Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1313527
WINTER 2020 15 own career journey was fraught with difficulty. "Growing up, I loved cartoons, drawing and making comics," he says. "In high school I wanted to be a comic book artist and as I considered a career in art, I realized animation was viable." Upon graduating from Savannah College of Art & Design in 2014, the Bronx native moved back home to New York where the animation industry caters mostly to commercial work. He landed an internship, and later a job as a production assistant, at Brooklyn's Augenblick Studios, but found trouble finding more cartoon animation work. "It was tough to get into [the industry]," he says. "I remember having an awful time. I realized I wanted to go into storyboarding and do less 2D animation work so I moved to Los Angeles in 2017 and started working as a storyboard artist." He got his first storyboarding job at Oddbot Studios on the show Corn & Peg. "Oddbot tends to give that first chance to creatives that have potential, so that was my in," Singleton says. From there he moved onto the Nickelodeon show Santiago of the Seas before joining Disney Television in January on the series The Ghost and Molly McGee. Since launching Black N' Animated in 2018, Williams and Singleton have recorded more than 40 episodes interviewing dozens of black creatives as well as discussing topics from political allegory in anime to the Censored Eleven, a series of racist Warner Bros. cartoons. "I really enjoy the episodes where it's just me and Bre talking about some perspective or aspect of animation," he says. "Because we get to sit down and watch a movie and talk about how it influenced us, the aesthetic and a little bit of production history." Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to go remote, balancing work duties with the demands of the podcast has been "super tough," Singleton says. Throughout the day he juggles his podcast duties with his storyboarding work. "My mind is not that organized," he adds. "So it's a lot of trying to set a schedule for myself. It's been teaching me more rigid time management." The podcast, which has grown to include an advocacy group and organization, wrapped its third season in August, months after mounting tensions erupted into nationwide protests against systemic racism. In the animation industry, a wave of white actors stepped down from roles voicing nonwhite characters, prompting Black N' Animated to release an open letter outlining actionable steps for the industry to take to support the black animators among its ranks. "Because of the Black Lives Matter movement, a spotlight has been put onto our organization and our podcast and suddenly people are noticing," says Singleton. "Which is great, but it's also this double-edged sword because so much pain has had to occur in order for black people to be taken seriously. But at the same time, we have to be able to make good out of the bad." As the animation industry continues to wrestle with implementing and improving upon diversity and representation both onscreen and behind the scenes, Singleton says he just hopes Black N' Animated can contribute to creating widespread change. "I hope to achieve more inclusivity in the animation industry," he says. "My hope is to see more inclusive hiring practices and fewer microaggressions. And continuing to see studios hire and bring in more diverse talent and give black creatives a chance." —Sonaiya Kelley Check out the Black N' Animated podcast at blacknanimated.com/podcast "My hope is to see more inclusive hiring practices and fewer microaggressions. And continuing to see studios hire and bring in more diverse talent and give black creatives a chance." A F T E R H O U R S