see how it's done.
What’s your background and training?
LC: When I made up my mind to be an animator, I enrolled in the Enmore TAFE and did a short course. Through this course, I made contacts in the Sydney animation industry. I did lots of work experience and got my first full-time job at as a trainee clean-up artist/layout assistant. From thereon, I got work via word of mouth... working as an Assistant, Animator or Designer on short films, commercials, cd-roms, series around the industry. Basically I received all my training on the job . I've been lucky to have learnt from many talented animation directors and artists.
EM: I basically just took my portfolio of personal drawings to Walt Disney TV Animation in Sydney, and was given a drawing test. I was hired, and then trained 'on-the-job'.
Do you get involved in a lot of other areas as well as part of your work eg directing, writing, music production etc?
LC: Eddie's more of the "ideas" person. He comes up with the concept and initial designs. He works with a blank slate; I am better when I have something to work with. With just the two of us in the company, we tend to do a bit of everything. My role is mostly character design, layouts, animation.
EM: When you start up a small studio, you get used to doing every facet of the production due to necessessity. Budgets are usually the deciding factor on how many different things you're forced to take on! At my first studio I was designer, storyboard artist, Layout artist, animator, and compositor. I also did the music.
FWAK! ANIMATION
How did you guys meet and how did Fwak! Animation come about?
LC: Around 1998, I started working at Fudge Puppy Productions. Eddie was one of the directors. We hit it off and started collaborating.. When we first met, Eddie was keen to produce his own independent animated films; I was keen to keep challenging myself creatively and working on my animation skills. So we would come up with project ideas and work on them together. One of these was Mucha Lucha (at the time - "Lucha School"). We were also learning Flash/producing web cartoons at the time. A Mexican company had commissioned a web series from us; and WB Animation had optioned 'Lucha School'. Eventually it made sense to us to leave the day job and form our own company in order to focus on these projects and build a team.
What is Fwak! Animation?
LC: Fwak! Animation is a 2D animation studio that creates and produces original animated concepts.
IDEAS, CREATIVITY
How do you come up with storylines and characters?
LC: Mucha Lucha is the result of our obsession with Mexican masked wrestling (lucha libre). We thought wouldn't it be cool to make a cartoon that introduces this amazing sport/culture to kids. Cosmic Baby was inspired by Chinese Propaganda Poster art (with the chubby babies); and The Fuzz was a character Eddie created years ago that is a sort of homage to Cranky Frankie and The Rat Pack .
EM: My favourite characters are angry ones. The Fuzz is basically a surly little prick. Just like another of our characters, 'Afro Baby'. I have the most fun drawing, and writing dialogue for these cartoons.
Do you have certain themes or subject areas that come through in your work?
LC: These themes and subjects would be stuff that we're genuinely interested in, and I guess they come about through our experiences and travels. Six years ago I would not have guessed I'd be working on a cartoon about Mexican wrestlers. Six years ago, I had no idea about Mexican wrestlers.
What inspires you?
LC: Vibrant colour, sophisticated movement, good shapes, music.
EM: Sometimes we find inspiration in the most unlikely things; for 'Cosmic Baby', we saw an old Chinese propaganda poster of a baby in a space helmet, clutching a white rabbit! That was enough to get us to brainstorm that cartoon.
Do you do a lot of background research before you start work on a new storyline or character?
LC: We try to. We look out for visual reference and this could mean looking at books, movies, searching the internet or travelling to different locations. Like the times we've been to Mexico to see live lucha libre matches; or the time we went to the Minsk World Russian Cosmonautics Museum (Shenzhen, China) to collect reference for Cosmic Baby. This helps us get into the "vibe" of what we're doing.
EM: Sometimes we've already done the research before we even think of doing the cartoon. I'd known about 'El Santo' movies years before we decided to do Mucha Lucha.
Do you find characters just come to mind or do the look and personality of the characters evolve over time?
LC: Most of the time, characters evolve. We've been known to refine a character's design as their personalities evolve...
How long does it take you to create a new project?
LC: Creating a project is fast. Making a broadcast product takes a long long time.
Who are some of the animators, illustrators, cartoonists, comic artists etc whose work or style you like?
LC: There are too many! We're fans of Ralph Bakshi's films, UPA cartoons...
EM: I'm currently enjoying the work of our contemporaries, while we are in LA. It's a blast working with people like Gabe Swarr and Jorge Gutierrez. It's just a thrill to be working in the same circles as these guys.
WORK, WORK TOOLS
Could you run through a ‘typical’ day for you?
LC: I don't think we have a typical day! It used to be that roughly 20% of the day would be spent on business management and 80% of the day would be hardcore hands-on creative work. These days, it's more like 80% of the day I am writing emails and running to meetings with never enough time to draw.
What are your work tools?
LC: Pencil, paper, computer
EM: Yes - despite how the animation ends up being produced, we always start with pencil and paper.
What prompted you to get into Flash?
