Today we’d like to introduce you to Pilar Newton.
Pilar, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am one of those kids that knew that I wanted to be an animator by the time I was 8. I would watch Saturday morning cartoons the Smurfs were my absolute favorite cartoon. Because of that, I wanted to create my own worlds. I started drawing and filling up notebooks and I created my own whimsical world populated with creatures called Snozzlewinks. Now decades later, I just released my Snozzlewinks graphic novel.
I went on to study animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. One of my first gigs post-graduation was being a prop designer on Dilworth’s Cartoon Network show Courage the Cowardly Dog. I then went on to be a layout artist on MTV’s Daria and then went on to do animation for various productions in and around the city.
I formed my own company PilarToons LLC in 2002 and started taking on clients from 2008 on. I have a growing client base and am going into the business of independent comics which is so fun.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I first got my start, it was hard to find studios that would take me on because I didn’t have enough experience. It’s of like a chicken and the egg thing, I can’t get work because I don’t have experience, I can’t get experience unless I get work. I finally met my mentor John Dilworth (of Courage the Cowardly Dog fame) who took a chance on me and showed me the ropes. I am so grateful to him to this day.
Having my own company, it became rough in the animation field in 2009 after the recession hit and I just plain stopped getting work. I stopped getting studio work so I started taking on clients. Word started to spread and I got a lot of word of mouth clients out of it.
PilarToons – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
PilarToons LLC is a small animation company that specializes in 2D animation. Adobe Animate is my staple. Projects that I take on are geared toward kids or family-friendly usually. My claim to fame is the web series that we did for Chabad.org The series is called Kabbalatoons and teaches Kabballah in a digestible way through the antics of a Rabbi that lives in a science lab and teaches life lessons. We did over 100 episodes for them. This was almost ten years ago and I still get a lot of animation work in the Jewish community.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My most recent work, my graphic novel Snozzlewinks is my proudest moment. I created the Snozzlewinks when I was eight and to see my book getting out there is amazing. I’m working on animation with characters from my book and have other books planned.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Snozzlewinks.com
- Phone: 3234287604
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @snozzlewinksworld @pilartoons
- Facebook: Snozzlewinksworld
- Twitter: @pilartoons
Image Credit:
Images and art by Pilar Newton; Logo design and layout by Lourdes Ubidia; Additional grey wash painting Rayn Lagtapon
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