Justin Milgate

To call this a dream project feels like a bit of an understatement for me. Everything from the support of my family and teammates to the project itself was an absolute dream come true. I cannot fully express how being a part of the team that brought this series to life has impacted my life, but I want to take some time to share my experience in addition to some of my favorite shots from production.

Pre Production

First and foremost my family made this all possible by their willingness to move to another country with me so that I could accept this one year contract. Their support and excitement made taking the contract and getting to know our new surroundings so fun. Being able to enjoy life with them outside of work made it easier to head back to work on Mondays(or Tuesdays after another amazing holiday) and allowed me to see my shots with fresh eyes.

Interviewing with ICON Creative Studio and getting their help with paperwork was also a great experience for me personally. I had a friend in the studio that was able to pass my name onto the hiring team and was fortunate enough to be offered a position after interviewing. The hiring team was also incredibly understanding and supportive in allowing me to start a few months after my application start date so that my kids could finish their school year in the States before moving. This experience has encouraged me to have more dialogue and conversations with hiring teams so that both sides can feel good about the outcome.

Production

So my family and I make the move, we get settled in, and I get to start work. Like I said before, the experience was a dream come true. Specifically because of the studio’s culture, my teammates, and of course the project itself.

This was my first studio job, and I was definitely hit with some imposter syndrome my first week as well as the weeks leading up to my start. I had been animating for several years as a freelance animator, but this felt different to be at a studio. Even though I was still working remotely (not IN the studio), it felt like a big deal. I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to work fast enough or create work that would get approved. But those feelings were quieted quickly because of the culture at ICON. There was so much support, documentation, and structured communication that I never felt isolated or left to figure things out on my own. From the little things like a casual team chat to say “Good Morning!” on in addition to the work related chat, to the weekly one-on-ones with my supervisor Andrew Hudec, all of it helped to create a culture that was focused on supporting each other as people and artists so that we could create the best series that we could.

My two big production takeaways were gaining confidence in learning new tools and organizing shots and deadlines in a way that made sense to me so that I could efficiently manage my time. The studio had some tools I new about, but they had a lot of custom tools to work within their pipeline. Taking the time to learn about those tools allowed me to work more efficiently and focus on animating. I love learning new things, and there was great documentation on the tools so that wasn’t that new for me, but what I gained confidence in was asking more questions. Asking other animators how they approached a shot that looked complicated, or sharing with my supervisor that I was struggling with an aspect of my shot. In both cases I would either learn about a new tool or a new way to approach/set up the shot to make it easier to work with. Then there was managing my time and keeping track of my shots. The studio was using Shotgrid/Flow which was great for submitting work, reviewing hookups and sequences, as well as getting feedback. However, organizationally I couldn’t always get the information I wanted quickly. I probably could have worked with someone to make a better landing page for myself, but I ended up setting up a spreadsheet. Basically, I learned that however you can organize and track your tasks so that it makes sense to you is best. It helped me stay focused when animating, while also allowing me to quickly see which notes I still needed to address, what shots were approved, how much time I had to complete them, and be able to clearly communicate any of those aspects to my supervisors.

Okay so that’s enough about my experience, what about the project!? The project itself was AMAZING, I mean Monsters Inc.!!! These are characters that I grew up absolutely loving, my kids loved watching them too, and now I was going to be animating them. New characters like Tylor, Val, and Duncan as well as characters from the movies like Mike, Sully, and Johnny. I mean honestly, all of the monster designs are fantastic and such a joy to animate, even background characters were a blast! Obviously, my love for these characters was not unique to me, everyone on the team was excited about this project and wanted to make it outstanding. Our series director Jaimie Dolan was phenomenal. She had a superb understanding of what the client wanted, who these characters were, and communicated her knowledge clearly to her team through character sheets, demos, draw-overs, and feedback. By poring over these resources I learned so much and feel like I grew exponentially through my time there. One area in particular that I felt a lot of growth was around facial animation. Learning about different ways to distill expressions. Keeping shapes simple so that they read clearly and maintain appeal.

I don’t think I can pick one favorite shot, but Johnny was definitely a favorite character. I’m so so SO happy that my supervisor assigned me as many Johnny shots as he did and I’m still in shock that I got to animate the sequence near the end of the series (Episode 9 “Descent Into Fear”) where we finally see evil Johnny 😈. It was an honor and joy to animate!

Other favorite moments would be…

Any shot with Smitty, Needleman, and/or Duncan because they are just amazing

This jump scare with Val because it was one of my first shots and because of the reference photo and direction I received from my supervisor

My son’s favorite character at the time was Mike, so I requested a shot with Mike while working on my last episode and was assigned this sequence which I had a lot of fun acting out.

Post Production

So I didn’t have a hand in post production but it worked with the other headings. It took me a while to write this post and I’ve had some time to reflect on the process as a whole. I think it’s clear there is not a lot I would have changed, but one area that I have tried to improve on since finishing this project is balancing polish and production a bit better. With this being my first studio job I let my personal fear drive a lot of the creative process. I was so afraid of not being able to produce good work on time that I was hyper focused on addressing notes and sending my shot back for review/approval. This is still an important step and one that I prioritize, but what I’m learning to do better is to also take a minute after those notes are addressed to see if there is anything I would like to improve before sending it for review. There were a few instances where I sent a shot for review to see if I addressed the issue thinking I would get the shot back only to find out that it got approved. These experiences were good reminders to trust my eye and my understanding of the process. Taking a little extra time to fix something that is bothering me or will enhance what is already there will only make the shot better. Plus you can always save a version right before you make your adjustments just to be safe haha.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post. I hope that it was fun to read and has encouraged or inspired you in some way. I’ve put together a Monsters At Work Season 2 Production Reel where you can watch see almost every shot that I animated.

Thank you again to my family and all of the amazing people at ICON creative studio for this opportunity. I am truly grateful for this experience and so proud of the result.