I'm Jake Ganz, leader of Studio Yotta. Ask me anything. (Part 2)

How do you keep yourself motivated as an animator?

here are some answers from a couple animators who worked on the RaM/RtJ video:

Nick Leong: it's much easier if you consider it a discipline rather than a motivation thing since motivation comes and goes but discipline is consistent. Like how you never forget to brush your teeth I hope

Sandra D Rivas: it's motivating when you work with friends, at least from my experience

as for myself, i'm not much of an animator lately, I'm more managerial now. but, if i had to say, i would say that the best thing that's helped me is keeping my eyes on the prize, whatever that prize may be at any given time. different things work with different people, but obsessing is what works for me.

How long did it take to make the video and what program did you use to animate it?

the video took about 3 months for full production, start to finish including revisions. we use Flash to animate.

What is your "easy to learn, hard to master" part of animation?

i don't have a good answer to this, but here's an answer from yotta animator JesusAcHe:

"The more I know about animation, the more I realize how little I actually know."

Where's part 5 anime?

i was just listening to an acoustic cover of "chase" and wondering the same thing yesterday...

How did you become such a good boy???

i play the video games with nice fellas who help me keep the darkness locked away within <3

I've always wondered how animators, especially ones like you guys who, individually have artistic styles that are mostly unique and don't exactly match, manage to maintain a specific visual look throughout a production like this. Is there ever concern about people not being able to produce frames or sequences that fit the guidelines for a project? How do you manage that kind of thing?

that is always a concern. it depends on the needs of the project — some projects require strict adherence to model, while others are more lax about it.

sometimes to get it totally right, one of our artists (usually Joel) will go in and lay out one key for every shot, fully on-model. when this is not possible or not deemed necessary, we'll draw up redlines and give notes.

every animator is different, and some struggle with adaptability to the model more than others. personally, i feel that if you have the reference visible, you can nail most things by just eyeballing rapidly back and forth between the ref and your drawing as you go. people usually always draw things a little different, but the most important thing to keep in mind for drawing on-model is proportion.

What do you look for in studio applicants, and do you ever hire out of state applicants who work from home?

at the very least, we look for competency and ability to convincingly "make animation", which in and of itself sounds simple enough, but even top-tier animation schools often let students pass through without teaching them how to space their drawings to make motions stop and end believably. preferably though, we're really interested in working with people who hold themselves to the same standards we hold ourselves to.

What was your favorite music video by Starbomb that you animated?

probably hero of rhyme, but simple plot of mgs was the first animation i ever directed, and smash was the first time we really went all-out, so both of those projects have good memories

What's the typical hiring process for Yotta? Can animators/artists apply any time or do you usually go looking for specific people to join the team?

we've generally left application open-ended, but I find that the best applications recently have come from our callouts. maybe we should give thought to closing up applications aside from when we specifically need new personnel... but I also really hate the thought of discouraging some total badass from applying by limiting applications to a specific time, and it has happened before.

Where do you find your inspiration?

working with good people. collaboration is what matters most to me.

I love the work you’ve done with the Starbomb songs. With the Rick and Morty video was any of the the slow pixel scenes done with Paul Robertson? I know he’s collaborated with other studios in the past and Adult Swim has hired him in the past.

there weren't any pixel scenes in the rick and morty video, but my best guess is that you're referring to the psychedelic bits in the wormhole sequence, which were done by Michelle Fus of Ava's Demon fame . . if you were talking about our Starbomb videos, Michael Azzi, aka Michafrar, has done awesome pixel animations on those. he's amazing, check him out http://twitter.com/michafrar

robertson is a legend though, always been a fan of his work

What artistic direction would you like to take animation?

i'd like to make original content.

Where is studio located and how would someone be able to become a part of studio yotta?

we're located in southern Washington. you can join by applying at [email protected] and sending in your portfolio / demo reel. if you seem like a good fit, we'll give you a shot.

Hi Jake! What challenges did you run into while starting up an animation studio? And when you’re hiring, what do you look for in reels?

running a business without capital comes with difficulties upfront, so it took a long time to get going, i'd say was the main challenge.

when hiring, we traditionally look for competency. we need to know that someone can get the job done effectively, and that's about it -- the bare minimum definition of this imo, is adaptability, solidity in drawing, ability to work cleanly, and understanding of how to space out drawings.

however, when it comes to what i'm personally looking for — i want good collaborators. i'm looking for people who want to build something and fight for a dream, and who i can get along well with

Piggybacking off of this question, would you say there's a place for illustrators in the animation industry (coming from someone who regrettably got a degree in one, and not the other)?

Also, would you recommend any tools/tutorials for people starting out in animation, that already know how to draw?

Thanks for doing this, the work you guys have put out has been fantastic! Very inspirational!

it's hard for me to speak too much of the industry, since yotta in some ways is its own thing — but if you're good at drawing and you're willing to adapt yourself and gear yourself toward a specific goal, i believe you can find work in this field.

as for resources, animator's survival kit and flash are good places to start.

