WHAT DO YOU DO?
By day I work as a graphic artist, sometimes art director, for the Multiplatform team at Disney Channel. We create music videos, title sequences and original short form content to support and compliment Disney shows (both live action and animation).

By nights and weekends I work on my own short independent films. My most recent film Floreana is about evolution and the end of humanity. It’s currently screening at festivals around the world. At the moment I’m chipping away on an experimental pencil on paper film about tension.

WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?
Well that’s a tough one! I think I just can’t help it. I didn’t get into animation until I was in my mid 20’s, so it still feels very fresh to me 10 years later. But I had tried my hand at various types of art and design trades before that, including industrial design, graphic design, photography, painting and making comics. In the end I stuck with animation the longest because I think the ideas come into my brain most naturally are best suited to the format of animated films. I love that I can completely control an experience for just 3-4 minutes. I also like that nowadays it’s easier to get an animated film in front of a lot of eyeballs (something that I found harder to do with making comics or painting for example).

WHAT / WHO INFLUENCES YOU?
When I was a kid I would spend hours on a swing set, just swinging back and forth and imagining make believe episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or my own made up shows or whatever. As soon as I get my own house I’m definitely going to install a swing set in the back yard, but until then I find similar inspiration in walking around, taking long bike rides and long hikes.
I’m influenced by artists and directors who can take mundane everyday life and combine it with or morph it into absurd, dream-like or even nightmarish scenes. Some of my favorites are Franz Kafka, Chris Ware, David Lynch, Jonathan Glazer and Jacques Tati.
Animation-wise, my main inspiration comes from early UPA, Norman McLaren, Piotr Kamler and Disney’s Dumbo and Pinnochio.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
My last film had some not so subtle environmental messaging woven into it. I want to keep making films that address climate change, the damage humans are doing to the earth and all that stuff but do it in more clever and subtle ways. I also want to get more experimental in how I construct my films and work more from my subconscious and intuitions.
I’ve been getting a bit exhausted lately of making work that can only be enjoyed by sitting in front of a screen. I have another long term goal of making analogue animation toys that require no screens and very little electronics. They would be playful and interactive and bring animation out into the world beyond the screen.