Straight Ahead Animation Podcast

Kevin Casas is a Latinx production coordinator and writer working at Nickelodeon studios! He studied Graphic Design in undergrad, and had no idea that production existed in the animation industry. As a graphic designer Kevin built skills in pitch packaging and communication, both of which translated into his role as a production coordinator. Kevin shares what duties are expected of production on C...

Karolyn Schenewark-Moses is a Mexican-American artists working in Development at Nickelodeon. From intern to Production Coordinator, Karolyn tells us about what it's like to work in development, and what crucial role this department does in an animation company. Having been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, we talk about how her disability has affected her life and goals, but also about how the diagnos...

Meet Harley Knife, a First Nations (Cree) artist who has been animating for over 11 years. He shares his start going from intern to full-time at YetiFarm Creative (now called Artists Animation Studio). He candidly shares his experience living with depression and grief, and how it has affected his work in the past. We touch on his hopes for the future: to inspire the next generation of Indigenous k...

Making his way to the ring we have Rajkamal Singh a Punjabi-American Character Designer who is currently working as a Storyboard Revisionist. How does something like this happen you might ask yourself? Well tune in and find out how it all started by attend D23! Portfolio: https://www.rajkamalsinghart.com IG: @ruberduckyboi Twitter: @ruberduckyboi Cara: @ruberduckyboi If you enjoy our podcast, plea...

Joining us this week is Nina Robinson, a black background artist! We talk about how she got her start and how she took any role that came her way and learned and she went. Ultimately she just want to make art for the gorls and we love to see it! Portfolio: https://www.neens-world.com/ IG: @nii.naa.bean If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to...

Today we have Maritza Louis a Syilx & Secwépemc Character Modeler working in the animation industry! Maritza has experience that spans across Feature Animation, Game, VFX and Cinematics! With all this experience she has been using her knowledge to help mentor fellow native and other BIPOC artist break into the animation industry! Portfolio: https://maritzalouis.com/ IG: @_punchy_ Linktr.ee If...

Vanessa Guvele shares her experience being fully remote for the Pixar 2020 internships, juggling Youtube freelance work, and how she made the most of what seemed to be a fleeting dream... that is, until she was offered the story residency! But first, she had to complete her schooling to fulfill the dreams of her immigrant mother. Learn how Vanessa deftly navigated all these things, and got to play...

This week, we are proud to spotlight the Superhero Project: an organization dedicated to empowering youth impacted by serious illnesses, disabilities, community trauma, and other complex mental health or medical need. They interview these youths, and then design a superhero poster of them. We have the opportunity to speak with Taryn Cozzy, a creative director who also shares invaluable experience...

Ricardo Scioville is a Latino character designer, story artist, and creator of Cazadores De Estrellas/Star Chasers. He shares his experience creating a pilot in collaboration with Cartoon Network Latin America, and the project's spontaneous creation. Ricardo chats about his time on Rey Mysterio vs. La Oscuridad, shares some emotional motivations about his inner-child, and we get to try out a n...

From storyboarding to making their own comics, Chinook Cartoonist Quinne Larsen is telling their own stories! Tune is as we talk about their graphic novel with First Second Publishing and how that came about. We also chat about their love for storyboarding musical sequences. Did we mention they're also in a band? IG: @quinnecl Portfolio: quinnelarsen.net Edited by Edgar Arellano If you enjoy o...

Humble and hungry, James imparts a wealth of knowledge from his career path from production to writer in animation. We also get to chat about his dissertation on the Evolution of the Disney Princess he wrote for his Master's of humanities. And finally, we all give the well-deserved flowers to the significant others in our lives. IG: @rayoflight789 If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and...

Tune is as we talk to Manuela Escolar Gonzalez a Colombian animator who is currently working at Powerhouse Studios. We also discover that her love for How To Train Your Dragon is the reason why she decided to study at Sheridan College! Portfolio: manuelaescolargonzalez.weebly.com IG: @artisminerva Twitter: @Artisminerva Short Film: Mi Pukita Edited by Ashley Itliong If you enjoy our podcast, pleas...

