.png)
Four4BIT Animation Studio is excited to present our latest 'Four4BIT Creative Spotlight' featuring Traditional Animator Felipe Almeida! With collaborations including AppleTV, Warner Bros., Netflix and Disney, Felipe shares his journey, challenges, and insights. Get ready to be inspired by Felipe’s story!
Hi Felipe! Thank you for joining us today. We’re thrilled to have you for a special interview on Four4BIT Creative Spotlight! Your work in animation is absolutely incredible and inspiring. From AppleTV's Peanuts Specials (Snoopy!) to WB's upcoming Looney Tunes movie "The Day the Earth Blew Up", Disney’s "Disenchanted", "101 Dalmatian Street", "Trolls", "Carmen Sandiego", "My Little Pony: The Movie", and so many more(!) – your contributions are truly impressive and inspiring!
Let's start at the beginning. What sparked your interest in animation and how did you get started in the industry?
Hi, first of all, thanks for having me. I grew up in Brazil in the early 90’s and watching cartoons was a big escapism from how difficult life was at that time, and for some reason, in that same period, Anime's were really present on TV, so my earliest memories of being obsessed with Animation was me as a kid watching Saint Seyia and Rurouni Kenshin. I couldn't even tell you when an actual decision was made, I just knew whatever that was (Anime), I wanted to be part of it since I can remember.
My break into the industry was still back in Brazil, in 2010 I believe. I got a chance to work in a small studio in Rio de Janeiro, doing mainly those very simple preschool cut out shows, and slowly tried to polish my skills to get to what I always loved, which was Traditional Animation.
Wow, that sounds absolutely fascinating, decisive, and inspiring! Could you share one of your favorite or most memorable projects you've worked on and what made it so special for you?
Still back in Brazil, the second ever show I worked on was called ‘Yellow Woodpecker Ranch’, which was based on the work of a famous Brazilian author. That project to me marked an early time in my career where I was given a lot of freedom to learn and experiment, and that entire team was so united, it really taught me the meaning of working as a team.
"Yellow Woodpecker Ranch - (Sitio do Picapau Amarelo) Animated Series"
Fast Forward to 2016, when I moved to Canada and got to work on ‘My Little Pony - The Movie’, which was my official first feature film experience, working at an international level, with artists from all over the world, that really gave me a sense of how far I could go if I put my mind to it.
After that, I would say breaking out on my own as a full time freelancer has been a really incredible experience. I have learned a new way to look into my career and see so many possibilities I wasn’t able to see before. I get to work with incredible studios and collaborate with amazing animators, and apart from the work itself, I was embraced by the freelance community and we are all constantly helping each other to learn and grow. I’m truly thankful for what I do and super excited for what comes next.
"My Little Pony - The Movie Trailer"
Your experience definitely reinforces the importance of teamwork and serves as a great inspiration to aspiring artists, showing that international opportunities and thriving as a freelancer are within reach in the animation industry. Thank you so much for sharing these insights, Felipe! Building on that, you've worked with various studios and projects in traditional animation, each with its own style. How do you adjust your animation style to suit the specific needs of different projects, teams, and studios?
Well, that’s always a challenge. The best thing you can do is first, communicate a lot. If you need any supportive material to help you get the hang of a style, don’t wait, just ask. Get familiar with the model sheet of the characters, draw them as much as you can and always keep it close to your animation while you work, so you always have a solid reference to compare. And I can't stress this enough, work as a team player, ask the other artists how they solve those problems, and learn from other people’s experience.
Absolutely! That's invaluable advice that will surely benefit many animators. Now, turning to your creative process, could you share what it looks like when you start a new project?
I like to spend time at the start of anything I have to animate by doing prep work. By that I mean studying the model sheets, asking for as much direction as possible, planning my shots before really jumping into animation. I do a lot of real size thumbnails a lot (in the past artists would do tiny little drawings on a separate piece of paper for the same purpose, nowadays, working digitally, I like to see those thumbnails big on screen), just to get ideas out of my head, and try different things with fast loose drawings, before really committing with anything.
"Carmen Sandiego - Official Trailer - Netflix"
That's super interesting! Felipe, throughout your professional journey, you've assumed various roles in the animation industry. Your most recent position was as an Animation Supervisor for Apple TV's Peanuts specials. For those who may not be familiar, could you elaborate on the responsibilities associated with being an Animation Supervisor and why this role is crucial in the animation process?
