Channel Frederator Blog

Animator, director, and teacher Randy Gossman shares his thoughts on animation education and his love/hate relationship with technology.

Channel Frederator: What have you learned about your craft through teaching and working with your students?

Randy Gossman: I’ve learned that it’s a cruel thing to force someone to do something they hate or can’t grasp, especially animation. I love it and have never considered it work when animating but if the student doesn’t fall in love with the medium then it’s time to consider another career.

CF: You received your MFA in ‘07. Why is it important to you to continue your education?

RG: If you don’t keep challenging yourself and breaking out of your normal ability then you’ll simply never grow in your craft. I find that this comes from more real-world experience and less from what you get out of the classroom. Funny thing is I was just getting my MFA so I could keep teaching at a collegiate level. If I hadn’t gone that route I’m sure I never would’ve come up with “Shutterbird”.

CF: Who or what has inspired your work the most?

RG: Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH was the animated film that made me say, “This is what I want to do for a living!” I always knew I wanted to do something in film, special effects or maybe stop motion animation but after seeing NIMH I got so excited about traditional animation that I never looked back.

CF: What’s the most annoying thing in the world to you?

RG: Technology. It’s such a blessing and a curse. I can’t live without it but at the same time it pisses me off more than anything else. If it wasn’t for making animation production so convenient and affordable I might have abandoned it all together.

Thank you, Randy!

Check out Randy’s film “Shutterbird” right here in episode 167 of Channel Frederator!

– Bailee DesRocher