We were lucky to catch up with Garrett Ray recently and have shared our conversation below.
Garrett, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
The moment I realized I wanted to be an animator was one morning in my 7th grade homeroom period before classes started. Growing up, I knew I had a proclivity for drawing; I was always the “artistic” kid in school who doodled on the corners of my papers and got a chance to shine any time we had to draw something for an assignment. Up until that point, however, there was never any real discussion of professional artistic career paths. As far as I knew (and probably as far as any of my teachers knew), the only art jobs were to be an art teacher in school or be an “artist”–whatever that meant. No one really seemed to know, and no one could tell me. When I pictured the life of an “artist,” I conjured up mental images of a Renaissance man stuffed in a cramped studio surrounded by canvas and supplies, painting whatever there was to paint, and frankly that kind of life didn’t appeal to me whatsoever as a child. My only experience with art teachers was in our school art classes, and from what I’d experienced in those, that profession didn’t appeal to me either–I didn’t like any of the assignments that weren’t purely drawing/painting based. I did, however, like cartoons.
Like most people, most of my drawing as a kid was the equivalent of fan art, drawing all the characters in the shows or comics I liked and trying to copy them as closely as I could while watching TV (we didn’t have smartphones yet, so I couldn’t Google image search still images of the characters–I had to quickly observe them as they flashed on screen in real time). It was a thrill to try and get the characters as on model and as possible and feel like my work was indistinguishable from what was on screen. While I definitely explored and developed more naturalistic observational drawing skills as I got older, I thrived whenever I was drawing funny cartoon characters. I wasn’t a particularly outgoing kid, so my drawings were really where I could do something that other students (and teachers) would notice and laugh at. That was the sweet spot for me.
Around 2007, the Simpsons Movie hit theaters, and I remember they released a lot of promotional material in stores to support it. Next to our theater was a Borders bookstore, so we’d often go in and browse to pass time while we waited for our movie to begin. There on the shelf, along with comics and other books, was a copy of “The Simpsons Handbook,” a hardback text with model sheets and behind-the-scenes construction guides for every character in the show compiled and illustrated by the actual series animators and designers. It was a gold mine to me, and ended up being life changing. I poured through the book for months (and still go back to it to this day). I was walking to class with it one day when the realization hit me like a truck: People have to make cartoons. They don’t just magically appear on screen; there are scores of hard working writers, animators, designers, and board artists that pour work into each episode–and they get paid to do it. “If other people can do it,” I thought,” then why not me?” And the rest is history, I guess. I never looked back.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Around 2007, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in animation, and I essentially made it my life’s goal from then on. I dedicated the majority of my free time outside of school to developing my drawing abilities. I took art classes in high school, extra curricular art lessons and painting classes over the summers, and eventually pursued an Interdisciplinary Studies Animation BFA degree at the University of Georgia. After that, I started an MFA in Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, GA while simultaneously teaching computer animation and painting as an Adjunct Instructor at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. Halfway through my MFA in 2019, I saw a LinkedIn jobs listing for Floyd County Productions in Atlanta, and (at the not-so-subtle encouragement of my mother) took a shot and applied. I rapidly threw together a website and demo reel and sent it over that day. Much to my surprise, they reached out and asked if I’d like to take an animation test. I agreed and set to work immediately. Again, to my surprise, they followed up and asked if I’d like to come in and interview. I went in, interviewed, and a few days later ended up with a job offer. By September 2019, I was working as a full time animator at FCP on their first feature length film, “America the Motion Picture.” During my time at Floyd, I worked as an animator on “America” and season one of “Marvel’s: Hit-Monkey” and then served as a Lead Animator on season 2 of FXX’s “Dicktown.” Since then, I’ve worked as a Senior 2D Harmony Animator at Atomic Cartoons on the new Disney+ animated feature “Night at the Museum; Kahmunrah Rises Again,” and I’m now working as an animator at Warner Bros. Animation.
My particular skill set lies as a 2D character animator, both with traditional/digital hand-drawn animation as well as 2D rigged puppet animation (think Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, etc.). As a character animator, I focus mostly on character acting and performance (as apposed to effects animation). I have a particular interest in figure drawing and caricature, so most of my personal art time outside of work is spent on gesture drawing and caricatures. This has turned out to be significantly valuable because it’s helped me develop strong figure sensibilities that lead to a sense of believable naturalism in my work (and I highly recommend all current and aspiring animators, board artists, and designers do incorporate the practice). A lot of the projects I’ve been on have had multiple heavy action sequences, so having that figure experience often means I get more involved or challenging, physicality-based assignments. When it comes down to it, if you know how the body works and what looks good, drawing it becomes considerably easier and you can handle significantly more complex actions when animating. Humans are amazing creatures (as are all animals), and there’s very little more exhilarating to me than turning simple drawings into the illusion of a living, breathing, believable being. As long as the audience believes it, I’ve done my job right.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Don’t underestimate the value of YoutTube. I have mountains of art books that I pour through regularly, but in most cases you usually only see the final product. As a visual learner, it’s extraordinarily helpful for me to be able to watch someone draw, paint, or animate–see the steps they take, study their methodology, and analyze their physical process from start to finish–and then try to apply the same techniques in my own work. Seeing how someone begins a piece is particularly interesting to me. Everything is built off the foundation; get that set right, and the rest is polishing details. Once I started watching videos of artists I admired working in real time, a lot of theory and practices I’d read about started to click and I saw noticeable improvement in my own creative process. From there, it’s just a matter of using that knowledge to bring my own ideas to life.
Of course, I’m speaking from the specific vantage point of a visual artist. If you’re a creative in a different discipline such as music, theater, or writing, the same principles can apply. Reading books, watching movies, and listening to recordings are all invaluable to learning your respective craft, but there’s something new you learn when watching someone perform a task (or discuss their process) live. You can observe what they do, try to replicate it, and see if their physical technique impacts your own work in any way. If yes, implement it more often; if not, move on and look at someone else.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is being able to share my work with others. There’s a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction I get from my own work–if there wasn’t, I wouldn’t do it. Whenever I’m working on a project, I have to work on it until I feel satisfied with the end result (at least within the time constraints of the deadline); as long as I meet my own personal standards, I can usually find something to be proud of or pleased with. But that personal satisfaction only goes so far. When you take that work you’re proud of and show it to someone else and that person has some emotional reaction to it, that elevates the experience to a whole new level. Especially as an animator, the whole process takes so long to complete, and it’s so collaborative in nature; but once an episode or a film is wrapped and you can share your hard work with the world, it’s nothing but pure magic.
I think most artists want their work to resonate with someone–to believe that what they think or create has value to someone else and not just themselves. If you’re a creative, make the work you want to make and that has value to you, then send it out there; you’ll find your audience, and I think it’ll be much sweeter when you do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.garrettrayanimation.com/
- Instagram: @gray1155
Image Credits
All art by me