In our 59th podcast we interview animation veteran, Simon Otto. Simon has been working in the industry for over two decades, and the majority of that time at Dreamworks Animation. He joined the studio in 1997 to work on their first animated film, The Prince of Egypt and most recently finished as the Head of Character Animation on the third installment of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. Last month, Simon decided to leave the comforts of Dreamworks Animation to pursue personal goals. It was a real unique opportunity  and pleasure to get him in on this interview.

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In our 58th podcast we interview technical animator Andy Kephalidis. Andy's career began 6 years ago at Ubisoft on the Watchdogs series and a Farcry title. While working on his yet to be announced project at Eidos Montreal, he has also taken up the hobby of Unreal Engine 4, which has quickly become his obsession. With the knowledge he has gained working in the Unreal engine, he'll be teaching our brand new workshop titled, 'Animation Integration in Unreal'. Andy's passion for the Unreal engine and the game industry as a whole is evident in this interview.

Andy Kephalidis Bio | Animation Integration in Unreal Workshop | Animation Bootcamp: An Indie Approach to Procedural Animation

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In our 57th podcast we interview animator Brendan Body. Brendan has worked around the world, switching between animated features and Visual Effects. Some of his film credits include four of the Harry Potter films, Hellboy 2, Pacific Rim, and Legend of The Guardians. The theme of flight has run throughout his career, having brought to life various birds, pixies, dragons, a Hippogryph, and giant flying kaju. Brendan will be teaching in our Creature animation workshop 3, Flight School and Fantasy Creatures. This along with his love of animation made this a fantastic interview!

Watch Brendan's reel.

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In our 56th podcast episode, we interview animator Jason Keane. Jason is a Calarts Alum who got his start in animation learning how to draw and traditionally animate from his uncle, Glen Keane, a long time Disney veteran. Jason is an animator currently directing an independent short film. He recently left Blue Sky Studios after 5 years, animating on such films as: Epic, Rio 2, The Peanuts Movie, Ice age 5, and Ferdinand. It was great to hear Jason's insight about the industry, how he got into animation, and his excitement to be teaching here at iAnimate.net. Listen and share the podcast.

Watch Jason's reel.

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In our 55th podcast we interviewed Bruce W. Smith. Bruce has worked in the animation industry for for over two decades, is the creator of Proud Family, worked at at such studios as Walt Disney Animation Studio, Don Bluth, and currently at Warner Bros. He's been a character designer, viz dev, director, and supervising animator. He helped in the character design of Dr. Facilier for The Princes and the Frog, a character he also was the supervising animator on. This is a podcast we won't want to miss.

Watch: Bruce Smith - Drawing Dr. Facilia | Back To Never Land

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In our 54th podcast we did a roundtable interview with four artist, three of whom are iAnimate.net instructors, about an art festival that took place a couple months back in Łódź, Poland called Promised Land. Promised Land was the brain child of Sebastian Kalemba & Paweł Mielniczuk, two talented artist at CD PROJEKT RED. This art festival brought speakers from around the world from such studios as Guerrilla Games, Platige Image, Blizzard Entertainment, Industrial Light & Magic, Ubisoft, and CD PROJEKT RED.

It looked like a great event, full of creativity, and at a beautiful location. Because it included a handful of speakers who are our instructors, one being the co-creator of the event, I thought it would make for an interesting interview.

Watch: Promised Land Art Festival 2017 | Event highlights

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In our 53rd podcast we interview Bryan Engram. Bryan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Brazen Animation in Dallas, Texas. Prior to Brazen Animation, Bryan enjoyed many years as an animator & director of studio animation at Reel FX. Brazen Animation recently made a big splash in the animation community with their 'Tempest' teaser. It was a great demonstration of the studios artistic and technical skills, as well as it's ability at story telling. It was great to speak with Bryan about his career and philosophy, and how it has shaped what he wants to do there at Brazen.

Watch Tempest teaser

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In our 52nd podcast we interview Reel FX Animation Supervisor, Bill Haller. He's worked on and lead teams on such films as Surf's Up, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Book of Life. Bill lead the animation team at Reel FX on Rock Dog, where he worked with long time friend and director Ash Brannon. Bill has been working in the industry for two decades and had plenty of insight to share. Enjoy!

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