From Within Janimation

The epitome of comfort and professionalism filled my thoughts, as I was given a tour of the wonderful facilities at Janimation. The atmosphere was open and nonchalant, which gave me a sense of security. I was introduced to the very talented Jeffrey Dates, Creative Director for Janimation. He greeted me warmly and gave me some insight into the animation business and his own philosophy for achieving your goals.

The nostalgic feeling of retro art and themes is evident in Jeffrey’s artistic arsenal, and it provides a constant reminder to seek the past that allows you to build upon your future. This is where Jeffrey Date draws his unique style, where he pieces together his past experiences and pays homage to influences like Hayao Miyazaki or Shane Gline. Jeffrey embodies creative genius when it comes to directing and animating. He started out his career as a web designer, working his way into Reel FX, where he gradually ventured into character animation. This led him to his true calling - Art Direction. It was here that Jeffrey landed a bigger project at Janimation, Senior Animator for Spy Kid 3D. His animation flourished as he co-directed and animated a short film called Day of the Dead, with Lee Lanier, which received a Best Animation award at Scream Fest in Los Angeles, Honorable Mention at the Deep Ellum Film Festival, and many more awards. One of his proudest moments and his favorite project so far was as Creative Director of the games trailer for John Woo’s Stranglehold. He is currently working on a short film called Invasion as well as several other exciting projects, we will be eager to see.

Where did you obtain your education?
I attended Sam Houston State University, where my background was graphic design and illustration. When I was going to school no one was teach animation yet, having graduated in 1997. So Jurassic Park had come out in 1992, and seeing that after coming out of high school, I said - that is what I want to do. But the technology wasn’t really accessible; like Alias-Wave Front Power Animator and Softimage 3D. These software packages were like half a million dollars running on half a million dollar machines. So I got onto a Macintosh, learning Render Man. I started learning everything I could about 3D on my own, but the school wasn’t teaching it. I went to the dean and explained what I wanted to do and mentioned there was nothing offered there for 3D. He suggested I become a graphic design major so I would have access to the computer lab and art department. I also had a double minor in photography and art history, and art history had a focus on animation. These classes were graduate art history classes, so the things I would learn about art could be applied to animation.

I’d look at still art and figure out how to take that sensibility into motion. So the more you immerse yourself into a subject or art form the more you can have to pull from later on in life. The art is the most important thing. Know the art of whatever you want to achieve; like lighting, texturing or whatever that is. And don’t worry about the software, software is secondary.

Is there a specific artist or style that influenced you?
I’m such a huge fan of eastern anime in general, and I see a movement I’d call western anime. This would be fans of anime that have reached an age where they can start producing their own anime, which was influenced by eastern anime. For example Samurai Jack and Samurai Champloo clearly have eastern influence but were produced in the west. It’s just the way eastern anime approaches animation. They are smart about their motion as they‘ll minimize animation until they come to an action sequence and they just unload all these great details. I’m also influence by a lot of live action movies directed by Quentin Tarantino, the Cohn Brothers, and action movie directors like John Woo. Also Robert Rodriguez is a big influence because of his maverick style, and because he makes it happen in Texas. That’s what I respect about him, and I see him as a model for Texas, because he does it his own way.

Where did you start out in the industry?
I started working at Reel FX, was there for 7 years, and was animation director. But I never broke through to become a creative director with them. Janimation gave me that opportunity. I have the ability to take a concept to story board all the way to compositing, and I could step in at any part of the pipeline and produce.

Throughout the year what do you think are the essential skills a person would need to be in your field or work?
You must have the fundamentals of art, know your art and the history of it.

What projects are you currently working on?
Invasion. Well, it's basically my sci-fi/WWII/alien invasion/action flick. It's somewhere between Iron Giant, and Samurai Jack. The story is loose right now but is leaning towards... "Aliens attack us in the 40's. We Defend." It'll be a short, told in a series of ‘Episodes’ that will slowly unfold. Invasion is currently in story-development, and R&D. The project has no timeframe, allowing me to explore many aspects of story-telling, and design.

What applications do you use?
XSI mainly, but if you have the basics of an application you should be able to adapt to other applications. I also use Maya, and have a great fondness for Hash's Animation Master.  I use After Effects, Digital Fusion, Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator, Vegas, and any other applications I can get my hands on to make pretty pictures!

For Stranglehold and other art direction projects did you have any formal training?
Everything was self taught and from experience, trial by fire so to speak.

How do you deal with time management and clients?
We spend a good amount of time to cater to the client’s needs and make them feel at home.

Considering your time constrains how many hours do you usually spend on a project at the office?
We usually spend about 9 hours a day and get as much accomplished as possible.

You are such a well rounded artist, what job in particular do you enjoy most?Directing is what I want to do - directing anything, with the focus on directing animations. Directing animations aren’t any different from directing live action. It’s really just composing shots and making it all happen.