#Snorks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dalt20 · 9 months

Text

Tooning in 5. Rufino Gomez 1-3

DL: How was your childhood?

RG: Its a different ballgame now, My childhood was struggling so as it now. Being an artist is so hard. Compare to no other profession.

DL: What was your favorite cartoons growing up?

RG: Voltes five

DL: And any Hanna barbera cartoons you also liked?

RG: Yogi Bear, of course that was the first thing i saw when i was growing up ...voltes was later.

DL: Did you drew a lot as a kid, how did you wanna be a animator, how did you got introduced to cartoons?

RG: Yes, I drew a lot back then even on walls in the neighborhood, in the palm of my hand anything flat. I never knew how its done before, i thougt all along it was moving on its own...it needs only one drawing and thats it...but when i enter the Filcartoons i was amazed how its done!

DL: How was growing up during Ferdinand Marcos rule Until 1986?

RG: It was painful...rice with corn ..people suddenly gone nowhere to find, people were scared you can see soldiers around ...my father was picked up in the evening ..us knowing nothing ...and then came back in the morning exhausted...future was gone ..people doesnt know what to do in order to survive..it was really scary...marcos recruited armies in his hometown province so that they can communicate in their own dialect..very astute dictator.

DL: Before then, how did you got into cartoons?

RG: My family, little they know i applied for this while stiil im studying ...good for me because after two weeks training, fire broke out in our neighboors and unfortunately we were included. So i already had the job after we were confined in the hospital. I was trained in Fil Cartoons as a Layout Animation...and the studio was really nice....i was in college ..third year in the School of Fine Arts in the University of the East in Caloocan City here in the Philippines...i applied for the training given at that time by Fil Cartoons as an Animation Layout ... I see ..it was really fun back then back then ...it started two years after the EDSA People Power Revolution and Fil Cartoons started in the 21st and 22nd floor of Strata 2000 building in Ortigas Ave. if my memory serves me right.

DL: So what was your first project at fil cartoons?

RG: That was Yogi Bear back then. And we were trained by John Rice, an Australian animator.

DL: How was John rice?

RG: I think John already settled here he married a filipina and stayed here.

DL: I believe he was from HB Australia.

RG: Yup, Hanna Barbera Australia!

DL: Yeah , so thoughts on the yogi bear character and his cartoons?

RG: Yogi Bear as a training materials for a starter like me was not that so hard because it was cartoony. It easy to turn around the character , And posing in a different position was easy because of its character designed.

DL: To ask a question, how do you move a character in animation? Like inbetweens?

RG: Yup..its a painstaking process. Not unlike today everything is in the stock.

DL: Yeah, like today people use flash animation and just move the puppet around.

RG: Yup! it speeds up the process.

DL: So how do you do inbetweens, can you explain it to me because I don’t understand how do they move without flipping the model like they do in flash?

RG: I was trained as a Layout Animation after that it goes down to the Animator for them to do the key poses and goes down to the inbetweeners. And after in the inbetweeners it goes down to the clean up and zerox department. The Background layout goes down to the Backgrounder to be painted in acrylic. The flipping goes down in the animator by using a QAR machine..it was a Quick Animation Recorder for the line test.. Thats were the action happens!

DL: So the layout artist is the guy who does the key poses for the betweeners to work out.

RG: The animator. Layout artist do the staging and the blocking of the character ..the first and last poses only and the background staging.

DL: So how was the head honcho, jerry smith?

RG: Jerry Simth was the one bring the animation in the Philippines together with a certain general here , Mowelfund, and other Bigtime businessmen. I will try to recall their names.

DL: So, how was jerry personally?

RG: Uhm..Jerry was generous only those he partnered where is the greedy.

DL: So he was from America right? From the HB studio in America?

RG: Yes, I think he is dead already.

DL: Yeah, he died 25 years ago. He was such a good man, As I heard everyone love him at fil cartoons.

RG: Yup he was really generous and he wants to uplift the lives of filipino artist.

DL: Well in Thad Komorowski’s book, he said that the place was a shithole I think. And the working conditions were poor.

RG: Only the filipinos businessmen he partnered is the problem. Yes its true the first location of the Fil Cartoons studio in Strata 2000 in ortigas was really a shithole specially the Restroom.

DL: Wow! Did people really had to sleep outside? Because they couldn’t afford to pay rent because of the low salary?

RG: Not really outside but inside the studio we were sleeping because other artist living in far away places. We were allowed to sleep in the studio below the animation table where we were working.

DL: Ah like John lasseter during the first days of Pixar?

RG: Exactly! And the food were listed in the canteen and paid weekly.

DL: Ah. That’s your word for cafeteria right? Canteen. For us Americans, that word is referred as a circular water container.

RG: I see the water canteen in the US army. Yes we used to that naming.

DL: So, we’re there any foreigners/nor Filipino animators at fil cartoons? Like American,Canadian, Australian,etc?

RG: As far as i can recall there were at least ten foreigners..not exactly..well Filipino animators after having years of experience were able to go the US and Australia and after a decade recruited in india and other southeast asian countries.

DL: Ah, so all Filipino (minus jerry) staff then?

RG: Yes , some foreign animators visiting but the staff almost filipino from accounting department down the line

DL: Oh, I see. So, can you tell me about those Filipino businessmen that were leading jerry the wrong way?

RG: The setup of the studio is like shanties each cubicle. The management was layered with politician and vic palileo i think was just a frontman.

DL: And so it’s was the past president’s cronies? Ferdinand Marcos?

RG: Yes. Josep Estrada the former president was the head of Mowelfund if i was not mistaken. Founder i think.

