School of Motion Podcast

One the of the hardest parts of freelancing is managing your risk. Lucky for Colin Hesterly, he's never been afraid of taking a chance. Whether it's crossing the country for a degree, landing an internship with Buck off a student film, or jumping headfirst into freelancing only three months into his career...Colin is ready to take the plunge. We finally managed to lock him down long enough to extr...

No one arrives in this industry ready to jump straight into freelancing. You don't instantly get the skills just because you downloaded the software. Nuria Boj put in the hard work—and the homework—to find and define her strengths as a designer/illustrator. Along the way, she's worked with some incredible studios and clients...including on a project near and dear to our hearts. Get ready to meet o...

What if you had an amazing idea for an animated series, but had no idea where to start? That's where Matthew Senreich and Seth Green began, chasing a funny idea across Hollywood to bring their dream to life. The end result, after 15 years and going on 200 episodes, was the legendary Robot Chicken. We sat down with Matthew to talk about his start with Wizard Entertainment, running rampant over pop...

Imagine setting out into the world as an artist, traveling from country to country, with each step in your career taking you further from home. Motion Designer Jiaqi Wang began her journey in China, but she's practiced her craft from Shanghai to Turin, Italy, to sunny Los Angeles, California. Still, she's only looking toward the future, and what tomorrow might bring. 

At some point, every artist struggles to find their voice—that unique style that makes everything they do specifically theirs. We often talk about the structure of animation, or the foundational elements of motion design, but all of that is just the groundwork for your art. To learn more, we sat down director Cat Solen to learn how she found her voice in her new Adult Swim show, "The Shivering Tru...

Adult Swim is known for shows that push the envelope for both what you  can show on TV, and how you bring your stories to life. "JJ Villard's Fairy Tales" is a twisted and hilarious take on the Grimm Brothers' famous works. In this episode, JJ joins us to discuss the incredible show, overcoming numerous setbacks, and what it was like to work with the cast of his dreams. If you're hoping for a crea...

Territory Studio has become one of the biggest players in the game when it comes to FUI work with huge feature films like Avengers-End Game and Guardians of The Galaxy under their belt. Lately, they have seen ventures into Experimental and Future Design by creating the UI for the cars of the future. In this episode, Co-Founder and Creative Director Marti Romances explains how the right mindset and...

Youtube has become an incubator for content that blurs the lines between VFX studio and hobbyists with contributors creating some pretty impressive stuff with consumer gear.  Daniel Hashimoto; AKA "Hashi" AKA "Action Movie Dad" has shown us what ingenuity, technical chops and a couple of cute kids can do with budget filmmaking. Oh, did we mention that Hashi happens to be Senior Content Creator at...

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" Director Kris Pearn joins us to discuss his new Netflix Original Movie, "The Willoughbys," how they achieved such a unique visual style, and what it's like inventing new worlds.   https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/animated-feature-film-director-kris-pearn

Studio ownership is unforgiving when you consider the great effort it takes to get one up and running, never mind operating for a long period of time. Block & Tackle is one of the very few studios that have existed since the pioneer days of Motion Design, and they are still thriving. Owners Adam Gault and Ted Kotsaftis join us on this episode and talk about how they have maintained their sharp edg...

When you see slick, cutting edge digital design being used by big brands, your brain probably conjures up images of a bustling studio in a big city like New York or LA where the cost of living is astronomical and your lifestyle is limited to your surroundings. What if we told you that that same cutting edge design was being created in small-town America where living cost is palatable and there are...

Can you imagine being so good at imagining and creating FUI that Marvel comes to you to create it for their feature films like Iron Man 2 and Black Panther? What about taking it a step further and being so good that real-world companies come to you to for consulting on products that don't even exist yet? In this episode, Chief Creative Director John LePore talks about how Perception Studios is doi...

Do you have a favorite plugin that you can't live without? Have you ever thought about who the person was that created that plugin that has saved you countless hours of work? This special episode of the School of Motion Podcast has been pulled from our Expression Session vault. It features instructors Zack Lovatt and Nol Honig interviewing Adam Plouff who you may know as the mad genius behind Batt...

Starting a motion design career is hard and leaves you with a lot of questions. There are so many hurdles that new artists stumble into; it can feel like there is no clear path forward. Joe Donaldson joins us on the podcast and breaks down how he balances work and life, all while riding a wave of continual success.

Today's podcast is pulled directly from VFX for Motion, hosted by course instructor and Stu's former colleague, Mark Christiansen. When it comes to pulling knowledge directly from the source, this podcast is the holy grail. https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/stu-maschwitz-interview

James Ramirez joins Joey in a one-on-one nostalgic trip back to the early 2000s. From a small Texas town to Los Angeles, James unpacks his career between his time at the legendary MK12 Studio to directing the Spider-verse titles and much more.

It was a heck of a year for the MoGraph industry, and for School of Motion. SOM's 2019 Motion Design Industry Survey revealed greater participation, enthusiasm, opportunity and income than ever before; and SOM's business, course curriculum, core team, enrollment and online reach and engagement grew at exceptional rates. Not to mention SOM's rebrand with Chris Do and The Futur, the brand manifesto...

Allen Laseter Talks Productivity, Passion Projects, People Management, Motion Design, Direction, and Developing Your Own Style Nashville-based animator, illustrator and director Allen Laseter didn't 'study' motion design; the famed creative, known for his bold, striking scenes and uniquely stylized characters, transitioned from live action with trial and error and online tutorials. One day, after...

Some of the coolest work in the industry blurs the line between motion design and visual effects. School of Motion's VFX for Motion course teaches you to move in and out of these worlds with ease. On Episode 79 of the SOM Podcast, we go behind the scenes of VFX for Motion, discussing in depth what went into the course's creation with the creator himself, Mark Christiansen. The developer of the Aft...

Will Johnson, creative innovator, co-founder, director and partner of industry-leading motion design studio Gentleman Scholar speaks with School of Motion founder, CEO and Podcast host Joey Korenman about the importance of passion and work ethic; the naming, creation, development, key differentiators and success of Gentleman Scholar; and much more.

Liz Blazer was a successful fine artist, but the fine art world wasn't for her. She chose to blaze her own path, telling stories through animation — like Ozzy Osbourne fighting Elton John to the death. Now a famed filmmaker, art director, designer and animator, Liz has worked as development artist for Disney, director for Cartoon Network, special effects designer for MTV, and art director for Sesa...

Haitian American multidisciplinary artist and animator Handel Eugene personifies the very best of the superheroes he's maneuvered on behalf of Marvel films: like Black Panther, Handel is a master of advanced technologies; and, like Spiderman, he has that "Spidey sense" — for what works and what doesn't. On episode 76 of the School of Motion Podcast Handel talks about how his tireless work ethic an...

To commemorate the 75th episode of the world's number-one motion design podcast, we speak with none other than Bradley G. Munkowitz, popularly known as GMUNK, a prolific Berkley-based director, designer and artist who's worked not only in motion design and animation, but also in graphic design, UI/UX, experiential design, live action direction, installation art, robotics, projection mapping, LED,...

Ryan Honey of premier motion design studio Buck talks landing a motion design job, creativity and collaboration in the workplace, and more. https://www.schoolofmotion.com/podcast/studio-ascended-buck-cofounder-ryan-honey-som-podcast