Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399900
FALL 2021 13 for new positions. Vurbenova-Mouri turned down the training position she was offered, demanding more because she thought that after being in the business for one year, she was no longer a trainee. "I was just so green," she says, "but I was full of energy, and I got the job." It was a big jump to feature animation, and worried she might be fired for lack of experience, she paid close attention to her fellow painters, studying their techniques. She ended up working on hits like Space Jam and The Iron Giant. Vurbenova-Mouri moved on to Disney TV at a time when everything in the industry changed virtually overnight and animators had to learn how to use computers. She remembers studying a Photoshop manual over her lunch break, and by the time she spent four seasons on Disney's Kim Possible, she'd become known for creating innovative styles. In 2005 she was nominated for an Annie Award for production design on that series. While at Disney she realized that she really wanted to art direct but discovered it wasn't easy to move up to that next level. Her break came when she worked on Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a color supervisor and then art director. "If you're good enough and persistent, and you're nice to the people that you work with—they will give you a chance," she says. Since 2012 she's art directed for a number of studios, working on projects like Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and Santiago of the Seas. While art directing is challenging, Vurbenova- Mouri feels she has even more to give and has set her sights on executive producing. She also wants to use her experience to help the next generation. "I get a lot of kids contacting me, and I try to answer them and look at their portfolios." And if she sees potential? She recommends them to people she knows, and emphasizes the advice that propelled her career—never give up. — Karen Briner Vurbenova-Mouri designates Sunday afternoons for her oil painting and says, "Art is emotion. If you paint or draw something and there is no emotion, then you haven't done your job." opposite page: Victoria. this page: Black Lace. T H E C L I M B