Posted by Steff Egan aka GrittySugar is a youtube animator known for her quirky-fun animation style. She has a youtube channel with over 90,000 subscribers. Producing fun renditions of Video Game Play Throughers such as Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and the GameGrumps, she keeps us laughing constantly. With a star sheet lineup like that we were thrilled when she agreed to sit down with us for her first ever interview.
JR:How did you get started in animation?
I’ve always been artsy, ever since I was little. I have no idea where that came from. I’ve been in every vocational class I could get my hands on. But it wasn’t till my senior year of high school that I actually attempted to sit down and animate something. I made a lot of crappy photoshop gifs at first and it was just a hobby at the time. I didn’t fully get into animation till I started doing college tours. So when I started checking out all these colleges that had these great animation programs and crazy inspiring student film I decided I wanna do this please.
JR:How long have you been doing animation?
I didn’t start getting serious about it till like college. So for seven years.
JR:What is something you love about animation?
Just like with a lot of other art mediums I like that you can do whatever the heck you want. And as a bonus it moves. If I wanna be crazy I can make a five minute adventure story about cute animals I can. It can be whatever I want.
JR:Â If you had not pursued a career in animation, what would you have chosen instead?
It probably would have been illustration or graphic arts. I remember when I was in high school we had to take a test that said what you wanted to be when you grow up and it pointed to artsy stuff for me.
JR:Â Which animation programs are you best versed in?
Right now I’m working with the adobe suite. Right now for animation I use Animate CC, Photoshop, Adobe Effects, and Adobe Premiere.
JR:Â What animator do you admire the most?
I have so many! Like at this moment I’d Masaaki Yuasa, he created animation Mind Game, Kaiba, Ping Pong, he does a little of everything. Everything he touches is a different and unique story.Â
JR:Â What is your favorite anime?
Oh man, so childhood wise I would say Shaman King.
JR:Â What would be your dream animation job?
 I’d love to be a storyboard artist for cartoon network. But I think every animator has this dream to have your own series. Fortunately, that is a lot easier to do nowadays since we have the internet.
JR: What is something people should never ask an animator?     Â
I think this goes for all artist but people saying like, “Oh, I have to pay for this?”. People have this mindset that art is free for some reason. I get a lot emails people asking for a five bit animation and I go, “okay, it’s going to be a chunk of money.” And they’re like, “wait, what?”. Also people that expect the computer to do most of the work, which is not true at all. No matter what you do it’s gonna take time. Like the computer can only do so much. A computer is just a tool.
JR: What is an animated movie/tv show that inspires you to animate?
I have like five of those. Off the top of my head I really like The Road To El Dorado because the animation in that is gorgeous and the characters are hilarious. I like Disney’s Up, it’s such a unique story for Disney. I really enjoy the short movie Dead Leaves. It’s just like mindless vulgarity.
JR:If you had to choose between bringing the world of your favorite tv show to life, or being part of your favorite tv world, which would you choose?
So my favorite tv show right now is My Hero Academia and I would totally want to live in that world because everybody has a super power and goes to super hero school. I’m super into that. I don’t trust our world enough to start giving everyone super powers.
JR:What does animation mean to you?
Animation means being able to tell any story you want and explaining the explainable. You can create your own world, your own characters, your own rules. It’s just a very unique thing.
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To watch some of GrittySugar’s amazing animations, visit her youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf5ATQg8F0Hufd1Q3qIIlUg.
This is Josie Rose Signing off,
and as always, have a geek filled day!
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