Day in the Life of an Animator
April 28, 2007
Teaching Artist: Joe Merideth

Nine students had the fantastic opportunity recently to visit Joe Merideth’s personal studio, ChewBone Animation. Joe went through all the aspects of being a professional artist—how a freelancer works, what types of clients he works with, and the many phases of animation. He talked about going from the big client who commissions a project, to the advertising agency’s role, to the team of animators who actually put it all together. The students were given the “job” as animators of a Trix commercial—each student created original characters and used those characters in creating story boards for the 30-second spot. Students listened to the actual voiceover that was used in the commercial to inspire and guide them through their initial animation ideas. The story boards were combined and matched with the voiceover to create a final project that very closely resembled the initial stages of an animation project in the professional world!