Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1495163
30 cgw j a n u a r y • f e b r u a r y • m a r c h 2 0 2 3 I am a 24-year-old, full-time animator at DreamWorks Animation. I recently worked on the Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and am currently working on an unannounced movie at DreamWorks. My previous job also consisted of work for Black Adam, Fortnite, Horizon Forbidden West, and Mortal Kombat — but that's not where my journey started. Born and raised in Belgium and Switzerland, I only watched three VHS movies growing up: Spirit, The Lion King, and The Road to El Do- rado. Two of those turned out to be DreamWorks movies. My animation path started when I had to leave my family and comfort zone behind upon deciding to move away to pursue Com- puter Animation at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. The college offered a very broad view of the pipeline of movie directing and creating. We were taught how to build characters and write sto- ries, and how to handle 3D cameras and compositional elements — all the way to animating, texturing, and editing. The program is mainly structured towards finishing your senior year with a thesis film. I had also attended an additional online summer class for an- imation that was run by a Disney animator, now a Netflix director. Websites, like Animation Mentor, give that opportunity to passionate animators, even as a cheaper substitute to college programs. Whilst reminding myself animation was my main focus in college, I reached out to animators in the industry and recent successful alumni from the college I attended, such as my at-the-time-mentor at Disney. With them I frequently went back and forth with notes, tips, and draw-overs on top of my college and personal animations. Connections are a huge part of receiving (and losing) jobs in this industry. From these last few sentences, you can see how my con- nections were slowly forming and growing aer college. I stayed in touch with a visiting artist, Liron Topaz, now a director at Dream- Works, who came to my college to review the students' thesis films, and later assisted me in getting a job at DreamWorks two years lat- er. I applied twice with a very similar demo reel and portfolio, aer getting rejected the first time a year before. It is not always about your work, but timing, perseverance, and a helping hand from people you've had a positive impact on. I am very thankful to Liron and my mentors who helped me get to where I am. My most important advice would be to build yourself up with ev- eryone else around you, even if it's your college peers. They're not your competition — they're the friends and connections you have made that might help you in the future. It is a small industry! ¢ Animator Maarten Lemmens Maarten Lemmens attended Ringling College of Art and Design. Shots from Lemmens' award-winning short film "Goalie." Career Spotlight