Channel Frederator Blog

Recent UCLA grad Giles Timms‘ film “Manifestations” is a trippy treat for the eyes and ears. Here he chats with us about his work past, present, and future.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Giles Timms: I studied animation at UCLA as an MFA grad student at the UCLA Animation Workshop within the Department of Theatre, Film and Television. I just graduated this June.

CF: Congratulations!

What has influenced your style the most?

GT: Stylistically, I really like work that is stylized, textured and painterly and so I strive to include these elements in my own art direction. I think my interest in these elements comes from my background as a painter. I also find inspiration from a lot of comic book artists and illustrators such as Ashley Wood, Mike Mignola and Rhode Montijo. One of my favorite graphic novels in terms of art direction is Mr. Punch, illustrated by Dave McKean.

For animation, I love the [Read more…]

Tony Dusko (Mr. Dusko to his students) is an elementary school teacher, former microbiologist, artist, and creator of the animated Notebook Babies shorts. Channel Frederator caught up with him this summer to find out where he got his mad animating skills, how his films are impacting his students, and what he’s working on now.

Channel Frederator: What made you decide to leave the world of microbiology to pursue teaching?

Tony Dusko: Basically I was bored. And I wasn’t having any fun. When you teach kids, every day is different and dull moments are few. It is a very tough job, but a fun job with lots of rewards.

CF: You studied art and have an artistic background, but were there any pros/cons to studying animation later in life?

TD: Well the challenge of studying something later in life is that you often have a full time job, so traditional university courses are usually out of the question. [Read more…]