Animation Mentor:
What inspired you to learn character animation?

Chad Sellers:
I didn't know I wanted to pursue animation right away. I used to try and draw Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck when I was a kid. I remember growing up and answering the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" with "a cartoonist." I didn't really know what that was -- I just knew I liked to draw. I would make flipbooks on stacks of Post-it notes, but I never made the connection that the Disney characters I grew up with were actually a lot of drawings that moved. Once I learned that people were drawing these characters and bringing them to life, I was blown away. Computer animation was fairly new, and when I saw Jurassic Park and Toy Story, I pretty much knew that's what I wanted to do. I have to thank my Mom too, for recognizing my creative potential and pushing me to do something artistic.

Chad Sellers:
Going to art school opened up the animation world to me. By the time I was done, I had an art degree but I wasn't specialized in any one specific thing. I knew I wanted to do character animation, but I wasn't prepared to do it at a professional level. I spent a lot of time after college teaching myself and finding as many resources as I could through books and the Internet. Reaching out to professional animators and getting professional feedback was a big step for me.

Although I taught myself animation for the most part, the biggest step in my training was getting an opportunity to work in a big studio where I was surrounded by pros. The real place where I learned the most about animation was on the job.

Chad Sellers:
Without a doubt I would have liked to get professional training from a place where I could have specialized solely on character animation. I realized afterwards that knowing a little bit about everything wasn't going to get me the job I wanted. It would have been great to have been handed all the information that I had to find myself slowly over the years. Having said that, although my path to becoming an animator was a little different, I think it has helped me become a better animator now.

Chad Sellers:
I currently work at Walt Disney Animation Studios where I am animating on the upcoming film Rapunzel. I recently finished animating on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was lots of fun! Some other projects I have animated on include Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five, Open Season 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Ant Bully, and Ice Age: The Meltdown.

Chad Sellers:
The funnest character I have animated so far would probably be Flint Lockwood, the lead character in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Overall, the style of the characters in this film really lended itself to animation so well. Flint was so simple yet his range was so broad. He could be incredibly subtle and it worked great, and at other times he could be more physical and extreme than any other character I have ever animated. It was fun experimenting with that style.

Chad Sellers:
My first real animation job was in video games at a place called Terminal Reality. It was a great first job, even though we used a lot of mocap, it was great to work in that creative environment and keep working on my skills. I did a lot of animating outside of work for my demo reel in hopes of someday getting to work on a movie!

Chad Sellers:
This question is a tough one for me because I never really had one specific person guide me and teach me animation. A lot of what I learned came from animators all over the Internet, and trying to recreate what I was seeing and learning on my own what made those animations so appealing. I did reach out to a few professional animators, who were kind enough to give me feedback and let me know where I was with my animation. Some whom I have since got to work with professionally and became good friends with.

Chad Sellers:
My day usually starts around 9 a.m. I like to start off with a hot cup of coffee and a trip to the cereal bar! After checking email and the daily schedule, I will usually spend the first half of the morning touching up my shot, one that has been assigned to me that week, and finishing anything I want to get in before dailies. Around 11 a.m., it's time to put your work up for show in front of the directors and supervisors and the rest of the animators in dailies. Here I will get notes and feedback on what is working and what is not working in my shot. Once I have gotten all notes from the directors I have a clear idea as to where I need to go with my shot.

After dailies it's off to lunch!

The rest of the day I get to dive into my shot and address all notes that I received in dailies. I usually spend all afternoon at my desk working away trying to get my shot as far along as I can before the end of the day so I'll be ready to show the directors my progress in the morning. Sometimes I will sign up for "Rounds" where the animation supervisors will walk around to your desk to just to check in and give you some afternoon feedback on your shot. After a long day of animating, I call it quits around 7 p.m.

Chad Sellers:
I definitely enjoy the Q&As the most. It's so great to be able to connect with people all over the world and talk to them about animation. The community at AM is so tight, and everyone is so friendly and willing to share information and support each other.

Chad Sellers:
There are so many rewarding things about an animation career. Besides the great projects I work on, and getting to do what I love everyday, I think the people and the friends you meet is really something that makes this career so great. I have met some of my best friends in this industry and they are good friends that I will have for the rest of my life.