Working for Bluth on Rock A Doodle

[@yellowcougar18]

I bought and read Jacques Muller's book '40 years of animated cartoons', and he did mention his time at Bluth studios. It was around the time of Thumbelina, when he left. Apparently round that time (according to the book) he'd heard folks complaining that they were not getting paid, or paychecks were coming in a lot later. It's weird, that era of animation in Ireland, the 80s and the 90s, especially, seemed more, 'stable', I want to say. I've known folks who've worked in animation, in Ireland, and left the animation field after a few years. Studios have dropped them, or the studio went belly up. It's marketed as this amazing career, but it is fraught with instability.

[@animatewithdermot]

Jacques worked there the same time I did. Remember the name, definitely. Yes, there was some mayhem with getting paid, huge financial issues at one point around 1991 or 92 IIRC. That's a whole story by itself!

[@DarrenTAnims]

Thanks for sharing. That was fascinating.

[@johnjoeparrot]

The skills you share help us prepare for any fad

[@BlueMaroonAnimations]

I had a professor who worked on Thumbelina with Bluth and he said it was one of his most hated jobs he's ever had (next to teaching at a college haha) Thanks for sharing your experience, its always a pleasure to hear from an experienced animator!

[@animatewithdermot]

Thumbelina was heavily roto'ed (live action reffed), I can understand why. I'm not a fan of the music either! A friend of mine (not a feature board artist, but still a good story guy) was watching it at work in the mid 00s. When the scene where the prince sees the T for the first time, James stopped the video, turned to me and said "Wait. This is the first time he sees her?" Yup. "Then why is it a long shot? You can't even see his expression!" And he was right! It's really hard to explain such an awful shot selection, but thinking about it now, it was a mixture of sheer exhaustion - working on a feature after feature without ever stopping can't be good for recharging batteries, but also, the way that most of the scenes used live action reference. That was the live action ref they had, so that's what they used. One of the story guys went on to do major work for Disney & Dreamworks, it's not as if the talent wasn't there to avoid basic bloops like that, but clearly something wasn't working in the story/layout depts.

[@hotpopcorncake]

Oh wow you worked with Don bluth making Rock a dooldle.

[@animatewithdermot]

Yes, went on to do Troll, Thumbelina, and Pebble & the Penguin. I squeaked into the animation dept. on Thumb, and got halfway through Penguin when I won a Green Card in a lottery, left in late 92/early 93 and moved to LA. Animated & directed CD-Rom games for Disney Interactive until ~2000.

[@jaydun6106]

I wore out our Rock-a-Doodle tape, much to my parents joy. Love that you're rockin' the wacom 21ux. Makes me feel real professional using my gen 2 :D

[@animatewithdermot]

I'll use this wacom until it dies beyond repair! I made the mistake of buying a mobile studio pro 16, stupidest think I've ever done. Hard to believe it's the same company. Died finally after only 3 years, and the cost of fixing it (1500 to 1600) is the same as buying a refurb, so basically pointless. I won't be buying wacom again, sad to say...not first hand, anyway. About Rock A Doodle, for a few years after I left Bluth, in the 90s and 00s, people would ask me what movies I'd worked on. I'd tell them, and get a blank stare. Then about 7 or 8 years ago I was talking to a Millenial barista in Portland (yeah, sounds cliche), she asked what movies I'd worked on. Told her RockADoodle. "Oh wow! That was my favourite movie as a child!" For a moment I thought I'd slipped into a parallel universe, then I realised it was because she'd have been the perfect VHS demographic as a kid to have seen it, as it wasn't a box office success. But now I wonder if any younger kids growing up will know what it is, as they'll the streamers. Some might, but many would be watching Mr. Beast or some creepy YT AI spiderman knockoff! But still, always good to know the work was actually seen by people!

[@garymankey6186]

I enjoyed your video and you mentioned Blender. I am going to watch Rock-a-Doodle.

[@animatewithdermot]

Glad you liked it! One thing to watch out for on watching (and I should talk about this in a future video) is the feathery costume worn by Goldie. This was a late addition when the studio needed extra investors to stay afloat - they didn't like Goldie's 'revealing' costume, so their condition was to add the fluffy stuff on her hips and chest! If you buy a cel from the movie with her in it, you'll see they're on a separate layer. This had to be done almost all of her scenes, it took the FX department ages.

[@garymankey6186]

@@animatewithdermot It is a great movie, even with all its delays, you should be proud to have started your career there and doing it without computers. Lucky you.

[@Hydrart]

I can still picture Peepers mashing up the animation paper. Top pegs was a bitch, for sure. I heard so many Edmond takes. I was right next to Nicky’s office. That kid needed subtitles.

[@animatewithdermot]

Some of his reads are unintelligible. Kid should have had a restraining order keeping him 500 feet from a microphone! All of Don's earlier movies had great kids' voices (Wil Wheaton in NIMH!), and Fievel of course. I couldn't find the scenes with Thuchill the cow when I was scrubbing through the movie, maybe they cut those? Peepers mashing the paper: without that scene I'd have left the animation industry for good in 1992! Crazy thought.

[@BlueDevil7474]

I don't know if this is too personal a question but, are you living in Ireland now? Also, are you familiar with Patrick J. Jones?

[@animatewithdermot]

Not at all. I moved back to Ireland in 2022 after spending 29 years in the US (LA and Portland OR mostly). Don't know Patrick.

[@BlueDevil7474]

​@@animatewithdermot Is the cost of living in Ireland reasonable and is there work there?

[@animatewithdermot]

Hm. Cost of living regarding food is much cheaper than in the US, seems to me. The big problem here is housing, it's a total nightmare. I've advised one man who was trying to get his son set up here to make sure that he's got housing sorted before getting on the plane. Rentals are hard to find, and expensive when you do find them, even in the west, where I'm based. We bought a house in a rural spot, would have been close to impossible on the east coast. If you can get an employer or friend to put you up for 6 months to allow you to find a place, that would be the minimum. There are some seriously horrible living situations you could end up in - and not cheap either. Jobs wise, there are studios, Brown Bag, JAM media, both in Dublin, Giant too I think. Meala is based in Boyle, in co. Roscommon, that might be a better bet if you're into hand drawn stuff, and of course Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, also might be easier to pursue, though being close to Dublin, Kilkenny will have the same housing issues. There have been big layoffs at Brownbag, don't know about the others. Regarding the situation in housing and the state of the country in general, the Ireland Reddit is a pretty decent way to get the lay of the land. www.reddit.com/r/ireland/

[@animatewithdermot]

You might find this thread of interest: www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1bo7gli/housing_crisis_situation/

[@Sant_WasHere]

First!

[@animatewithdermot]

That was quick!