x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast

Ray Mendoza Landa and Yuki Okamura-Wong

On the Straight Ahead Animation Podcast we interview and spotlight rising Black, Indigenous, and People of Color voices that are breaking into the Animation Industry. We want our guest to share their early experiences working at their first industry job and their transition from being a student to an industry professional. We want to spotlight these rising BIPOC voices because these are the voices that will shape the future of the Animation Industry.

leisure animation & manga

All Episodes

00:47:10

76 Straight Ahead w/ Karissa Valencia: Go, go, Spirit...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/08/30

Rounding out our Special Speaker Series is Karissa Valencia: Executive Producer and Showrunner on Netflix Animation’s “Spirit Rangers”. Karissa shares what it's like being a show-runner for a children's series, how she gathered her all-indigenous writer's room, and the inspiration behind "Spirit Rangers". We also talk about how Karissa's past experience as a production intern led to her being a more mindful writer and well-rounded director. Karissa also takes us through her cultural experience as a

en

00:51:28

75 Straight Ahead w/ Servan Castillo: Animation to...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/08/16

Servan Castillo got his big break in 2013 as an intern for Titmouse Animation. Dive back with us into Servan's career as an animator, from working on Superjail and the Midnight Gospel, and how he saw the role of the animator evolve in the past decade. We talk about his shifted from animator to storyboard artist, and how even though he has such a rich history in this industry, how he feels green in this new role. We talk about his lucky break working on Vox Machina and Castlevania, and how he

en

00:48:23

74 Straight Ahead w/ Grace Han: VFX rigging

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/08/09

Continuing on our Special Speaker Series, Grace Han is a Korean-American working in Montreal, Canada as a rigging artist for the VFX industry. While the VFX and Animation industries are very closely related, and if you rig for 3D animation you can jump between both, we also talk about what's more often expected in VFX vs. Animation for a rigger. From Spiderman to octopi, we talk about what can be more interesting for a rigging artist to tackle, and how artistic flare can be brought into such a

en

00:51:38

73 Straight Ahead w/ Jalysa Leva: Prioritizing your...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/08/02

Starting out strong on our August Speaker series with Jalysa Leva: creator of the PBS kids show Jelly, Ben, and Pogo! We ask Jalysa how JBP first developed, and her journey leading-up to the opportunity for her to pitch a show. Jalysa values community and kindness, backed with her experience as an animation director, hear how she applied these to the production and what seemed to work to benefit the show. We talk about struggling with perfectionism, finding your own cultural connection, and

en

00:55:24

72 Straight Ahead w/ Jennifer Zavala Perez: Leading...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/07/26

From Muppet babies to Murder hobos on Harley Quinn, Jennifer shares her experience working in production at Warner Bros. Animation. We chat about how Jennifer brings her experience earning her BFA in Animation to production. Then how after graduation, she persevered for 2 years against the catch 22 of our industry: needing experience on the job to get the job before you have the job. Ray and Jennifer also share their experiences on a show suddenly being cancelled mid-production, and how that

en

00:55:22

71 Straight Ahead w/ Michael Rodriguez: Bringing In...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/07/19

This week we have Michael Rodriguez a Dominican-American writer currently working in animation! Michael has worked for a verity of different studios such as Nickelodeon, Disney and Warner Bros. He is also currently in development with Disney for an original animated series! Learn more about how you bring authenticity to your work and the stories you want to tell! Also learn more about to Tag POC Writers Committee! Portfolio: https://www.michael-rodriguez.net/ Twitter: @mrodrig94 TAG POC Writer's

en

00:55:58

70 Straight Ahead w/ Kimmie King: Playing Off the...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/07/05

Kick back and listen in to this knock-out episode with Kimmie King! First we dive into her latest job as a retake animator for Rick & Morty, and all the duties and expectations that come with it. Learn about the indie animation scene through Kimmie's experience working on Battu and Helluva Boss. Then jump into the world of Spongebob 360 through the eyes of an animator. Hear her story on how she became the director for the opening of Ziwe's late night show on Black Entertainment Television (BET)

en

00:54:32

69 Straight Ahead w/ Shannon Parayil: Unlimited Growth

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/06/21

Meet Shannon Parayil, an Indian-American Visual Development artist. Currently working at Sony Animation, Shannon has also worked for a variety of studios including Nickelodeon, Disney, Warner Bros, and Netflix. We discuss what it's like being on such short contracts with studios, and where she was recruited for those projects in such a short time. We dive a lot into Shannon's experience as a student, and how putting aside her own art goals to fill production roles paused her growth as an artist

en

00:57:21

68 Straight Ahead w/ FIAPF and WIA: Stories x Women

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/06/14

This week is a bit of a special episode, as we were reached-out to by Women in Animaton to feature their new initiative: Stories x Women ("Stories by Women"). We talk with Marge Dean, President of WIA; Heather Kenyon, a mentor for the program; and Benoit Ginisty, Chief representative of FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations). We dive back into our animation roots with how WIA was first established, first-hand from Marge and Heather. We learn about how programs like Stories

en

00:45:44

67 Straight Ahead w/ Aishwarya Chandramohan: From...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/06/07

Aishwarya Chandramohan is a story revisionist lead at Wild Brain studios. We discuss her role directing and mentoring her revisionist team, and her experience working with Canadian and Australian studios. Originally from Dubai, Aishwarya talks about going to school in America, completing her master's degree in character design for games, and all the twists that came with being an international student before landing on story. We touch on starting rates, our experience in interviews, joining the WIA

