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Wow thanks for responding! I didn’t even know what testing was until I read this and I’m defienetly gonna check out that Animator Guild thingy. Gracias for the knowledge
Hey! I’m an aspiring Storyboard artist and I was wondering how you got your job on The Owl House. Where can you apply for that kinda stuff? Did you have to cater your portfolio to be more ‘Disney’? I love your boards btw (especially the Grom ones)
Hiya! Thanks for reaching out! So, I had been working in the industry for about four/five years at WB, and a couple of my directors there had given my name to artist management at Disney TVA. TVA reached out to me to do a test for Owl House (a storyboard test is like they give you some model sheets, a few pages of script, and then you just sort of board what you want to based on the guidelines they’ve given you). I submitted it and I didn’t hear for over a month whether or not I had gotten the job. But I mainly have gotten most of my jobs through testing. There are sometimes open calls for testing; I know even Dana Terrace put it out there that they were testing for Owl House when it was first staffing up. A note though: Testing is hotly contested within the Animation community and amongst our Union members because sometimes it does require a lot of work that is usually unpaid and sometimes there isn’t a guarantee that they won’t take some of your work and use it without having ever paid you for it, and sometimes, when they’re testing a lot of people, you won’t even get the job. (Sidenote: Check out IATSE Local 839 The Animation Guild for animation resources too and getting connections! I know before the pandemic they had outreach for people looking to get into the industry, not sure if they’re still doing that but it’s worth looking into. Unions woo!) But honestly, and don’t read into my experience too much because there are lots of different ways to get into the industry, but my portfolio has never factored into any jobs I’ve gotten; it’s usually a matter of getting in and doing good work so that your directors/showrunners etc like you enough to recommend you to other productions. I started out as a revisionist because one of my teachers in college liked my boards, and when there was an opportunity, I got a job as a Storyboard Revisionist (the entry level position most Board artists go through) at WB TV Animation, and since then, I’ve gotten most storyboarding jobs through testing. Even to this day, after working in the industry for 7 years, I still get asked to test for things :T It’s a bit demoralizing, but sometimes it does come down to getting that first test and connections to recruiters and artist management. But I have heard of people with really amazing art online getting sought out through twitter and stuff, so things are definitely changing from when I was first trying to get my job (and that wasn’t even that long ago... gosh.. I’m old ToT.) So while it’s definitely good to have a portfolio in your back pocket that shows range and ability, for storyboarding, try reaching out to recruiters for opportunities to test if you want to give that a try. (But don’t over exert yourself for a test either! Taking care of yourself is important!) Ah, I don’t know if this helped at all! Sorry!