Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Calfee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

“Full-time living” is maybe a misnomer, or at least it’s all relative. When we started out we worked full time on a music video project, 4 of us, for 4 months, for just over 5k. It was enough to afford the rent and spaghetti dinners, but we did it to build our brand and our demo reel. Over the next decade and a half we’ve somehow managed to build this project into something sustainable, though it can remain somewhat unpredictable. I think we benefited greatly from increased access to and affordability of consumer animation software and technology. Once we transitioned into working in a digital format our capabilities and output increased precipitously resulting in a feasible outlook.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

MoreFrames Animation (“MoreFrames” spelled like that — two caps, no spaces) studio was started by myself (Adam Calfee) and my two partners, Gus Trauth and Jordan Held. We first met and worked with one another as undergraduates at Edinboro University of PA (now called PennWest Edinboro) where we studied animation. I had always entertained the idea of starting a studio rather than joining the workforce after graduation, so when Gus and Jordan came on board that sealed the deal. We decided to make a go of it. I graduated at the end of 2007, Gus and Jordan graduated shortly thereafter, and we immediately got set up in the living room of a shared apartment in downtown Erie, PA.
The first number of years we scraped by and built a bit of a reputation for ourselves. We were able to undercut the costs of west coast animation shops and that gave us an edge. We landed a few projects, primarily music videos at first, which gave us some exposure and slowly but surely, project by project we saw more notice and more interest. As we were working from our shared apartment, and were comfortable living frugally, we were able to keep our overhead low and take jobs which we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to — to build our reel and our reputation.
We focus on hand drawn, character driven animation which has become our hallmark. We stayed in close contact with Edinboro University, our alma mater, and was able to begin an internship program, expanding our workforce and capabilities. Eventually we graduated from the living room to a professional building.
Our first non-living room studio space was a literal boiler room — bare cinder-block walls, concrete floor, 2 boilers, a hole in the ceiling which you could see the sky through. We made it home and, along with our team of interns, created work some great work in that space, even for high profile clients. We created a Halo motion comic miniseries for Microsoft/343i from that space. Eventually we graduated from the boiler room to a carpeted space, a former law office.
As the years ticked by and we grew up and moved into our own apartments and started families naturally we couldn’t continue working for clout and surviving off of pasta. But luckily for us by the end of our first decade as a studio we’d developed enough continuing, reliable work to give us some financial stability.
We transitioned into working remotely during the pandemic, which we found didn’t affect our productivity in any negative way. So that’s the way we continue to go about things currently.

We have created short form animations for a variety of clients and applications: music video, commercials, trailers, tv, film, educational materials, awards shows, stage shows, museum exhibits, etc. We’ve worked with many high profile clients from Marvel and Disney to Microsoft and Cartoon Network, and with many local and independent clients as well. We’ve worked with clients and with fellow animators from all over the world. Our former interns have gone on to have careers throughout the animation industry, and Gus and Jordan have even (bringing it all full-circle) accepted teaching positions at PennWest Edinboro where they inform and inspire the next generation.

We’ve certainly created or found a niche, creating high quality short form animation at a more accessible price point than the larger studios with whom we are generally compared.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being a professional creative is a frequently rewarding experience. I say “frequently” rather than “constantly” or “absolutely” because, when so much of your time is spent doing client work, it’s inevitable that you will encounter frustrating or exhausting situations. Even so, I find that I am often able to fondly recall the adventure of a certain production (and each production is an adventure), or revisit a piece from years before with fresh eyes and I feel proud of what we’ve accomplished, impressed with what we were able to build. I find it difficult to think I would have those moments, or as many of those moments anyway, if I were say, an accountant (no offense to accountants).

Another rewarding aspect of doing this work professionally is that I get to exercise my talents. My skills are kept sharp simply by attending my day job. I appreciate that.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My partners and I do have a particular goal, yes. As I mentioned previously our work so far has been largely client work. Even if we are allowed a wide degree of creative control and direction, client work belongs to the client. Our ultimate goal is to be able to finance creator owned, original, work. That’s our North Star.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moreframes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moreframes_animation/