Channel Frederator Blog

We’ve all had days like this. With The Struggle, Frank Forte reminds us about the spirit of the human condition. We follow a poor guy who gets knocked around by life. Like Rocky, if he wereJerry Lewis.
I first heard of Frank Forte through his artwork and stories in the comics industry, when I was working for my mentor in the comics field, The Most Dangerous Man In Comics: Hart Fisher of Boneyard Press. It was always fun to see what of Frank’s Hart would publish next…

1) You got your career started in Comics Frank. How long were you in the Comics game, and when and how did you break into the animation field?
I had a small one pager published in Cerebus Weekly. It was a contest Dave Sim was having. Years later I got published with Cry For Dawn. I talked with Joe Monks about self-publishing and he gave me the inspiration to start my own company Studio Insidio, where we published four issues of From Beyonde, a horror anthology. After that I did some short horror tales for CFD, before going back into self-publishing with Asylum Press. We’ve got some great boks coming out this year: Warlash:Dark Noir, Undead Evil, The Asylum of Horrors, DTOX, Steve Mannion’s THE BOMB and maybe a few others.

1a)How long have you been animating?
I’ve worked in animation since 1997. I did some 2D work in interactive, before moving to L.A. to work in feature and broadcast. I’ve worked on L’il Pimp (Revolution Studios), Kid Notorious (Comedy Central), HIHI Puffy Ami Yumi; The Mr. Men Show (Renegade Animation), I’ve done various commercials for KA-CHEW. I also worked on the new BEWITCHED movie. We re-did the classic animated intro for the TV show at Toonacious. I did some animation and clean-up for that.

2) Where did you get the inspiration for The Struggle?
It was just something I was thinking about for years. It’s a take on life and how you just keep hitting obstacles no matter what you are doing. And no matter how far you get, more keep coming. You can’t get away from them. A loy of people can really relate to the short.

3) What has been your biggest struggle in life?
Waking up in the morning is tough. Trying to get my comics published has always been a challenge. Trying to get my partner, Gene McGuckin, to do some new 2D animation for The Cletus and Floyd Show. That’s tough. Trying to advance in my professional life. That’s what the film The Struggle is about.

4) How long did it take you to produce and animate The Struggle, from start to finish?
It was hand drawn on a Wacom tablet in Flash. I reused the run cycles, but I wanted a rough pencil test type look. I used stock sound effects for most of it. I would say all in all about two weeks total. That’s with retakes, and adding sound, editorial, etc. Then I submitted to film festivals to get some exposure. It was an official selection at The Boston Cinema Census, The Staten Island International Film Festival, The Comicon International Film Festival, and The Big Bear International Film Festival.

5) What are you working on Currently, and what’s next for you Frank?
I am currently working on my next short film entitled “The Alphabet”. It’s going to be a bit more refined. It will have more slapstick. More impacts and hits to the head. All in good fun. I am also updating my GOON CARTOONS channel on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/GoonCartoons. I working on a bunch of shorts, but I am also posting the process; pencil tests, storyboards, animatics etc. Gene McGuckin and I are almost done with the Cletus and Floyd short. Besides that I run my publishing house Asylum Press. I am gong to put out four books this year. And I recently got into the apparel business. www.atomicmadhouse.com. Check it out.

6) Where can we find your films on the web?
http://www.youtube.com/GoonCartoons
http://www.youtube.com/asylumpress
www.frankforte.com
www.asylumpress.com
www.warlash.com

Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions Frank! We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more of your work!
Cheers!
To learn more about my comic book Past, Click Here.
-Jeaux Janovsky