Our featured artist this week is Nicolas Prothais! (He was also our Featured Artist earlier this week at the studio.) Nicolas joined us on Wreck-It Ralph, and just finished animating on Big Hero 6! 1. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? I was born in Paris and raised in the south suburb, in a small city called Morsang-sur-Orge. I lived there about 20 years and later, I graduated from lycée des arènes of Toulouse in the south of France, a public school where I got a two-year technical degree in video filming and lighting. This school was not related to animation, but generally speaking it helped me figure out that I would enjoy working more in post-production than in lighting for live action. 2. What inspired you to learn character animation? I came very late to animation. I started 15 years ago in 1999 as a CG generalist, trying to learn and get involved in every aspect from modeling, rigging, to lighting, compositing and slowly animation. Later, I chose to focus exclusively on animation, because, I guess, I was fascinated by what my colleagues were able to do. I learned and still learn everything I know in animation from my co-workers. 3. If you could do one thing differently on your journey to becoming an animator, what would it be? Before working on an animated feature film, I had no real idea about acting. Considering that acting is the most challenging part for me, I have a lot of work to catch up on. I guess if I could do one thing differently, I would have studied acting much earlier. 4. What was your first animation job and how did you get it? What other studios have you worked at? My first job as an animator was in Sparx (a small studio in Paris) back in 1999. We animated a Canadian series for the international market called Rolie Polie Olie. The animation director was coming from 2D, and I learned some good basics thanks to him. Then for about nine years, I worked in several local studios in Paris on VFX and feature films, including Illumination Mac Guff. Every project gave me access to more and more challenging ones, until I started working abroad. I moved to Madrid in Spain, working for Ilion on Planet 51 then in London at Double Negative working on Iron Man 2, Paul and John Carter of Mars. 5. What is the most rewarding thing about having a career in animation at Disney? The most rewarding thing is to get access to great and talented animators and continue learning from them. Since I am here, my workflow has evolved a lot, and I keep having new ideas I want to explore. But also, working on movies that touch people and thinking that the next movie is going to be even better is very exciting. 6. What is your favorite animated film, and why? I think my favorite movie is The Iron Giant directed by Brad Bird. I love everything about that movie - the design, the acting, the animation and how a sophisticated story can still be fun for kids.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 22:10:28 +0000
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