Tune in as we talk to Haruka Sato, a Japanese concept artist working in Japan. Learn about all the different jobs Haruka worked until she landed her Background Painter role on an anime feature film. Portfolio: https://harukasato.com/ IG: @here_is_haruka Twitter: @here_is_haruka Youtube: Make a Graphic Novel with ME! 2024 Edited by Edgar Arellano If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate u...

Tune in as we talk to JohnTom Knight, a Cherokee Native writer working in animation. JohnTom mentions how the book We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy landed him his Script Coordinator Position on Spirit Rangers ! We also talk about how on Spirit Rangers he became known as The Lore Keeper! IG: @JohnTomKnight Twitter: @JohnTomKnight If you enjo...

Tune in as we talk to Kiana Khansmith, a Japanese/Jamaican artist working as a Director on Big City Greens at DTVA! We discuss her amazing rise from storyboard artist to director as well as her love for Team Rocket! IG: @kianamai Twitter: @kianamaiart Edited by Ashley Itliong If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our platform and am...

We are still alive! We are back with a brand new season and a brand new look! Tune in as we touch base about our animation journey and our personal lives. We also give our thoughts about the current state of animation and the use of AI. Ray's IG @radiosilence Yuli's IG @chuudles If you enjoy our podcast, please share it and rate us on Apple Podcast & Spotify. We want to expand our plat...

Time for a throwback! This is a recording from 2021 of a panel Straight Ahead hosted during Geek Girl Conline. We hosted a round table discussion with Samia Khalaf, Steph Rizo, and Li Cree. We take this rare opportunity to share some of the many different paths one can take breaking into the animation industry. We talk about personal pitfalls in our early years, and how relatable those experiences...

Kelly Lynne D'Angelo (she/they) is a Native—Haudenosaunee Tuscarora and Muscowpetung Cree—writer for animation, live action, and musicals, who also plays D&D professionally. Kelly kicks-off by telling the most insane story about how she met the producers of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia... who then gave her an internship! We get to chat about the process of Starry , a musical about...

Nicolette Ray is Native American, Acoma Pueblo, a storyboard artist and currently a game dev artist. She tells us about her strong start in animation, working for Wild Canary on Puppy Dog Pals for 5 years! We talk about work culture at Wild Canary, and the difference between working under Disney vs. Lucasfilm. We chat about her personal Native American Renaissance, as she dove into the history of...

Entering the ring this week is Joey Clift, a Native American enrolled Cowlitz tribal member, currently working as a freelance writer. Not only has Joey worked as a Staff Writer and Consulting Producer for Netflix's Spirit Rangers , he has also wrote and directed his own animated digital series Gone Native for Comedy Central. Joey has a love for comedy and has a unique sense of humor that has h...

Ashley Chung works as an Associate Animator in the video games industry! In her first job working at Steamroller Studio she was thrown into the deep end working on Mortal Kombat 1! Ashley also talks about taking additional animation classes post graduation really helped her improve as an animator. Tune in and find out more about the world of animating for video games! Portfolio: ashleychung.com IG...

Steve Sandoval talks about how he slipped into the cracks of animation. Out of high school Steve started working as a carpenter with his cousins, unfortunately was laid off in 2007 due to a recession. However, Steve took this as an opportunity to go to school to study animation! One of the things Steve loves to do is plein air paint and posting it to social media. Eventually Robh Ruppel came acros...

Sofia is a Mexican-Salvadoran American storyboard artist currently working for a studio based outside of the US. Find out how Sofia's journey in the entertainment industry shifted from live action to animation. Not every journey is a straight path, alot of times its a winding path that goes in several different directions. She worked several non-union jobs before landing her first industry job as...

Angela Sánchez is a Xicanx writer and magician with a shining personality. We have a blast talking about their work on Primos , how their work with Latinx in Animation led to the position, and about how cathartic it was to work on a Latine/Hispanic-American show. We dive back into her first gig, her time at school, and how she didn't even know writing for television was a career one could have...

Jose Hernandez is an El Salvadorean-American freelance artist for Visual Development. We chat about how he got his start doing an unpaid internship, how the industry has changed over time, and the reality of getting through the valleys of the industry as a freelancer. He takes us through his artistic journey not being able to go to university out of high school, joining mentorships, and learning o...