Animation Guild

Fall 2022

Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475854

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 11 of 39

12 KEYFRAME A PASSION TO PAINT above: Looking Down on Arroyo Burro Beach Park; opposite page, from top clockwise: Toni 053111#1 - a 25 min. figure study in oil on canvas; Network Support; Boats on the Beach; Parod with his daughter Scarlet, a huge animation fan and Chuck Jones expert who hopes to have a career involving the care and conservation of animals; Parod at work for Warner Bros. Feature Animation in 1996. Born in Northern California and raised in the Sacramento suburbs, Joel Parod always knew he had an affinity for art. Before targeted Instagram ads made pet portraits a booming industry, his mom's friends would hire him to make pointillism ink drawings of their four-legged friends. He illustrated his book reports, and in sixth grade, when he met now-caricature artist James Malia, the two would draw comic strips together. In high school, he designed the cross country and track teams' logos and T-shirts. Parod says that graduating from San Jose State University in Illustration and Graphic Design in 1994—just before the era of blockbusters like The Lion King or Toy Story—meant that "animation was never even discussed as a career." He took a job at an educational software company, while also doing freelance work like book cover illustration for St. Martin's Press. Although the company did give him projects to work on when he asked for more responsibility, it was ultimately unfulfilling. "One day, I shoved away from my desk, and I was like, 'I just want to paint for a living,'" Parod recalls. Sometimes, throwing a desire out into the universe yields results. About a month later, a former professor called to tell Parod that three animation studios THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER JOEL PAROD HAS HAD ONE GOAL—TO MAKE ART, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, FROM ANIMATION COLOR KEYS TO PLEIN AIR LANDSCAPES TO HIS OWN ALBUM COVERS. T H E C L I M B

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Animation Guild - Fall 2022