Channel Frederator Blog

Sam Niemann

“Ruby Rocket: Private Detective” co-creator/director/animator Sam Niemann gives Channel Frederator the lowdown on why he’s got no problem with being a “late bloomer” to animation and why his arch-nemesis shall not be named…

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Sam Niemann: I came to animation later in life. I studied painting at the Kansas City Art Institute and graduated with a BFA in 1991. About 7 years after graduating, I got a job doing digital cell painting at a software company, and within the year I was a lead animator there. Though it wasn’t actually an animation program, my training at art school seems to have prepared me well for animation.

CF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?

SN: Growing up, I loved Warner Bros cartoons and Disney features. Chuck Jones was probably the first name in animation I could identify by just seeing some of the cartoon. The Jungle Book was always my favorite Disney film. Since my animation education is so incomplete (see above answer) I’m only now learning who those people were and how they did what they did.

CF: What are your favorite films/filmmakers?

SN: I can’t say absolute favorites. It’s always shifting. The last movies I really loved were Persepolis, Triplets of Belleville, and The Iron Giant.

CF: What was the first animation you ever saw?

SN: Impossible to say. I grew up watching cartoons every day. Probably some bit of simple animation on Sesame Street (which premiered the year I was born).

CF: Who or what is your arch-nemesis?

SN: Naming him would only give him power.

Thanks, Sam.

Watch “Ruby Rocket: Private Detective” in this week’s episode of Channel Frederator below.

– Bailee DesRocher