In short, the animation supervisor needs to provide the animation team with all the information they need in order to animate a successful shot, sometimes providing critique to their work so we are all moving in the same direction. My own take on that job also includes taking good care of my team, making sure they have a fair chance to do their best, giving them a balanced amount of work, recognizing each artist's strengths and playing to that. Making sure they have a safe work environment and a voice, sense of ownership is fundamental to make a strong team on any project.
"The Snoopy Show - Peanuts - Apple TV"
Absolutely! Your insights into the role of Animation Supervisor are truly enlightening. Your focus on recognizing each artist's strengths and ensuring a balanced workload really resonates with the importance of fostering a supportive team environment! Now, moving on, one of your most recognized works on social media is your collaboration with Lilly Wolters (@liliyth) on the pink-haired lady animation, which became super famous on Instagram! Could you share some insights into working on this piece, especially considering it has a "lineless look"?
That was so fun, I’m a big fan of Lilly’s work and you all should go check out her art. To be fully honest, I didn’t have a plan for how to deal with the lineless look when I started animation. I was just so attracted to the feeling of freedom and relaxation that that piece had, all I was focusing on was trying to capture that vibe. Once animation was done, I used my tools to my favor. Toon Boom has a great tool inside the brush settings that allow you to mask whatever you draw inside a previous brush stroke, so I just colored the lines (which were in a separate layer) with the local colors using that option, and it made it look like there’s no lines, even though they are there. XD
Haha! That's super cool and a really creative trick! Truly love it! The result is stunning, and it really emphasizes the importance of mastering your software tools to bring your artistic vision to life! Regarding that, how do you approach collaborations in general, and what are your thoughts and insights on using platforms like Instagram to showcase your artwork and creative process?
For most of my career I didn’t share anything I did, mainly because I believed nobody was interested, and oh boy was I wrong. I recommend to any artist to put yourself out there as early as possible. If you feel like you’re not good enough yet, guess what, we all feel that way, and we all get better with time. Just start and let people see your progress. We are all recently trying to figure out this AI thing, and what that means for the work we put out there, I still don’t have an answer for that, like most of us I imagine, but aside from that, showing what you do to EVERYBODY can only empower your art, and give you a real sense of the value and reach of your personal work, and it creates a channel to showcase your own voice.
That's so true and super inspiring answer! On another note, you recently announced that Toon Boom is sponsoring you after utilizing their software for over 14 years! That's incredible news! Could you tell us how you incorporate Toon Boom into your creative workflow, and how did this sponsorship opportunity come about?
Toon Boom is an incredible tool for animation, and I'm not saying that only because I’m now sponsored, remember, I’ve used it for nearly 14 years prior to that happening. That example of how I handled the lineless look of that collab with Lilly showcases the great solutions that tool has to make your life easier. Working with nodes instead of infinite layers is really helpful to organize and visualize every element of what you’re working on, the camera system is incredibly simple and efficient, it’s great for puppets, it’s great for traditional animation, I’ve even done BGs 100% painted on Toon Boom, it has a great integration with 3D assets. It’s just an all around well built software, designed to attend all animation needs.
The sponsorship came about in connection with what I was saying about the importance of putting your work out there. Toon Boom have been recently getting in touch with me for livestreams where they really just wanted to ask me questions about my personal work and overall approach to animation, and those invitations came from seeing what I was doing on Instagram. And those conversations and livestreams was what led to the partnership.
That's fantastic to hear how deeply integrated Toon Boom has been in your creative journey! Your sponsorship story is truly inspiring and underscores the power of sharing your work and engaging with the community. It's exciting to see how these connections on platforms like Instagram can lead to meaningful partnerships! Now, shifting focus to your content on LinkedIn, Patreon, Gumroad, and Instagram, people can see breakdowns of scenes you’ve created and get a behind-the-scenes look at your animation process. What’s the story behind these kinds of posts, and what benefits do you think viewers gain from accessing these animation files?
I’m in the process of creating my own community of people on Patreon, and my goal is just to put outhere the things I’ve learned over all those years in the animation industry. Back when I started, there wasn’t much info out there, specially in Brazil, so all I want is to provide what I wish I could have had access to when I was first trying to learn this thing, and of course, the more people support me there, that allows me to dedicate more and more time to sharing that knowledge.
