Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott O’Brien.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started out as a baby, started growing, and that brings us up to today.
During the “started growing” part, I noticed I was very much interested in animation. I was interested in motion and acting specifically, and I loved how it was art done to time. I also took “piano lessons” as a child, and the music aspect felt very similar to animation to me. It was art to a rhythm. You needed it to move to time in order to see it correctly. I loved it so much and never lost that feeling as I got older. I almost had no choice but to pursue it as a career.
After several years of art school (The American Academy of Art in Chicago and a few years at College of DuPage community college), my dad gave me the following advice: it’s impossible to get a career in art or animation, to give up and my only hope was to try to get into corporate at a local supermarket chain. I decided maybe I won’t do that and give animation a shot first. Luckily, I landed something almost immediately working on animated television commercials in Chicago!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It didn’t take me long to realize that the entertainment industry is always evolving, and in order for me to survive, I would need to evolve with it. My original intention was to exclusively be a “traditional animator”, which is that type of classic animation drawn by hand. However, there was a time in the late 90’s where everyone suddenly wanted computer animation. In order to continue being employed, I needed to switch over to do that for a few years. I realized I wasn’t much of a tech person, so then I switched over to the story side of things and started storyboarding and directing. You just have to realize that the industry is always changing, and have an open mind to try to change with it. Just remember that each experience has a tremendous amount of value and you can use your past experience to help you with what you’re doing currently. There’s lots of times where knowing animation has definitely helped me to know how to storyboard a sequence in a way which I know can be executed effectively later.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love to work on things where the characters’ emotions are fairly big and their feelings guide the choices they make to pull them through the story. Things should never be goofy just for the sake of being goofy. A character should never say a line of dialog just because it’s something witty to say. Everything should feel natural and as if the character is really making choices and causing them to act. No matter how big or small the project is, I always tend to push that agenda and it’s really what I find the most rewarding
As far as what I’m most proud of… hmmmmm…
Well, I’m very proud of the animation I did for Genndy Tartakovsky’s upcoming feature, “Fixed”. Craig Kellman did a lot of the designs on that, and I always love to animate with his characters. I also liked animating on the opening title sequences for the movie “Tom Cats” and for the live-action “Harley Quinn” movie.
I absolutely adored being storyboard supervisor on Nickelodeon’s upcoming series “Zokie of Planet Ruby”. It’s funny and quirky and has a ton of heart. Other gigs which stand out to me are storyboarding for Disney TV’s “Kick Buttoski”, and Warner Brother’s “Tom and Jerry Show.” Tom and Jerry are two characters which I enjoy very much and never get tired of and had the honor to collaborate on a pilot called “Tom and Jerry Time” with Genevieve Tsai, who’s one of the best in the biz.
I also enjoyed my time directing those “Pinky and the Brain” episodes for the latest Animaniacs reboot. They were a lot of fun and packed with emotion and big stories!
And to be honest, I still kinda like those early commercials I animated on, especially the ones I did for Darrell Van Citters who’s one of my all-time animation heroes. I’ve done commercials with Olive Oyl for Prego, Foghorn Leghorn for Geico Insurance, and even something recently where I animated the entire commercial for Etihad Airlines featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Scooby Doo.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Covid-19 hit right in the middle of the production of “Animaniacs”, and I learned how much we could continue while working from home. It was really incredible how we never really skipped a beat, and actually ended up being more productive in a way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.scottobrienart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/optimusscotto/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-o-brien-animation/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/optimusscotto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZr9ontscs
Image Credits
2023-11-06 18.52.50.jpg – Ethiad Airlines. Animator. 2023-11-06 18.53.00.jpg – Geico Insurance. Animator. 2023-11-06 18.53.07.jpg- Prego Pasta Sauce. Animator. 2023-11-06 18.53.13.jpg – “Tom Cats” opening title sequence. Animator. 2023-11-06 18.53.20.jpg – “Harley Quinn” opening title sequence. Animator. 023-11-06 18.53.25.jpg- “Tom and Jerry Time” pilot. Director 2023-11-06 18.53.30.jpg- “Teen Titans GO!” Director. 2023-11-06 18.53.35.jpg- “Animaniacs”. Director/ Animation Director
