10 Quick with George Schermer

Ahh... my Blogger troubles continue. I was only able to get one of George's images posted for this 10 Quick, but it will have to do for now. He was kind enough to answer the questions in the first place, so I'd hate to delay this any longer. If Blogger manages to correct the issues it's currently experiencing, I'll most certainly get George's other samples up ASAP.

But enough whining from me.

In the meantime, you can visit George's Site and view them for yourself!

Now you may be asking, "But, Dave, why would I want to go to some guy's website who I don't even know?"

Well the answer is simple. George just happens to be a pretty darn good 3D artist. Better than most I'd even venture to say. Not only that, but he worked on "Gopher Broke," and "Rockfish," among other things, for Blur Studio, which makes him a-okay in my book!

Take it away, George!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you break into the business?

I'm originally from a small town in Tennessee. I guess I've always liked cartoons, but it wasn't until around junior year of high school that I found out there were people who created them and actual courses I could take to end up working in the animation industry. So, I graduated from The Ringling School of Art and Design, back in 2000. I got my first job at a small broadcast design company in Manhattan. After two and a half years there I decided to send out my reel and was lucky enough to land a job at Blur helping animate Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. Now I've been at Blur for over 3 years.

2. Which of your work are you most proud of?

Without a doubt it's Gopher Broke. I remember seeing the final product at the theater and thinking, "Wow, this is a professional looking cartoon." That was the
first time I watched something I had made and wasn't noticing the mistakes.



3. What are the main tools and/or programs you use to create your work?

I've used quite a few CG programs, but at the moment we're using 3Ds Max for most of our pipeline...and starting to use Softimage XSI for animation.

4. What's a typical day in your life like?

Full of aches and pains...I'm gettin' old, dangit!!!

I get into work around 9:30ish...do the email thing and surf the web for a few minutes, then it's time to work. I take off for lunch around noon, then I'm working til 7 or so. I don't really have a set schedule, sometimes I'll be sketching out new scenes in the morning, other times I'll be filming reference at 5pm. It's always different.

5. Who or what are some of your artistic influences?

Oh man...I have way too many to list. I'm an avid (I mean AVID) comicbook reader. Movies (The Incredibles being quite high on that list). Commercials. Since I worked in the broadcast business, I try to keep up on the newest commercials and the studios that produce them. Studio AKA has to be my hands down favorite commercial house right now. The work they produce is so creative...they really push the boundaries of our medium. But even when I walk around Blur I find myself looking over my coworkers shoulders seeing great work. I think to myself, "Why can't I be that good?" It's depressing...but inspiring at the same time :)

6. Would you say that you're a 3D artist who dabbles in 2D from time to time, or a 2D artist who happens to work in 3D?

I'm a 3D artist who dabbles in 2D, but then gets frustrated and goes back to 3D.

7. What are 3 of the best things about your job, and what are 3 of the worst?

The 3 best: Laid back environment, there's no heavy lifting, and I'm making cartoons....how cool is that?

The 3 worst: Sometimes that environment isn't so laid back, hours of work lost to a program crash, and I think computers will soon be able to do my job.


8. Tell everyone about your side project "Cathode and Propellarhead." Is this project still moving forward, and if so, what is your ultimate goal?

Well, I'd like to say I have future plans for it, but I don't.... Unfortunately..... Cathode and Propellarhead was a property I developed at my old studio. We were developing properties that could ultimately be made into TV shows and the like. I was planning on doing a monthly episode kinda thing (kinda like a comicstrip), but I never really got around to producing more than 2 (5 were developed, but only two were completed.) Maybe I'll go back to it someday, but for now my attention has been focused on a new project.

9. Tell us a bit about your role in Blur shorts "Gopher Broke" and "Rockfish." If either of these make it to the big screen, is there any chance we'll see your work in the feature versions as well?

I was an animator on both Rockfish and Gopher Broke. Rockfish was the project I cut my mocap teeth on. I did the shot where the guy sits in his bobber and the dog jumps up and hangs from the side. I think I animated about 7 or so shots on Gopher Broke. The shots where the gopher climbs out of his hole and jumps behind the rock, the "Cloud o' Crows" shot...which take note, was not made with Massive, just me and a notepad telling me what Crow 55 was doing :) and some of the end shots where he sees the truck and tries to dig a hole to get away.

And seeing as I'm still employed by Blur, hopefully I'll be able to work on those features if they come around :)

10. Jason Taylor suggested that I hit you up for these 10 questions. We've also interviewed Jeff Fowler, another of your Blur chums. Any dirt you'd like to dish on either of them?

Well, Jason will spontaneously start acting like a monkey (don't ask) and Jeff likes to steal my colored pencils....or maybe that's the other way around....but seriously, they're both great guys and I'm glad I've gotten the chance to work with both of them.



Thanks to George for taking the time to answer these questions!

For more of his outstanding work, swing over to George's Site.

I hear he just put on a fresh pot of coffee!

Thanks, George!