Fanboy and Chum Chum

Danielle Digrado

The Fanboy crew interview this time around moves down a flight of stairs to the second floor and the CG department, where we tracked down coordinator Danielle Digrado to answer a handful of questions for the blog.

Frederator: Where did you grow up?

Danielle: I grew up in sunny Orange, California.

Frederator: What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?

Danielle: I don’t think that I had one favorite. I was a huge fan of the old Warner Bros Cartoons (I loved the Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny) as well as the old Disney animated shorts. I was also really big on Animaniacs and everything that was on The Disney Afternoon, as well as classic Nickelodeon shows like Rugrats.

Frederator: What was your education like?

Danielle: I received my degree in Entertainment Art/Animation from Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 2006. I originally wanted to head down the artist career path, but I had a production internship a few summers ago and liked that a lot – so I decided to try the production route after school. I love it.

Frederator: How did you get your job as CG production coordinator at Nick?

Danielle: I started out at Nick as a CG Production Assistant on the show Tak and the Power of Juju. As that production was winding down I began to take on more work for CG’s third show, Fanboy and Chum Chum. For a while I did double production duty- I was very lucky that my supervisors gave me the opportunity to transition to a new show and train for a new role. I was officially promoted to CG Coordinator last June.

Frederator: Congratulations. So what are your responsibilities on Fanboy?

Danielle: My job entails watching over half the episodes in the series on the CG side of things, making sure everything gets done for them from the early storyboard stages through comp.

Frederator: What’s “comp”?

Danielle: Comp is the final rendered series of images that are seen on TV, done by scene. These include all animation, backgrounds, textures, FX and lighting all composited together into the final product that is then sent to Post Production. These scenes are then edited together to time with music and sound FX, as well as any other visual additions (such as wipes) not done in-scene.

Frederator: Where do you get your creative inspiration?

Danielle: I get crazy creative inspiration in spurts. I don’t quite know where it comes from, really, sometimes I just have to be in the mood to create art. I do oil paintings as a hobby – I love painting landscapes.

Frederator: Any advice for those looking to get into CG production?

Danielle: I’ve learned that to make it in this industry, you have to be incredibly proactive, especially when you are trying to break in. You always have to be actively networking, meeting people and keeping contacts. So many people want to work in this industry that it can be disheartening sometimes, how difficult it can be to find a job. But keep if you keep at it, you will eventually land something. Getting in is half the battle!

Frederator: If you could meet any artist, living or not, who would it be?

Danielle: I would have loved to have met Walt Disney. He’s one of the people that inspired me to work in animation.

Frederator: Nickelodeon stocking the kitchens with donuts two days a week is: A) Not enough B) Too much C) Just right?

Danielle: Lately they have changed to danishes! I really miss the donuts. They only make an occasional appearance now.

Thursday - neither donuts nor danishes

Thanks, Danielle.

(And thanks to Angie Polk for the interview work.)

– Eric