Channel Frederator Blog

Frank Thomas, Floyd Bishop, and Ollie Johnston

Channel Frederator asks filmmaker and Channel Frederator blogger Floyd Bishop about his career and work.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Floyd Bishop: My degree is actually in graphic design. I taught myself animation by reading lots of books, watching lots of films, working through tutorials, and seeking out people in the industry to help me learn more. The mentoring of others has really pushed me to learn as much as I have so far. Some of these people included Doug Sweetland who gave me lots of great feedback early on when I was still in college. I would send him my reel, and he would send me feedback. He was super patient and very helpful.

I met Jan Pinkava at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 1998 and got to work on a stop motion film with him (“67”) during the festival. I picked his brain as much as I could over the week of the festival. He was nice enough to send me a copy of the film once he got back to Pixar.

While working on the film Ice Age, I met an animator named Tom Bisogno, who also worked on Tron. After we (and many others) were laid off from Blue Sky, Tom and I started working freelance jobs together. He helped instill a hard work ethic in me when it comes to production. He also told me many stories of the earlier days of CG, and how everything kind of mushroomed from just a few small pockets of CG scattered across the country.

After Ice Age, I was at a crossroads in my life. I wasn’t sure if I should stick with animation as a career or not. I ended up contacting Frank Thomas to ask if he would look at my work and tell me what he thought. He told me to stop by his home if I was ever in the area, so my friend Tom and I booked a flight from Connecticut right away! While at Frank’s house, Ollie Johnston came over as well (he lived next door). They both critiqued our stuff and gave me lots of great advice, including what they thought Walt Disney would say. That sealed my fate as an animator. I’ve been working as an animator on one project or another ever since.

I also try to attend industry events like Siggraph and Comic-Con, and got to workshops whenever I can (Gnomon has some great ones).

CF: Who has influenced your work the most?

FB: As far as the style of animation I am inspired by, I would have to say it would be the gag driven films of the 40’s and 50’s. I’m also inspired by many educational films from places like Sesame Street (especially Bud Luckey’s “Alligator Prince” and “Ladybug Picnic”).

As for an individual, and this is going to sound as brown nosed as anything, I would say Fred Seibert. Pitching cartoon after cartoon to Fred (something like nine pitches, and he never picked up any of them) really taught me how to hone in on an idea at its core, and then slowly build it up into something entertaining. I’m still learning that bit, as I’ve still not gotten anything picked up. He also got me blogging on a regular basis, which has forced me to get into animation even more on a base level. I have to blog about something, so I’m constantly looking for a bit of animation related information to pass on via the blog. I’ve met a lot of great people as a result.

One final influence has been the idea that it’s better to do a lot of “somethings”, of which maybe one or two will hit, rather than one big something, which may not get seen or people may not like. That’s kind of the catalyst for this New Year cartoon. I plan on doing one film a month for 2009 and see what I’ve got at the end of the year. At the very least, I’ll have 12 cartoons!

CF: What is your favorite animation?

FB: I really like a lot of different things, but if I had to name one specific bit of animation, it would be “Ventriloquist Cat” by Tex Avery. The simple story setup, all the gags, and the characters are great. I would love to be at a level someday where I could do something on par with that piece.

CF: Do you have any upcoming projects in 2009?

FB: I work at Sony Online Entertainment as a senior character animator. The game I’m on (called “Free Realms”) comes out this year. We’ve got an incredible team of artists and programmers on the project, and it’s looking great. The crew I work with are super talented, and we’re constantly pushing each other to do the best stuff possible. You can sign up for the beta and learn more about it here: http://www.freerealms.com

CF: What was the stupidest thing to happen to you during 2008?

FB: I had to move from one house to another because the landlord needed to move back in. While it sucked at the time, and seemed really stupid, we ended up getting a much larger and better place. We’ve got a hot tub at the new house, so what started off as a stupid thing turned out pretty well.

Thanks, Floyd!

You can scope out “The Ditching of 2008” right here on Channel Frederator!

– Bailee DesRocher