Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/4522
November 2009 43 obera's supervisor assigned him some very challenging shots, much to the animator's delight. "It was great to animate Scrat, Sid, and Manny, characters that had inspired me to embark on the journey to become an animator," he says. Currently, the for- mer student is working on the next Blue Sky fi lm, Rio. And, he continues to expand his skills. "At Blue Sky, I am running something I call 'Gesture Draw- ing for Animators.' A bunch of us meet in a room daily and pose for each other while the others draw. It's 30-second poses and one-minute poses, and we only try to capture the essence of the poses and the forces, without paying attention to the actual rendering of the drawings themselves," Li- obera explains. "Oh, and we are clothed," he says with a chuckle. As a result of this journey, Liobera has a greater appreciation than ever for the medium. "Before I worked in it, I thought the animation industry was awesome. Now that I've been working in it, I have to say that I love it. It's even better than I thought!" So, which aspect of computer graphics does Liobera like best now, after his long and extensive journey? Not surprising, everything. "Since I moved to Blue Sky, my appreciation has grown even more, be- cause every little step is important and has to be done the right way," the professional animator adds. "Everything fascinates me, from the preproduction work to the last steps in the pipeline. Of course, my favor- ite task is animation. I love it." Despite having come so far, Liobera is not about to rest on his laurels. "I still have a lot of things to learn and experiment with in the animation fi eld," he says. "One of the best things about animation is that it is always a challenge and you can keep on learning, no matter how much experience you have. How can you beat that?" You can't. ■ Karen Moltenbrey is chief editor of Computer Graphics World. For another class assignment, Liobera had to animate characters to a selected voice track from a movie, as if they were the ones talking. Education