Animation Mentor:
What inspired you to become an animator?

Katie Cheang:
Like all kids I loved animation at a very young age. My favorite film was Sleeping Beauty which I saw in the theater, two times on the same day; I was around 6 years old. The characters were so appealing that I thought I would try and draw them myself but had little success. I always thought it was magical that I could fall in love with a drawing of a character; that they could evoke so much emotion and they weren't even real! I think this is what inspires and drives me today and I love working with characters to recreate these magical and endearing qualities.

In the early 1990s Jurassic Park and Toy Story hit the screens, the films were fresh and amazing and opened my mind to possibilities I'd never considered before. At the time I was in university, taking random courses like art, philosophy and astronomy and having a blast, but not thinking much about a career. I loved art and computer science, but it had never occurred to me that animation was a career option. After watching Toy Story, I discovered a 4 month animation course at my university's architecture facility and enrolled right away. Before I even finished my bachelor’s degree, I was offered a position as a character animator and the rest is history!

Katie Cheang:
I used to think that I should have attended a better school designed for character artists rather than, well, architects. But I think that there was little available at the time. Instead, I learned the art of animation on the job working with amazing and talented directors and co-workers. The industry is very generous and animators share their discoveries and knowledge because of their love of the art. The only other thing that I might have done differently was study more live action footage in slow motion earlier on - especially performances by my favorite actors.

Katie Cheang:
The last character I animated – Bolt – was a ton of fun. He was so cute and endearing to me and internally conflicted. In his TV world he was confident and heroic but in the real world he was confused and naive. I enjoyed capturing those qualities in his expressions and gestures. I also thought he was simply irresistible when he was lit and rendered.

Early on in my career I also enjoyed animating a set of characters from 3-2-1 Penguins. It was a small production but the character designs were cool. We had one really fat penguin, a super skinny one, a short and stubby penguin and a muscle head penguin. The rigs were easy to work with, very squashy and stretchy and allowed for some fun posing on what were some outrageous personalities.

Katie Cheang:
My first animation job was for a Canadian television series called Monster by Mistake. It was the first fully CG animated production created in Toronto. The story was cute – about a little boy who would turn into a big blue monster whenever he sneezed. The project was a blast because we were a small company located in downtown Toronto and most of us were new to the industry and working together for the first time.

Katie Cheang:
I’ve had so many amazing influences in my career and worked with such talented and inspiring artists that it’s hard to name just one mentor. I will say that early in my career I had two animation directors, Glenn Sylvester and Peter Lepeniotis that stood out. They had just returned from Los Angeles, Glenn from ILM and Peter from Disney, and had animated on projects like Mighty Joe Young, Men in Black, Toy Story 2 and Dinosaurs. At the time, the more experienced animators at our studio had about three years under their belt and no feature film experience. When Glenn and Peter arrived it was like a breath of fresh air and they rattled the system and set higher standards. I remember they had so much to say and were hard on us, which believe it or not, was new. But as hard and demanding as they were, they were very supportive and enthusiastic. What they shared was a love for animation that I hadn't seen before. What was once a job that was fun became a lifelong passion and has helped get me to where I am today.

Katie Cheang:
The Animation Mentor experience has been simply amazing and provides a great opportunity to give back to the next generation of über-talented artists. I'm inspired by so much of the raw student animation, where there are no professional storyboards or layouts to speak of. There are so many good ideas and it’s simply fun to work with animators from all around the world.

Katie Cheang:
I think all the tools are great, especially the ability to draw over a student’s animation. I think that is essential. I really like the forums and the critiques section where students can get feedback from just about anybody on their work. Some of the best feedback in my career has always come from my fellow coworkers in the trenches. :)