The Filipino artist tells Gary Evans how he went from dead-end jobs to directing animated movies in five years
Louie del Carmen hadn’t done any proper drawing for nearly a decade. The Filipino was living in Los Angeles. He bounced from one boring job to the next, a career detour, while he tried to work out what to do with himself. He eventually decided on animation. The problem was: he didn’t know if he could still draw, never mind draw professionally. As for animation, he’d never had any training in it.
Louie had completed a commercial art degree in Manila in 1985. Making money from drawing seemed impossible in those days. So he switched to computer programming. Soon after, he and his brothers decided to leave the Philippines for America.
“I found out quickly,” Louie says, “that, technologically, the standards in the US far outpaced my third-world education. That career detour was a period in which I was kind of in limbo. I needed to go back to school if was to make a go in computers, which was kind of deflating. I hadn’t even really considered returning to art, let alone animation.”
But Louie had connections. His brothers had started working in animation. Even if he could get a foot in the door, he had no work to show once he got there. So Louie spent two years working on his portfolio, then showed his work to Klasky Csupo.
Louie got a job at the animation company in 1995, started as a character designer, moved on to storyboards, and by 1999 was directing episodes of Rugrats and Rocket Power.
“That kind of growth can only happen if the environment is right,” he says, ”and Klasky Csupo, for all its perceived weird studio style and non-traditional pedigree, was a very nurturing and supportive environment to work at. I didn’t go to animation school. Klasky Csupo was my school.”
AN ACTIVE IMAGINATION
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Denne historien er fra October 2018-utgaven av ImagineFX.
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PAINT EPIC BATTLES IN TRADITIONAL INK
Warhammer illustrator THOMAS ELLIOTT shows you how to create an epic science fiction fight scene with this step-by-step guide
CONJURE MAGIC ILLUSTRATIONS
Daria Anako demonstrates her process for creating a whimsical piece of art with some spellbinding touches
First Impressions
We discover the early influences that inspired the artist
ZBrush for iPad
GAME CHANGER The desktop version of popular 3D sculpting software ZBrush has been redesigned for iPad - and it's brilliant
BenQ GW2786TC
GET AN EYEFUL Don't scrimp out on your health with a monitor that's kind on the eyes and good for creative tasks
Huion Kamvas Pro 19
TABLET WARS An attractive pen display does an excellent job of balancing price and performance as it sets out to challenge its rivals in the mobile marketplace
DRAGON OFORCEC
Legendary D&D artist Larry Elmore explains the keys to crafting timeless fantasy art.
DUNGEON MASTERS
ImagineFX marks the milestone 50th anniversary of the launch of Dungeons & Dragons with a look at its rich tradition of illustration
Erik Ly
Gamer's haven Why the artist enjoys a maximalist aesthetic more than the minimalist approach.
2D meets 3D: How the workflows are merging
Interdimensional As VFX and animation evolve and tools become more accessible, Tanya Combrinck asks whether the separation between the mediums is reducing