Something I used to do while learning animation, was to download old Disney pencil tests from places like DejaView (Andreas Deja’s blog), I would then import into Toon Boom as vector, meaning, I would import only the drawings with no BG (another great feature in Toon Boom), and that would allow me to re inbetween those shots, and try to learn from how the old masters would animate. By having access to actual animation files, you just skip all the time I used to spend trying to find images with good quality, that had the full performance from start to end, and that also didn’t cut off the timecharts, which at the end I also had at times to align them to make sure each frame was in the correct position. If you have someone’s animation file, you can just go ahead and isolate the keys, read the timecharts and do those studies with no headaches.
That's such a noble goal and a super creative idea, Felipe! Building a community and providing access to the kind of information you wished you had starting out is truly impactful. Now, reflecting on your extensive experience, what key skills or techniques would you recommend aspiring traditional animators focus on developing?
If you’re in the traditional side of the industry, drawing, drawing, drawing. Polish your drawing skills, learn how to draw characters that feel solid (muscles and bones that feel connected). Watch lots of movies, not just animation, get inspired by great performances, no matter where they come from. And go out and live a little, it’s hard to replicate life when you don’t experience life yourself.
What advice would you offer to individuals who are just starting out in the animation industry?
Be patient, communicate well, and share what you learn. If you wait too much or are afraid to ask questions, you’re only robbing yourself from learning. Also, the more you share, the more people will feel like sharing with you, and remember, animation is a team sport, and when everybody grows together, you also grow faster. An extra advice, be kind with people, animation is fun but also a really hard thing to do, nothing can be more helpful to someone struggling than being treated with kindness, and remember, we all WILL struggle at times, so spreading that kindness around can eventually come back to you when you need it.
Your advice is not only practical but also deeply insightful for anyone entering the animation industry and a valuable reminder for those already in it. It's like discovering beautifully shaped diamonds! Thank you so much for sharing. Now, as we all encounter challenges in our careers, could you share a particularly difficult experience you've faced and how you navigated through it?
The biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in my profession was being led by unkind, toxic people, who treated me and my team with anger and unfairness. It doesn’t happen a lot, but if it does, it can really drain your love for the craft. At the time, I didn’t know how to navigate through it, and it made a really big impact on me. I almost quit the industry altogether. What helped me after the fact, was surround myself with good people, and to remember that my work is not all I am, and there’s more to life than that, but most important, it made me appreciate the people who truly work as a team, and it made me work harder to create a healthy dynamic between me and everybody I work with, and to speak up when I see people being treated unfairly.
"101 Dalmatian Street - Disney Channel"
We truly appreciate your openness in sharing such a profound experience, Felipe. Navigating through challenges like that demands immense resilience and a strong sense of self-awareness. There are surely many who can sympathize with the difficult experiences you've faced, and your insights will undoubtedly bring light and hope to those who have encountered similar challenges in their careers.
Now, as we strive to spread positivity and inspiration through our work, we believe in the power of each individual's voice to make a difference! Felipe, the stage is yours to illuminate the world with your message of positivity. What would you like to say?
We only have one life, and it’s waaaay shorter then we all think it is. Use your time well, surround yourself with people that make your life better. Be kind and do what you love, and share as much as you can because we all could use the extra help =)
Beautiful! And finally, what exciting projects or endeavors can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m just excited to have a space to share my work, and super appreciative to the fact people are enjoying it and supporting me. I hope I can make a lot more great fun animation, and get to work with more incredible artists. I would like to invite people who like my work to support me on Patreon, I’m hoping that this could allow me to produce my own short films in the future.
Felipe, thank you so much for sharing your invaluable insights and experiences with us. Your journey and the wisdom you've imparted are truly inspiring. We greatly appreciate your time and willingness to collaborate! Your contributions not only enlighten us but also serve as a beacon of hope and guidance for animators and professionals in Brazil and all over the world! We hope for great success in your future projects, in building your community on Patreon, and in the creation of your own short film as you've mentioned. Thank you for being a part of this conversation and for illuminating our path with your positivity and expertise. We wish you all the best!
"The Day the Earth Blew Up - A Looney Tunes Movie - Coming soon"
Email for commissions or contact: felipealmeida2d@gmail.com
Felipe Almeida Animation Files - Toon Boom harmony Files
Love the Interview? Let us know on the comments!
Think you have something to share? Want to be featured on Four4BIT Animation Studio's Creative Spotlight?
Submit for an interview right: Here
And... For more exclusive interviews, news, and basically If you like our content and want to see more, don't forget to follow us on Social Media!
Comments