Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/22819
higher learning By BARBARA ROBERTSON BarbaraRR@comcast.net Living the animation dream G LENDALE, CA — Could anything top a career in which you are doing exactly what you dreamed about when you were a child? A career, say, that puts you inside a feature animation stu- dio after growing up with such beloved films as Aladdin, Lion King,Toy Story, and then Shrek. Winning an Annie Award might be better. This animator pushed his skill-set further by going back to school … online. Just ask Animation Mentor alumnus Philip To. Earlier in the year, the 27-year-old animator received an Annie for the best character an- imation in a television production for his work on DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space, which aired last fall. “I was flabbergasted,”To says. “I’m still dumbfounded.” It’s definitely been a quick trip to the win- ner’s circle for someone who didn’t know he wanted to be an animator until, well, he was. “In early high school, I took art and drawing classes,”To says.“But, later, I concen- trated on math and science.When it was time to choose a major to go on to univer- sity, and my friends were picking accounting and computer science, I just couldn’t see myself doing that. So, I picked something by chance and hoped it would work out.” The course To chose at the University of New South Wales–College of Fine Arts in Sydney,Australia, resulted in a bachelor’s de- gree in digital media.There, he studied pho- tography, sculpture,Web design and a little animation.“I learned enough to get a job.” That first job was creating cinematics for a game company. At his second job,To did animation for another game company. “It wasn’t for me,” he says,“too mechanical and not enough performance.” Even so, a lead animator there,Tim Goldsby-Smith, saw To’s potential.When Goldsby-Smith moved on to The LaB Sydney, a post production house, he paved the way for To. Philip To: “I had always wanted to work on feature animation,” he says of his a job at DreamWorks. “Tim managed to get me on board with- out going through a hiring process,”To says, “which is lucky, because I probably wouldn’t have gotten the job.” And, in fact,To was in way over his head. He joined a group of approximately 25 ani- mators producing the Erky Perky children’s TV series.“I had to hit the ground running,” he says.“We were doing 11-minute episodes, all performance-based stuff, which I had never done. So, I struggled. I worked a lot of late nights trying to keep up. It was a tough slog.” LEARNING CURVE That was in 2004.When Animation Men- 42 Post • January 2011 tor introduced its program in 2005, To jumped at the opportunity.“I was stoked,” he says. “I could learn from people in the biggest studios in the world.” The first Animation Mentor class ex- ceeded his expectations.“It was a huge step- ping-stone,”To says.“That class alone pushed my work from moderate to good. I’d never understood what spacing was, or tracking and Girones had never met; they had con- versed only through e-mail and chat, but they ended up sharing a flat in London. “You know,Animation Mentor talks about the mentors and their great teachers from places like Blue Sky,DreamWorks, and Pixar,” To says,“They don’t sell the social aspect. But, that’s really strong.You see each other’s work and get to know each other through online This Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Spaceproject won Philip To the Annie Award. arcs, isolating body parts, figuring out body motion, or analyzing poses. I thought, ‘Oh, I finally really get it.’” To’s animation director at The LaB, Murray Debus, also helped. “He came from a 2D background,”To notes.“The way he talked about things made me think of animation more in a 2D fashion, and that pushed my work forward, as well.” So did his sister Vivi- enne To,now a concept artist at Animal Logic. “We pushed each other creatively,”To says. In Animation Mentor’s Class Four,To stud- ied acting for the first time.“That class made me think about performance,” he adds, “about separating it from mechanics to con- centrate on the heart of the shot, to get into the head of the character. Every lecture was amazing. I re-watched lectures.”To cites Scott Carroll, now at Blue Sky, as especially helpful. Class Five, though, was To’s last. Jordi Girones, a fellow Animation Mentor student who worked at Framestore in London, sub- mitted To’s work to his animation supervisor — without To’s knowledge. Framestore of- fered To a job. “I couldn’t turn it down,” he says. So, the animator left home and flew halfway around the world. At this time,To www.postmagazine.com interaction.You meet people who will be- come lifelong friends.That’s massive.” After working on Golden Compass and Prince Caspian at Framestore,To sent a demo reel to DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, CA.“I had always wanted to work on a fea- ture animation,” he says. “Caspian was cool, but it was more about battles and less about performance.On a feature animation, you get to do more acting.At DreamWorks, the di- rector is here every day talking about shots.” To arrived at DreamWorks to join the crews at the end of production for Mada- gascar: Escape 2 Africa and Monsters vs . Aliens.Then, while waiting to start on Mega- mind,To worked on TV specials.And, that led to the Annie for character animation in Mu- tant Pumpkins.“I had some fun performance shots with BOB, who is a really cool charac- ter, and some action shots that were physi- cally quite complicated,” he says. “But, I still can’t believe I won,”To says. “I’m pretty stoked.” Barbara Robertson is a writer and a con- tributing editor for Post’s sister publication, Com- puter Graphics World.