Do you personally take part in animating (i.e.: do you do Key-frames, in-betweens, etc.)? If so, what is your favourite thing to animate? If not, what used to be/what do you think would be your favourite thing to anime? [E.g.: Walking, fight scenes, panning shots of scenery, fluids, etc.]

i hadn't for a while, but i actually did the other day for the first time in almost a year. i like animating effects personally

I follow your work and Im a really big fan. I aspire to work in your studio sometime <3

My question is, I dont have the option to attend animation school, but I really enjoy doing it. What is the most efficient way of teaching myself and reaching professional levels? I feel like I do a lot of dumb misktakes.

study your favorite animators closely and draw/animate as much as you can. i've said this in other comments, but i definitely recommend the animator's survival kit!

What is the most important aspect of an animation portfolio that should be nailed when applying to studios like Yotta and other independent/freelance places?

in previous responses i said competency, but to go deeper on that, i'd say 'focus'. to apply for a job is to market yourself. when people go in expecting to land a job somewhere but haven't specifically geared themselves toward researching and adapting to the studio they're trying to join, it strikes the same as it might strike you when you see a commercial on tv and wonder "who was this marketed towards? who is meant to buy this?"

maybe this sounds kind of pompous, i dunno. i'll at least say that everyone who i've seen land jobs in the industry were all clearly gunning for it and carefully gearing their portfolios to be good fits for whatever they were trying to get into.

this question is being asked repeatedly, so i apologize if my answers kind of change a bit. the truth is, there is no one most important element in my opinion... there are so many factors at play. if nothing else though, i'd say just learning to draw and animate whatever your studio of choice would ask of you is my 'real answer'.

rambling but i hope it's somewhat useful

I make digital art at the moment but I would love to get into 2D animation. What tools would you recommend for a complete beginner?

flash is the old reliable standard, and is a lot better than when i was a kid because animate CC has a nice brush. however, there are free animation programs like Krita that definitely have their perks, especially if you're already experienced in raster programs (since you mentioned you already make digital art)

animator's survival kit is also still the best book on the subject.

Who all currently makes up Studio Yotta's team? I haven't seen a staff page or any specific names anywhere. Was just kinda curious who all was involved specifically.

i made a credits list for our most recent video this morning, which should clarify a little bit:

https://twitter.com/jakeganz/status/975158005250617347

Hey Mr.Ganz, How exactly is Studio Yotta ran as an animation studio? Do you guys have a physical HQ, or are yall mostly ran as sort of a collective of internet animators/artist that submit work digitally? Seeing you guys go from starbomb videos to material like rick and morty and Ok K.O. is really inspiring. Hope yall keep doing dope stuff!

a handful of us are based in one place and work together in close proximity. many other people we work with communicate with us through online channels like e-mail and Discord.

originally we were 100% online, and that works really well for not getting destroyed by overhead costs early on, but i believe in getting people together in person, so my goal is to build a group of the most compatible, loyal and likeminded group of people in one location while supplementing with a solid community of participants online.

and thanks, me too!

Which animators are currently involved with the studio?

it alternates, but our credits give decent insight:

https://twitter.com/jakeganz/status/975158005250617347

How did you start out your career animating? Was it something you started out doing for fun, or did you always have big dreams in mind?

i started as an inbetweener. i think i always wanted to do something like this, and when i started my actual career i very specifically wanted to see my efforts grow into a business, but i would argue that things you start out doing for fun are always things you're going to do a better job at.

Oh I got 2 questions!

1st, What's a common mistake you see a lot of animators commit?

And 2nd whats your favorite RTJ tune?

1. poor spacing. varied timing/spacing typically looks better, but to an even greater extent i've had a lot of people apply and their spacing doesn't even account for settle. someone once told me that if your animation doesn't have slow-in/slow-out, the audience will not recognize it as animation. i have found this to be pretty true.

2. sorry for the basic answer, but i have a lot of attachment to "Oh Mama" after working on this video.

However, my pipeline co-director Joel/Lenkalamari's answer is "Early".

Any advice for getting work for animation without any prior work experience ?

build a demo reel and apply to places, gotta start somewhere

what are the main 3 things you’d tell yourself if you could go back in time before you started animating the video?

this is a pretty terrible answer, but to be honest if i went back in time and gave myself advice i would probably overthink everything and drastically ruin the future.

i'll answer this by providing 3 things i learned on the project instead:

1. find something you can get really focused on, or else your life will begin to lose meaning. this video gave me that something for a bit, and it reminded me of that.

2. be empathetic and self-aware, but don't let guilt cloud your judgment or prevent you from doing what needs to be done.

3. the only way to deal with anything is to just get your head into it and put your all into it. once you begin solving problems, everything will begin to get better. this is pretty corny basic advice, but what i mean to say is, "don't let fear paralyze you"

What was it like working with Ian Jones Quartley on OK-KO?

amazing, ian is the man. i have so much gratitude for him and toby — not only were our OK KO shorts the true beginning of our work in the industry, but they were also easily some of the most fun i've had working on anything ever.

Do you enjoy making things that are cringy?

i'm not a huge fan of cringe personally

Is Rick & Morty known as an Educational series? I ask this because a lot of people who watch it are apparently smart.

if you want to truly find the answer to this question, you must watch this video all the way through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO72Lg7OZ6U

if you survive, you will be blessed with understanding