Lluis Llobera, Animation Conquistador
By: Francis Choung, Student Support Supervisor
AnimationMentor.com student Lluis Llobera is hardly a novice to the field of CG animation. Although only 27 years of age, his resume reads like that of a seasoned veteran. He's taught Maya courses at his Barcelona Alma Mater, the IDEP School of Video-Film-Television. He's worked on numerous commercials, television shows and short films of which have garnered him recognition and various festival awards. He's also a published writer of Maya tutorials and co-creator of the popular online rigging resource, rigging101.com, which provides free and widely-used models to animators across the globe. At his current level, he is able to sustain a very comfortable living as a commercial and television series animator/rigger within his local Spanish industry.
Why has Lluis decided to become an exclusively full-time AnimationMentor.com student? Lluis represents a growing number of talented AnimationMentor students who are entering the program with prior experience in the CG industry, as well as a number of aired projects to their name. But in order to realize their life-long dreams of working at prestigious animation studios such as PIXAR and Dreamworks, they have decided to drastically refine their skills and become character animators of the highest caliber. Says Lluis, "When I signed up for the course, I resolved not to combine it with other jobs, but to give it my full time attention. I know I still have a great big lot to learn, and that 'feature level' means very high level - which I don't think I have at the present." To do so, he's chosen to hone in solely on the art of character animation, and start over with the basics as taught and mentored by the very best in the industry.
Lluis has always loved animated films and cartoon programs since he could remember. However, the turning point in his life was seeing Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas on the big screen. "I was flabbergasted", recalls Lluis. "I was utterly amazed. I remember thinking how much I would like to do some of this crazy stuff and 'be' those characters! Then the PIXAR stuff came to the big screens - and that was what shaped my passion from then on. I was to be an animator!" Lluis spent the next several years of his life learning the trade and excelling within the modest CG industry of Spain as a freelance animator and rigger. So far, Lluis has over 50 commercials with 4 different production companies to his name as well as a DVD feature, television series and over 14 short films.
While many animators would be more than content with a successful and burgeoning career in the commercial and television series industry, Lluis has opted to move beyond the field and for good reason. "I know I want to get work in features", emphasizes Lluis. "I have already worked doing commercials and TV series, and I don't like how you have to rush animation in those areas to meet with the deadlines. In commercials, the clients usually want the highest quality for their product, but they also like to change their minds about specific things at every meeting .... In TV series, quality wasn't as important as speed .... It was very seldom that I walked away from those jobs thinking, 'You know, I'm proud of this animation I've done today.'" For animators who want the opportunity to bring a very high degree of quality and realism to fictional characters and the larger-than-life stories that encompass them, a studio feature is the piece de resistance. "Feature animation seems to give you a lot more time to spend on your scenes. You can plan your shots, think about your characters and their arcs in the story, try different approaches, pitch them to get feedback on how to make them better, and you even have time to refine the animation. That sounds like a dream to me!"
However, Lluis soon realized that the current Spanish animation industry was limiting to his lofty goals. "There're a few 2D studios in Spain that have always been here. CG studios, on the other hand, are a relatively new thing. Most of them started appearing some 7 or 8 years ago, as an answer to the CG 'hip days' that were happening in the US. However, I think that a lot of the animation studios here have been getting through a bad moment during the last years. The main problem seems to be that animation is not really considered an industry by our government - thus, there's very little support, and most of those companies have to be sustained on their owners' funds until they get off the ground. Most animation for commercials and TV series are nowadays sent to other countries. Because there's very little funding, animation is more expensive to produce."
With more and more animation work being exported, ambitious and animation-hungry individuals like Lluis Llobera are now looking beyond the borders of their home countries in the hopes of working for top animation studios.
So far, Lluis has had the opportunity to work abroad in locations such as ReelFX Studios in Austin, Texas and Absolute Studios in Glasgow, Scotland. Having had the experience to work outside of his native Animation industry has given him real world insight. His lifelong dream of working on high profile studio features means one thing: Moving out of the familiar country he has called home for the past 27 years and making his way to the States. Says Lluis, "As much as I love my country, ever since I started considering studying animation, I've wanted to move to the US. It's not only that the best features are done over there, but also that the industry there is so much more solid. It seems to me that working over there is the right place to be."
