Making Imagination: An Animation Podcast

Adapting animation well takes care, craft, and strategy. In this episode of Making Imagination, director Tod Polson talks about working on "The Secret of Kells," "The Prodigal," and "The 21"!

The Lion King, The Rescuers Down Under, The Emperor's New Groove—Disney director Tony Bancroft (Mulan, 1998) has lent his skills to a number of feature films in the more than thirty years in which he's worked. Now an industry veteran, he gives back generously, sharing insights and stories into what it takes to make a feature film!

Once you've storyboarded an animated episode for a series, now what do you do? Layout artist Aleksandra Kleczkowska answers that question, discussing the technical and artistic challenges of layout art in animation!

Animation in the United States begins with acting—voice acting! In this episode, go behind the scenes with industry veteran Paul Rugg (Animaniacs, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Teen Titans Go!) to discover what he learned working with names like Spielberg, Warner Bros. Disney and DreamWorks!

In the beginning, they worked just to keep the lights on. Now (five Academy Award nominations later), they're inspiring animators across the globe by reimagining the limits of what hand-drawn animation can achieve. In this episode of Making Imagination, Cartoon Saloon co-founder and Oscar nominee, Nora Twomey, discusses independent filmmaking from her studio in Ireland. 

Netflix, Disney, DreamWorks—character designer Randy Bishop has designed characters for them all. But what does that process look like and what does a character designer need to know? Explore this interview to learn here!

What's a producer do? What kinds of producers are there? How do you pitch to a producer? In this episode of Making Imagination, executive producer and co-founder of Lion Forge Animation, Carl Reed, discusses the role and what it's like.

The choices we make can alter the courses of our careers. DreamWorks writer, Todd Garfield (Voltron Force, Home: For the Holidays, Turbo Fast), faced an ultimatum at the start of his career—to work on Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack" or to staff another animated series based in comedy? He went with "Jack" but considered turning it down! Hear that story and more in this latest episode of Making Imagination, where you'll learn more of the craft of writing for TV animation.