Educazoo at RodeoFX

October 2022

RodeoFX brought in Educazoo for 4 sessions! We were thrilled to be able to draw and interact with these amazing creatures like reptiles, birds, mammals, and insects. What a privilege to learn and draw at work. It's a huge dream come true for me as an animator to work at a studio that dedicates resources to skills development like this. 

InclusionFX Interview

July 2022

I was honoured to be interviewed by Audrea Topps Harjo of IFX as part of her ongoing video series.

"InclusionFX (IFX) is a platform designed to support and amplify underrepresented voices in the VFX for features, television and games industries."

Animation Supervisor at Rodeo FX

March 2022

Jumping into new role: Animation Supervisor at Rodeo FX in Montreal, Canada. 

I'm overseeing 2 very contrasting projects - one an action feature, the other a creepy creature show. Since I can't show anything from those 2 projects just yet, here's the impressive Rodeo show reel. I'm so proud and happy to be part of this amazing team. We're hiring in multiple locations:

  

Master Showreel | Rodeo FX from Rodeo FX on Vimeo.

Virtual life drawing classes at RodeoFX

February 2022

On Mondays this winter we've been getting together online to draw from photos on themes ranging from trees to athletes. It's a lot of fun and until the covid situation is better we're keeping our drawing skills up by meeting virtually. I really hope to get back to life drawing in person soon.  

Lead Animator at Rodeo FX Montreal

March 2022

Hopping back into VFX! Thrilled to have joined the talented team at Rodeo FX Montreal.

I had the great fortune to be able to work on the 4th season of Stranger Things -- a super fun creature team under the leadership of Yvon Jardel and Scott Holmes. We had a great time bringing these scary vines and monsters to life.  

https://beforesandafters.com/2022/06/22/behind-vecnas-uv-texture-crawl-vines-the-fight-of-a-demogorgon-and-the-de-ageing-of-millie-bobby-brown/

iAnimate interview

March 2021

I've been a longtime fan of iAnimate and I was really excited for the opportunity to talk to Larry Vasquez and Rick Arroyo about my long and winding animation journey and of course - my upcoming course at iAnimate - Feature 4!

Animation Supervisor at Game On

Sept 2020 

Very excited to announce my new gig as Animation Supervisor at Game On! 

The largest motion capture facility on the East Coast, Game On has produced animation for hundreds of diverse, AAA properties such as Batman, Outlast, Far Cry, Prince of Persia, Halo, Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed, and Deadpool.

I'm here to help Game On develop more reach into high end game cinematics by honing our animation skills and diving into virtual production and mocap direction. 

Having fun juggling multiple projects for top-tier clients, learning new software, and getting to know more about the potential of my team. 

Moving to Montreal!!

July 2020

After nearly 4 wonderful years in Vancouver, it's time for us to move back East. 

We packed up our life, packed our car, took some time off and, during a pandemic, camped our way right across the country. It was the epic trip of a lifetime!!! Highly recommended. 

Lead Animator at Method Studios

January, 2020

New home: Method Studios!

Really enjoying getting a chance to hop back into a lead role again on this fun Netflix Halloween project. 

With my co-Lead Kevin Kohri, our Super Anim Supe Matt Kowaliszyn, and our awesome animation team, I had a ball working on this feature-length special directed by Rachel Talalay.

Pencil Pushers Podcast Interview

January, 2020

Great chatting with Mike Rosado on @thepencilpusherspodcast about transitioning from hand-drawn to CG animation, and staying healthy no matter what the industry throws at you! http://pencilpusherspodcast.libsyn.com/tara-donovan

Godzilla vs King Kong at ScanlineVFX

December, 2019

I had the best time returning to ScanlineVFX for one of the coolest projects I could ever hope to work on. I'm a longtime fan of bombastic monster movies, specifically King Kong and Godzilla. To have the chance to animate both of these epic characters in the same shots was a dream come true!  Looking forward to seeing them on the big screen at some future time.. 2021?  

Pencil Pushers Podcast: Richard Williams Tribute

Sept 3, 2019

So honoured to be part of this episode of The Pencil Pusher's Podcast, discussing the life and legacy of Richard Williams along with Kevin Schreck (director of "Persistence of Vision"), Dean Lennert (animator, friend of Richard Williams), and Tony White (animator, Richard Williams' "A Christmas Carol"), and me, animator, "The Thief and the Cobbler". https://pencilpusherspodcast.libsyn.com/the-animated-life-of-richard-williams

Skull sketching by the lake

June, 2019

Skull sketching by the lake - cold beer, cool tunes, great teacher. Thanks, Stanley Park Ecology Society.

Toons on Tap: Wonder Woman!

Jan 6, 2019

Just pulled these sketches out of the basement on a quick trip to Toronto. I miss life drawing and Toons On Tap! I’m also getting super excited for Wonder Woman 2 and am really curious who’s doing the VFX on that show. These are quick 30-second 2 and 5 min sketches from a really fun night.

Skull Sketching by the Lake

December, 2018

Drawing animal skulls with some MPC crew at the Stanley Park Ecology Center

Lead Animator at MPC Vancouver on Detective Pikachu

November, 2018

It's been an exciting few months working on this hybrid live action-performance show with the talented team at MPC Vancouver. Along with an exceptional team of Leads and Supes we've been working tirelessly to wrangle dozens of hearty Animators to bring life to these beloved characters.  So far the audience reaction to our first trailer has been super positive!

 

Panel Moderator at the Spark FX Diversity Summit 2018

February 2018

I had the honour of moderating a panel at the Spark FX Diversity Summit on the ‘WOMEN IN VFX’ PROJECT produced by the wonderful Charmaine Chan. Charmaine has interviewed over 50 women in three countries in an effort to celebrate and bring a voice to women working in the industry. Charmaine shared a wealth of information and fielded great questions from the audience about how to promote and support creative women in our field. Through her work she addresses some of the common stumbling blocks to women's advancement in VFX where women make up only 7-17% of the industry. Charmaine is a full-time compositor and area tech lead at ILM. It was super fun meeting the creative and vivacious Charmaine in person and I was very happy to be part of the Diversity Summit at SparkFX.

Charmaine created this SparkFX 2018 edition of Women in VFX just for us - she even got me front of the camera.

Aquaman at ScanlineVFX Vancouver

July 20, 2017

More superheroes and villains! Diving into a new show: Aquaman! I've had a ball on this project animating some ______ and _____ and getting to do a ton of _____ work. As usual I can't say a word about it but here's the trailer!

Justice League at ScanlineVFX Vancouver

May, 2017

My new studio home is ScanlineVFX Vancouver They make little movies like Batman vs Superman and Iron Man.

Super excited about superheroes! (and villains!) It's big segue for me from the 2D show DOT but I'm up for a challenge.

Scanline has been absolutely awesome but I'm not allowed to say a word about it so here's the 1st trailer for the movie. So excited!     

Character Design Masterclass with Borja Montoro

April, 2017

What an inspiring day at this incredible masterclass put on by SparkCG.

Borja Montoro led us through the process of designing characters from initial concept through to turnarounds and expression sheets. Along the way he shared words of insight, inspiration and wisdom with an appreciative crowd at Vancity Theatre. Drawing live in front of such a packed auditorium would be pretty daunting but he seemed relaxed and full of witty anecdotes from his decades of experience designing at some of the world's most prestigious animation companies. 

I'm grateful to SparkCG for putting this event together. Time for me to dust of my sketchbook and shake the rust of my pencil. (Ya that metaphor doesn't really work but you get the idea.) Must draw more!

Borja’s inspiring and gorgeous sketches below -