Regardless of which country or animation studio Lluis ends up at, he knows all too well that for a true animator, it's all about the process and journey of animation that provides growth, challenge and happiness in life. Whether animating a standard bouncing ball for a school assignment or a complex action sequence for a major motion picture, the thrill of sharing and learning new animation tricks and concepts spans across the entire spectrum of animators, regardless of experience level. "You are always learning. There are always people who you admire, new ways of doing things, new things to consider, new nuances to think about. Because animation is based on the world we observe, and our vision of it changes as we live on, I don't imagine ever getting tired of it, or feeling uninspired."
Why has Lluis decided to become an exclusively full-time AnimationMentor.com student? Lluis represents a growing number of talented AnimationMentor students who are entering the program with prior experience in the CG industry, as well as a number of aired projects to their name. But in order to realize their life-long dreams of working at prestigious animation studios such as PIXAR and Dreamworks, they have decided to drastically refine their skills and become character animators of the highest caliber. Says Lluis, "When I signed up for the course, I resolved not to combine it with other jobs, but to give it my full time attention. I know I still have a great big lot to learn, and that 'feature level' means very high level - which I don't think I have at the present." To do so, he's chosen to hone in solely on the art of character animation, and start over with the basics as taught and mentored by the very best in the industry.
Lluis has always loved animated films and cartoon programs since he could remember. However, the turning point in his life was seeing Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas on the big screen. "I was flabbergasted", recalls Lluis. "I was utterly amazed. I remember thinking how much I would like to do some of this crazy stuff and 'be' those characters! Then the PIXAR stuff came to the big screens - and that was what shaped my passion from then on. I was to be an animator!" Lluis spent the next several years of his life learning the trade and excelling within the modest CG industry of Spain as a freelance animator and rigger. So far, Lluis has over 50 commercials with 4 different production companies to his name as well as a DVD feature, television series and over 14 short films.
While many animators would be more than content with a successful and burgeoning career in the commercial and television series industry, Lluis has opted to move beyond the field and for good reason. "I know I want to get work in features", emphasizes Lluis. "I have already worked doing commercials and TV series, and I don't like how you have to rush animation in those areas to meet with the deadlines. In commercials, the clients usually want the highest quality for their product, but they also like to change their minds about specific things at every meeting .... In TV series, quality wasn't as important as speed .... It was very seldom that I walked away from those jobs thinking, 'You know, I'm proud of this animation I've done today.'" For animators who want the opportunity to bring a very high degree of quality and realism to fictional characters and the larger-than-life stories that encompass them, a studio feature is the piece de resistance. "Feature animation seems to give you a lot more time to spend on your scenes. You can plan your shots, think about your characters and their arcs in the story, try different approaches, pitch them to get feedback on how to make them better, and you even have time to refine the animation. That sounds like a dream to me!"
However, Lluis soon realized that the current Spanish animation industry was limiting to his lofty goals. "There're a few 2D studios in Spain that have always been here. CG studios, on the other hand, are a relatively new thing. Most of them started appearing some 7 or 8 years ago, as an answer to the CG 'hip days' that were happening in the US. However, I think that a lot of the animation studios here have been getting through a bad moment during the last years. The main problem seems to be that animation is not really considered an industry by our government - thus, there's very little support, and most of those companies have to be sustained on their owners' funds until they get off the ground. Most animation for commercials and TV series are nowadays sent to other countries. Because there's very little funding, animation is more expensive to produce."
With more and more animation work being exported, ambitious and animation-hungry individuals like Lluis Llobera are now looking beyond the borders of their home countries in the hopes of working for top animation studios.
So far, Lluis has had the opportunity to work abroad in locations such as ReelFX Studios in Austin, Texas and Absolute Studios in Glasgow, Scotland. Having had the experience to work outside of his native Animation industry has given him real world insight. His lifelong dream of working on high profile studio features means one thing: Moving out of the familiar country he has called home for the past 27 years and making his way to the States. Says Lluis, "As much as I love my country, ever since I started considering studying animation, I've wanted to move to the US. It's not only that the best features are done over there, but also that the industry there is so much more solid. It seems to me that working over there is the right place to be."
Regardless of which country or animation studio Lluis ends up at, he knows all too well that for a true animator, it's all about the process and journey of animation that provides growth, challenge and happiness in life. Whether animating a standard bouncing ball for a school assignment or a complex action sequence for a major motion picture, the thrill of sharing and learning new animation tricks and concepts spans across the entire spectrum of animators, regardless of experience level. "You are always learning. There are always people who you admire, new ways of doing things, new things to consider, new nuances to think about. Because animation is based on the world we observe, and our vision of it changes as we live on, I don't imagine ever getting tired of it, or feeling uninspired."