(continued) You started to mention teaching earlier – teaching seems to be an important part of who you are.  With such a versatile skillset, I’m wondering what classes  you ran, and where?

I really like teaching a hands-on animation class that begins with zoetropes and flipbooks and then evolves through various animation techniques. I’ve used that class format in a middle school course and twice at Pacific University and the students get so excited about the exercises as well as the examples. At the Art Institute of Portland I ran various After Effects classes, as well as The History of Visual Effects, but my favorite is Experimental Film. I really enjoy working with students on developing their projects, trying to help them plan technically while supporting their creative visions. It’s important for students to have a chance to make something wild and artistic in the safe academic environment before all their energy goes to paying the bills once they graduate.

VFX/PDX:  Amen!  And it’s important to expose yourself to a lot of different things, which you’ve continued to do in your professional career.  You occasionally do some stop motion animation, and judging by your reel some of it is pretty complex. How did you get your stop-mo start and what types of projects do you generally choose to get involved with?

I was attracted to stop-motion because my illustration skills have always been really basic. I only advanced as far as crude stick figures and even though my 8th grade math book had some sweet flipbook action in the corner, I liked that the stop-motion world was grounded in real physical objects. I liked that I could animate a whole roll of super 8 film in a few weeks and it was far more lush and colorful than anything I could draw. There was something about trick film techniques that I was really drawn to, they are clever, and although Méliès used them over a hundred years ago they still don’t get old.

Now, I am drawn towards pixilation where a human is treated as a stop-motion puppet. The movement and acting can be quite interesting and spontaneous, as opposed to traditional stop motion where you are working with puppets and sets and prerecorded dialogue.

VFX/PDX:  Live action stop-motion!  Now there’s a beautiful contradiction.  Here’s a good example of pixilation that popped up a couple/3 years ago – we all thought this was cool:

Let’s shift gears, literally, and talk about how working in Portland has supported your bike obsession!  I remember you being pretty hardcore – what percentage of days would you say you biked to work back when you were commuting?

I wouldn’t say I’m hardcore, but I am pretty consistent in using a bicycle as my primary mode of transportation. Bent Image Lab is only 4 miles from home, so even in rotten weather the ride was pretty short. With a few exceptions like days when I was teaching and needed to get out to Forest Grove, I rode my bike nearly every day working at Bent. It was great for me physically as well as mentally. I remember riding home after a stressful day and choosing to go on a route with a few steep hills so I could let off steam. By the time I got home I was in a good place to leave work emotions behind and focus on my family.

I also love the cycling communities in town, and I belong to a cycling team called the “Gründelbrüisers.” I have only raced Cyclo-cross with the team, but other folks on the team race all year round and are crazy talented people to boot.