LC: We were thrown in the deep end! We had successfully pitched some cartoon ideas to a company - and we were asked to deliver them in Flash so it wasn't like we had a choice. With time, we just fell in love with the process. The fact that it was such an efficient, time-saving, cost-effective method of producing animation where only a small team is needed.
What are some of the resources you refer to? eg websites, books etc?
LC: Do you mean for Flash? - Flashkit, Were-here forums...
EM: For character design, you can't beat the Pictoplasma books and website. Also sites such as 'Cartoon Research' and 'Animation Blast' to keep in touch with what's out there. Also individual artists' sites for inspiration.
MUCHA LUCHA
Did you originally plan for Mucha Lucha to be targeted at a young audience and to be picked up by Cartoon Network? Or did that just happen?
LC: We definitely planned Mucha Lucha to be targeted at a young audience and it was developed at WB Animation as a kids' show. It's nice to know that adults also enjoy it.
MICROPAYMENTS
What do you think about the micropayments system for viewing web animations via the web eg Scott McCloud’s website http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/trn/intro.html, and Ubergeek http://www.ubergeek.tv/geeksinlove etc? Do you see that as a path Fwak! Animation would ever take?
LC: I'm not convinced that people would want to pay money to view animation on the web. I remember when Spumco used to do this on their website (years ago when Flash animation was a brand new thing) and I paid $1 to watch a cartoon. I think while it was starting to play, my internet connection timed-out or there was some sort of technical issue and I didn't get to watch the cartoon... so I felt cheated by the fact that I had already paid $1.
EM: Personally, I want anything we produce to be seen by as many people as possible. I think the micropayment system is catering to a select audience and is basically hiding your animation from view.
PUBLICITY, DISTRIBUTION
Do you have plans to put a lot more of your work up on your web site so that people can view your completed works anytime, anywhere?
LC: Yes, definitely. The next web movie we want to share with visitors to our site would be our "Super Mahi Tiki" short. Stay tuned!
Is entering animation and short film festivals etc important and why?
LC: Yes, it's a great opportunity for exposure, especially when the animated film isn't suitable for web or TV broadcast for whatever reason.
L.A.
What is L.A. like? Will you be based in L.A. for some time? Is it very different to Sydney? What other places around the world do you like?
LC: L.A. is fun and can be intense. All the cliches you hear about Hollywood are true. There is ambition, competition and desperation amongst so many talented people. Everyone has a project they are pitching (or several). We plan to stay here for as long as there is Mucha Lucha production happening, or until our US work visas expire. Sydney feels incredibly laid-back compared to L.A.
Other places we like: New York City, Hong Kong... (we're such city people!)
OTHER
What do you like doing in your spare time?
I'm a bit of an internet junkie. I read blogs, write blogs, check out discussion forums, surf, email, download images and music... And shopping, of course.
At the moment, we are spending most of our days involved in the third season pre-production of Mucha Lucha. What spare time I have, I use to work on other Fwak! ideas, and to see as much of LA as I can, while we're here.
What are some of your favourite animation films, websites, blogs, music, books, magazines etc?
LC: Here are some current favourites...
Animated films: Triplets of Belleville
Websites/Blogs: Too many! Amazon, Art of the Mix, Animation Blast, Jean Snow, Eye of the Goof, ... & of course, Chaos Generation!
Music: Arling and Cameron, Comoestas, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Ursula 1000
Books: Anything by Harumi Murakami. Salon.com: Wanderlust
Magazines: I don't buy magazines as often as I used to. It really depends on what catches my eye on the newstand if there's a particular article(s) I want to read. Some faves: Giant Robot, Colors, From Parts Unknown, Juxtapoz, etc.
What prompted you to started a blog?
LC: I wanted a "News" section for the website which could be easily updated, separate from the Flash site. Notice there is always fresh content even though I haven't updated the main website in 2 years :) I had stumbled across someone's Xanga site and thought why not - this looks easy enough for someone with no HTML knowledge... I think the fwak blog has now evolved more into a travel diary... which is a great way to share our LA experiences with friends back in Oz.
FUTURE
Where do you see yourselves and Fwak! Animation going in the future? Ie 3-5 years time and beyond?
LC: I wish I could see ONE year ahead :) In the future, we hope that the content we are working on will continue to be something we are passionately interested in. We definitely want more money and the opportunity to sink our teeth into a big project.
Do you plan on writing a feature film some time in the future?
EM: Count on it! We've already written one draft of a feature length script we hope to produce.
Do you think you’ll always be in the animation field or do you think you may try some different careers?
LC: It's hard to know. The animation field is so vast... there are so many things I want to learn and explore within this field.
EM: Animation is actually my second attempt at a career! Who knows? I feel like I'm just getting started...
Fwak
Animation website: http://www.fwakanimation.com.au
Fwak blog: http://www.xanga.com/skin.asp?user=fwak
About CG | Editor: Kirsten Lowe | PO Box 559, Broadway 2007, Sydney, Australia
Ph: 0410 310 238 | Fax: +61 2 9816 3320 | Email: kirsten (at) chaosgeneration (dot) com