Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Fisher.
Hi Sara, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Even though I had a traditional academic path (Woodbury class of 2019), my first true introduction to my field was over a burger at Fuddruckers. It was there that my future boss, Viv, showed me the ropes of how to add lighting and charm to animation, that really made it pop. I was completely hooked. I spent the next year or so working for her as a lighting/compositing artist for her studio, Spindlehorse Toons. During that time, I worked on the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Addict music video and Zoophobia.
There’s nothing more satisfying to me than working with a team of creatives in order to make pretty pictures move…so with that dedication, I was promoted to compositing supervisor for Helluva Boss. Offline, I was working as a PA at Nickelodeon, where I was validating previous internship experience I gained from university. After realizing that I really had a niche for compositing overproduction, I sought after other opportunities within that industry.
To keep it short, I’ve been lucky enough to move from PA directly to lead compositor on Tuca & Bertie season 2, compositing artist on the Bob’s Burgers Movie and now my current job as a technical director for Disney.
I have since rolled off of Helluva Boss near the beginning of season 2, but I’ve had the opportunity to also double-dip on other independent projects as well. Most recently, I was the compositing consultant on Lackadaisy and The Legend Of Pipi. It’s been a pretty humbling journey having the ability to have worked on a variety of different shorts and shows.
At the end of the day, everything comes down to a universal love for cartoons and I am so grateful to be a part of that.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely was not smooth at first. I was fresh off the heels of working on my senior thesis for 12-16 hours a day, so with that student grind-set mindset, I didn’t want to slow down. I was juggling internships and freelance work for the majority of 2019..sometimes pulling insane all-nighters just because I wanted to get ahead.
Unfortunately, this is far too common within the animation industry due to the insane level of competitiveness for work. I was lucky enough to have been drastically proactive in order to make connections to help float that, however it came at the cost of my social life and sleep schedule. I’ve worked 2 Christmases (by my own choice) and had to constantly be online in case of a project emergency. It was pretty wild.
That being said, I don’t have any regrets for how hard I hustled to work, sometimes 16+ hours a day, since I’ve made so many new friends and grew so much as an artist & leader.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am most known for my compositing and lighting work for animation. Basically taking flat pictures and making them pop with colour and FX.
I am definitely the most proud of building numerous compositing pipelines for independent + remote projects. On top of this, being a leader for my team(s) by helping them grow alongside me is extremely rewarding. I love teaching people about the charm of boosting your animation to the next level and I strive to continue to do so.
What sets me apart is I have a YouTube channel where I make content teaching people about the work I do. You don’t see a lot of resources out there to teach people about how to composite for animation so I’m bridging that gap.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Honestly, I’m just a chronic Disney adult so I watch a lot of theme park vlogs while I work. Ordinary Adventures, Paging Mr. Morrow, and Kevin Heimbech are my go-to’s.
I also own a bunch of snakes so reptile channels like Clint’s Reptiles are great background noise too.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gigaseraph/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GIGASERAPH
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GIGASERAPH
Image Credits
Screenshots from Helluva Boss + Lackadaisy
