Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538315
FALL 2025 7 E D I T O R ' S N O T E IMPOSSIBLE TO UNFORGETTABLE ROMA MURPHY ("The Need for Speed") is a comedy writer living in Los Angeles and missing her hometown of New York. She is a proud member of TAG and has worked across studios like Disney and DreamWorks. In her free time she likes to cook and have long conversations with her cat. Freelance writer and author K AREN BRINER ("Keeping Cool") grew up in Cape Town, South Africa where her garden was home to wild chameleons. Her most recent novel is Starry, Starry Heist. L.A.-based photographer TIM SULLENS has one wife, two daughters, and six cameras. Over the years, he has captured images of musicians and performers, political rallies and weddings. In this issue, he snapped "Genndy Unleashed." It's that spirit of curiosity and innovation that keeps animation evolving—pushing us to new heights in both storytelling and execution. Sometimes artistic challenges are self-imposed, born from a desire to test the limits of the medium. Genndy Tartakovsky's career has been punctuated by bold, creative projects, and in "Genndy Unleashed" (p.22), we explore some of these pivotal career moments—from reimagining the Western approach to action in Samurai Jack to tackling a series completely without dialogue in Primal. Other times, challenges come from the needs of a production—often in the form of advancing technology. In "The Need for Speed" (p.30), we steer into how artists and technicians translate high-speed car chases into animated sequences that feel real and engage with audiences in an exhilarating way. Then there are the challenges that test the imagination. Writer Jacob Moffat embraces this pursuit, not only in his animation work but also through his side business—an ice cream shop—where he experiments with fantastical flavors (p.10). It's a different kind of creative problem-solving, but just as satisfying. And sometimes, the biggest obstacle is simply getting your foot in the door. The Asians in Animation team behind the animatic pilot Tea Leaves Last (p.14) took on one of the industry's most persistent paradoxes—you can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. Their solution? Make the job themselves. What's the best part about tackling these kinds of creative challenges? In every one there exists an opportunity to transform the impossible into the unforgettable. Alexandra Drosu editor@tag839.org SINCE STARTING KEYFRAME EIGHT YEARS AGO, I'VE BEEN INSPIRED BY MANY TAG ARTISTS I'VE MET. IN PARTICULAR, THEIR HUNGER TO PUSH ARTISTIC BOUNDARIES AND THEIR ABILITY TO SOLVE CREATIVE PROBLEMS IN SURPRISING WAYS. CONTRIBUTORS