Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1257506
12 KEYFRAME T H E C L I M B In a career that spans over three decades, Brad Rader has worked in the animation industry as a layout and storyboard artist on numerous TV series including The Real Ghostbusters, The Simpsons and Batman. His foray into directing won him an Emmy for HBO's Spawn. He has also illustrated graphic novels and comic books and recently formed the Experienced Workers committee at TAG. For his 10th birthday, Rader's parents gave him "The Art of Disney Animation" and he fell in love with the craft. Growing up in Anchorage, AK, he and his siblings—two brothers and three sisters— all liked to draw. Rader recalls how they'd sketch out story ideas and pass their drawings around. At a young age, he decided he was going to be one of the successors of Disney's nine old men. But he soon realized, "I couldn't draw the same thing twice, let alone 24 times per second." So he took up drawing comic books, and by age 12, in 1972, his first love had been supplanted by a new one. Throughout high school and college, nothing mattered more than becoming a comic book artist. Rader's junior high school art teacher, a graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design, advised him to pursue the craft. He took her advice literally, graduating from ArtCenter in March 1983, when he set about searching for whatever work he could find in California. He heard that Ruby-Spears was looking for storyboard artists, so he thought he'd apply, despite having scant samples of storyboards in his portfolio. As it turned out John Dorman, the head of storyboard, was "super into comics" and Rader had plenty of illustrations to show him. At the time, Dorman was using people like influential creator Jack Kirby for storyboards and character design on action- adventure shows. "[Dorman] gave me my first job—God bless him— because I wouldn't have hired me," Rader says with a laugh. Unfortunately, with that job, no training was provided. Rader describes the instructions he was given on his first day: Keep the camera angle low; don't block screen directions; cut out the script and tape it down on the board before starting; and a list of a few essential camera movements. Rader turned to the other new hire, STORYBOARD ARTIST BRAD RADER ON COMIC BOOKS, ALL-NIGHTERS AND MENTORSHIP PAY IT FORWARD top: Rader holds his Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program for his work on Spawn. below: An illustration for Batman's Rogues Gallery. opposite, left to right: An activist illustration for Tex! comic book; cover image for Bent Comix; and a Gay Pride illustration.