OVI NEDELCU
ANIMATION
DRAW!: Why don’t you tell us a bit about your background, education, etc. Did you go to art school at all? OVI NEDELCU: Sure, I left high school in 1997 and went straight into art school at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I was an Illustration major, but only managed to finish two years out of the four I was supposed to be there. Mostly because I got a job offer from WB Animation down in LA, but also because I just couldn’t afford to keep taking classes. My funds were just about empty and I had no job or other means to keep paying tuition with. So it kind of all worked out just in time, which was fine with me because I never went to art school for a diploma. I got what I needed and got out. Although I have to say there are one or two classes I wish I could have taken, but for the most part I’m happy with what I got. I have a big problem with paying $2000 for a “required” academic “career search” class. If you’re paying that much for school and you don’t know what you want to do for a living, you’re in trouble. The school recommended you take three art classes and three academic classes so that your workload wasn’t too overwhelming. But I think this is just another way to get you to take worthless expensive classes you can take at a community college
for a fraction of the price. But some art schools won’t let you transfer the credits. It’s an evil monopoly. I only took art classes while in school. I took six art classes every semester, for two years. I got what I needed, and left the expensive “required” classes behind. Wow, this interview is starting out on a good note. [laughs] Just making friends. DRAW!: Can you tell me a bit about how you broke into the animation business? What was it you were aiming for job/career wise? ON: Well, back when I was in art school and even before that I wanted to be a professional comic book artist/illustrator. I would always attend comic book conventions and show my portfolio to pros and editors trying to get advice and a job like every other 18-year-old aspiring artist. I continued to attend the shows through college and still do to this day. Although I loved animation and the art form, it was never something I saw myself doing or getting into. I just didn’t like drawing the same thing over and over to make it animate. After I got into the animation business I realized there where plenty of other things to do besides in-betweening.
RIGHT: Pink development art, pencil on paper.
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PINK ™ AND ©2007 WILL VINTON/LAIKA.
DRAW! • SUMMER 2007