en

00:56:08

66 Straight Ahead w/ Ferrari Duanghathai...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/05/31

Ferrari Duanghathai Sotthisaowaphak & Tanta Vorawatanakul who are Thai Concept Artist who recently got married to one another! They talk about how they met and why they decided to pursue a masters degree at Academy of Art. We dive into what it is like to be in a relationship with a fellow artist and how they support one another. They also talk about some of the pitfalls of being a relationship with an artist and they overcome it. Ferrari & Tanta are amazing artist and individuals and it was so

en

00:47:56

65 Straight Ahead w/ Curie Lu: You Don't Always Need...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/05/24

Curie Lu is a Chinese-American, who is a Freelance Animator. She has not only worked as an animator for Powerhouse Animation's Castlevania but has also animated for Toei Animation's One Piece! In her off time, Curie is working on her own personal film Yaoguai where she talks a lot of inspiration from her own cultural background. Curie also talks about dropping out of CalArts and how she came to that decision. There is never a direct path to landing a job in this industry and we all ave to take our

en

00:45:07

64 Straight Ahead w/ Jeremy Vicentina: A Sure Bet

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/05/17

Jeremy Vicentina is an Asian-American 3D generalist working for Grover Gaming: an expansive studio that makes games for casinos. Jeremy talks about his many duties as a Generalist, the test and interview getting there, and why he chose to accept the position. There are many benefits in going into a less-mainstream facet of animation, such as job security, relocation funding, and learning on the job instead of jumping straight into a AAA company. On top of this, we have a blast reminiscing about many

en

00:58:19

63 Straight Ahead w/ Joon Chung: Write What You Know

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/05/12

Meet Joon Chung, script coordinator and absolute sweetheart. From the Sesame Workshop to his job at Nickelodeon, Joon is able to talk about his position as a Script Coordinator on the East coast of the US, and how that differs from the same position held in Los Angeles. Various other things have also helped Joon grow before breaking-in, like the Staten Island Art Grant, and the projects that can be funded by such organizations. We discuss importance of being seen in media whether that is a character

en

00:48:18

62 Straight Ahead w/ Animasians: The First of Many...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/05/03

We're kicking off our AAPI heritage month celebration with Asians in Animation! Alisha Syed (External Relations Chair) and Katie Dizon (External Relations Director) talk about the organization, its goals and accomplishments, and about its founding with a small quote from Lexie Chu. Meant as a safe-space, Animasians provides resources and events for its members, but the true strength of AIA is its community. Learn how you can be a part of it, and take advantage of the opportunities this wonderful

en

00:53:26

61 Straight Ahead w/ Ulises Alvarado Llamas: Health...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/04/26

Finally, our episode with Ulises Alvarado Llamas is here! Character designer, Vis Dev artist, and former roommate to Ray, we get down to tacks on what Uli does as a Character Designer for a 3D show at Nickelodeon. Uli talks about "Packeting", and the technical nuances between designing for a 3D show and a 2D show. Despite having such a stylized approach, Uli actually prefers designing for 3D! Wonder why that may be? Listen in to find out! But even before is job at Nickelodeon, Uli was invited to

en

00:53:46

60 Straight Ahead w/ Aerik Bertulfo: The first rule...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/04/19

Aerik Bertulfo is a Filipino-American animator at Dream View. We talk about his experience as a student transitioning to professional during the full-swing of the pandemic, which comes with certain quirks like working on a Virtual Machine. Aerik was also the co-writer, and inspiration for his thesis film: First Born. We talk about the cultural pressures, and implications of being the first born son in an Asian family, and how it has influenced his work. Developing his soft-skills and coming out of

en

00:49:05

59 Straight Ahead w/ Kayleen Acosta Rodriguez:...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/04/12

Kayleen Acosta Rodriguez is a Dominican artist and our very first Lighting guest! Kayleen talks us through what her job entails, lighting and compositing as one of the final steps in the feature CG pipeline. But of course before that, we get to know how she got her start interning for three different studios: Bluesky, Hornet, and Disney! Kayleen talks about being a CG generalist, using Nuke and Toolkit. She also talks about the many things in lighting that gets her excited, and we get into the

en

00:54:43

58 Straight Ahead w/ Zilai Feng: Finding Home in a...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/04/05

Zilai Feng is an Asian Story Artist at Pixar. Originally from China, Zilai only began to explore her Chinese identity after moving to the United States. We explore the inspiration for their Cal Arts short film, and Z's inspirations for her abstract style. We also touch on her many internships including Dreamworks, Tonko House, and Illumination (just to name a few), and her extended studying at the University of Southern California before Cal Arts. Let your worries be washed away by the compelling

en

00:58:08

57 Straight Ahead w/ Shakira Pressley: The Original...

Straight Ahead Animation Podcast ·

2022/03/29

Meet the real life Sparkle Cadet, a character from Craig of the Creek whose story is directly pulled from writer Shakira Pressley's life. Kira takes us through her incredible journey from what inspired her writing as a child, how she dropped out of college and taught herself to write professionally, and how an unlikely series of events led to her first freelance working for Man of Action. This episode is absolutely packed with information on writing in the animation pipeline from pitch, freelance,

en

136 results

Similar Podcasts

GameStar Podcast

GameStar

Bohndesliga

Rocket Beans TV

VoorWaarheid & Videowaarheid on Odysee

VoorWaarheid & Videowaarheid

Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast

Mark Rosewater

Matthew Kratter"s Bitcoin University on Odysee

Matthew Kratter"s Bitcoin University