Ray Chase:

I had always been interested in animation but never really thought about it as a career. Then in the late 1980s I went to see the film Who framed Roger Rabbit? and it really inspired me. I saw that film eight times in the theater; I couldn't get enough of it. Around the same time, the Disney/MGM Studios opened in Orlando, Florida. I would stand for hours watching the animators bring drawings to life – it was like magic. At about that point, I decided that I wanted to be an animator.

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Ray Chase:

These aren't exactly steps, but passion and persistence are the two things that got me through my animation training. I'm a self-taught animator and it literally took me years to finally get character animation figured out enough to get that first job. During my six years of applying, I was rejected from every studio you can think of. It was a tough road and at times I experienced periods of doubt, wondering if I should give up. But I loved animation and couldn't imagine doing anything else.

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Ray Chase:

It would have been great to have received formal training. Working on my own, I made a lot of mistakes and took several wrong turns while learning character animation. On one hand, it served me well because I learned a lot from all those mistakes, but on the other hand it would have been great to have had instructors that I could question and lean on. Things would have clicked sooner rather than later, that's for sure. But if I could go back in time and do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. The road wasn't always smooth but the journey turned out well. Plus, I wouldn't want to cause a paradox and destroy the universe.

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Ray Chase:

I am currently senior animator at ReelFx in Dallas. Some of the projects I've animated on while at ReelFx include Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five, Open Season 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Very First Noel. Prior to ReelFx I animated on the Jimmy Neutron film and series as well as the film Ant Bully.

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Ray Chase:

I would have to say Po. I really enjoyed the DreamWorks film Kung Fu Panda so I was super excited to work on the short that accompanied the DVD. He's such a fun character and Jack Black's reads are great.

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Ray Chase:

Well my very first animation job was at a place called FTI. It wasn't a very creative job; I mostly did animations of patent disputes and moving arrows showing water contamination. FUN! It wasn't what I wanted to be doing in my animation career, but the people I worked for were great. They gave me 24-hour access to all the SGI machines, so I would do their work during the day and work on my own tests at night. I spent many a long night creating some god awful animations as I tried to figure out what character animation was about. I did that for six long years.

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Ray Chase:

Since I was self-taught I never really had a mentor. I had a couple friends in the industry that I would send tests to every once in a while, but more or less, I was on my own. When I got my first production job working on the Jimmy Neutron movie, I really started soaking up knowledge, not only from my supervisors but also from fellow animators as well. That first production is one of my fondest animation memories because it was just so great to finally be surrounded by talented artists and animators. For the first time, I really felt like I was learning and growing.

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Ray Chase:

Since we often have multiple projects happening at once, typical days are subject to change. However, most days I will have a few shots assigned, so when I get to work I pretty much jump right in.  Depending on the stage I am in, I could be planning, blocking, or working through the shot toward a final. We typically have three milestone due dates on shots: blocking, spline and final. I'm good at managing my time, so I know where I need to be with this shot or that one in order to make sure I'm hitting those milestones. On a production like Open Season 3, when I have shots ready to show, I will be in dailies to get my notes and then I'm right back into my scenes. I try to minimize distractions and stay focused during the day so I can go home at a decent time to spend time with my family.

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Ray Chase:

I really enjoy Q&A and talking animation with the students. It's the part of Animation Mentor that I look forward to the most. I also like the sense of community within the school. Everyone is so excited and enthusiastic about the art form, which I find very inspiring.

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Ray Chase:

As animators, we create performances and that creation process is what I love about animation. I start my week with an empty scene, a blank canvas, and by the end of the week there is a character moving, thinking, and emoting. That's a pretty amazing thing when you think about it. Bringing characters to life – that's what it's all about for me.

 

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Learn more about Ray Chase: http://www.animationmentor.com/tiptrickblog/author-RayChase.html.