DL: Ah and so,, what was their deal with poor old Jerry, bribery or extortion?

RG: Probably...the philippines at that time was just recovering from a dictator and a lot of their cronies is in key position.

DL: Ah, must be hard for a American living in the Philippines doing his job supervising cartoons for Hanna barbera.

RG: Yes.

DL: So, can we talk about some of the projects at fil cartoons you did? First I want to bring up is the smurfs, How was working on that program?

RG: Yes that was a nice program, so easy to do, not only if you were given character in groups, that was easy. And its was fun to do ..and snorks.

DL: The character designs were all the same so that was a bonus!

RG: Yup! Police Academy The series.

DL: How was working on the show?

RG: It was great! The rate is good because its not so cartoony almost real like anatomy.

DL: Did You watch the films?

RG: No i havent because we dont have betamax player at that time. And the access to movie was only for the well off.

DL: Ah gotcha. Paddington bear how was your experience in that?

RG: Yup Paddington. Not so hard to do ..

DL: Why? Was it, because the character was easy to draw?

RG: It was cartoony. Full Body anatomy with almost realistic detail was really hard to do when it comes to full body turn around. Off modeled is the biggest problem.

DL: So speaking off model, did you ever drew anything “off model”? As fil cartoons had a horrible reputation for being off model.

RG: Of course ..almost every artist goes to that.

DL: Any examples you remember that you went like “that doesn’t look right but I have to finish this so this will do.” ?

He ask for my email address, I send it to him and he gives me a demo reel of his 90s work. The only things I could decipher is are German cartoon, fix and foxi and friends and the Canadian toon, the 2001 Anne of green gables adaptation.

DL: The footage looks a little choppy.

RG: So you could have an idea how tedious is the hand drawn animated cartoons.

DL: Yeah, I can believe you. It’s rough!

RG: Its a pencil test compiled.

DL: Yeah it isn’t Disney level pencil test. But it’s something.

RG: Its not complete with inbetween drawings just key poses.

DL: Ah ok. So a pup named Scooby doo, How was that program?

RG: Yeah i also able to work on that project but it was a short stint. Disney is full animation a 24 frame rate per second while the saturday morning show cartoons is limited to 15 frames per second..

DL: Wow! And it’s because it’s cheaper and faster?

RG: Yes. And they were done in movie format.

DL: But back to a pup named Scooby doo, how was it drawing the expressions and the squash and stretch animation the characters had contrast to other stilted animation?

RG: It was really exagerrated..that was the intention of the director. Each show has its own style of animation.

DL: And was he Glen Kennedy? The director of the animation?

RG: I think so..kathllen and glen lived here in the phil for a short period of time. Just for the project.

DL: Well he moved back in 1995 to work for a company called animasia, or was that Malaysia?

RG: Yup Animasia. I think he also helped with the setup of L.A. animation studio at the back of Folk Arts Theater in Roxas Blvd. If my memory serves me right.

DL: Ah, how was glen? Because he was rumored to have said to kill Tom ruegger over him getting fired over his work on tiny toons.

RG: Ah that was way way back..as far as i know he was into drugs...that was i heard..

DL: Well if that’s true, he’s clean now. That must be the reason he said that.

RG: Good for him, Drugs at that time was rampant here.

DL: Like morphine as that drug was very popular there.

RG: No... shabu...poor man's cocaine.

DL: I never heard that.

RG: Coke coming from hong kong.

DL: Oh yeah. I know that.

RG: It was just a short stint in the scooby doo it was intended for senior layout artist not for a newbie.

DL: Scooby doo and the reluctant werewolf, how was working your first feature film?

RG: I tried but the director is too strict and disciplined..but the rate is good. I never get thru. We never get credits for any show only the seniors.

DL: That’s why you don’t have a IMDb?

RG: Yes,Its politics.

DL: Oh, That’s sad.

RG: Only the privileged in the higher ups.

DL: That’s makes so upset.

RG: Im able to work in the feature film in the india studio ...The Buddha.

DL: Ok that’s great. So the Jetsons movie? Was that your first feature?

RG: I animated some scene here but were not included in the credits.

DL: God, that musta sucks. Was it when George jetson was in traffic and pulls up a inflatable policeman to get out of traffic before get got pull over from a actual police officer?

RG: Thats how life it is... Actually the expats enjoyed here much ...somebody do the work for them. And those who had attitude problem was thrown here.

DL: Man, the agony. Greatest stories from the Bible? How was working on that series?

RG: Im not able to participate on that ..it has a good rate.

DL: Oh ok, fantastic max. How was working on that?

RG: Yeah fantastic max ..only limited. Also Cliffhanger.

DL: For fantastic max musta sucked.

RG: Little house of Horror.

DL: What does that mean?

RG: Its a tv show ..Little House of Horror..maybe not in the US.

DL: Oh yeah, never heard of that.

RG: We almost do the outsourcing from other countries not only in the US

DL: Never knew that! From Europe?

RG: We did Mozart from germany.

DL: I think I saw that on your demo reel. How was that?

RG: It was good.

DL: So did fil cartoons worked on Winnie the Pooh and darkwing duck for Disney? As did you worked on those?

RG: Yup! Nah ..winnie is just recent...i worked in fil in the old studio after that i moved to others ...politics is intensifying.

DL: Ah ok.

#animation #tooning in.#animation interview #Rufino Gomez #fil cartoons #hanna barbera #the smurfs #snorks #police academy #a pup named scooby doo #scooby doo and the reluctant werewolf #the Jetsons movie #fantastic max #Filipino animation #philippines #filipino representation

6 notes · View notes