Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1485933
12 KEYFRAME When Chogrin was 13, his family moved to Pennsylvania. He attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a major in illustration and a minor in film and animation. During the summer of his junior year, he landed an internship at Cartoon Network, working in Burbank on the André 3000 animated series Class of 3000. "That internship was pivotal for me because I had mentors that were seasoned, and through them I found my voice and my style," he says. "It was a very transformative summer—two months that completely changed me as an artist and illustrator." At the end of the internship, he could continue on the show as a full-time employee or return home for his senior year of college. He chose to complete school and upon graduation, found work at a design studio in Philadelphia. for my first art toy. I worked with 3D sculptor Tayler Brown, and she sculpted, with my notes, a Guillermo-like tribute." The director purchased the original sculpture at the show, and Chogrin later released a limited batch of the collectible statues. In 2018, he did another del Toro-themed show, this time creating a children's book, Kid del Toro, based on a story from the director's childhood. Because he was so busy, he says, he wrote and storyboarded the book before sending it to his friend, animation Concept Artist and Character Designer Pakoto Martinez to illustrate. They made a limited printing and later reached out to the bilingual publisher Lil' Libros to publish it in both English and Spanish. Since then, Chogrin has released a Kevin Smith-themed art toy and Stranger Things merchandise, and he's directed an animated short film, Lucky Brave's Sunshine, which will premiere in film festivals next year. He has more children's books already written with plans for publication, and he ultimately hopes to open an animation studio in Ecuador. "I look back, and I have to pinch myself a little bit," says Chogrin. "All of these amazing opportunities just came from having the idea of 'I want to do this,' and then it snowballs into something bigger. I've been checking all of these things off my list, and the next thing that I'm working toward is showrunning my own show. If all of the planets align, I'll be able to hire a lot of these artists that have worked in my gal- leries over the years, so it'll be a full circle moment." Find out more about Chogrin's work at www.chogrin.com. – Sonaiya Kelley above: Chogrin's limited edition, vinyl collectible Guru del Toro. left: (from top) Chogrin with Jorge R. Gutiérrez; Kid del Toro book signing at The Academy Museum; Chogrin with Guillermo del Toro and Tayler Brown. In 2009, he was laid off. That would prove to be a formative moment in his career. "The pop culture art gallery scene was popular around that time [in L.A.], so I wanted to do my own version of it in Philly," he says. For his earliest shows, he'd send out invites to school friends, encouraging them to contribute their interpretations of characters like Batman's Joker. He moved on to bigger shows with official licenses and branding, showcasing artists both familiar and new. During this time, Chogrin reached out to the crew he'd interned with at Cartoon Network and found out they were now working on Adventure Time. "I was persistent until they gave me a job," he says. After work and on the weekends in L.A., Chogrin kept up with his art shows at big galleries like Gallery1988 and Nucleus. "Through these shows I started experimenting [with different mediums] and dipping my toe into the world of art toys and making different connections," he says. He worked on officially licensed events centered around Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Popeye, Hellboy, and Ghostbusters, among others. One of the most memorable honored the work of Guillermo del Toro, one of Chogrin's heroes, who he'd met in L.A. at various signings and events. "I got to know him more when I curated various art shows in tribute to him," he says. At one such show, "the gallery had been completely transformed into a Guillermo del Toro movie set. It was around the time when his Crimson Peak movie came out, so we themed it to that. One of the pieces I did was a sculpture called Guru del Toro that I used as the prototype 12 KEYFRAME T H E C L I M B