• Interview with John Irving L. Prudenciano (Animator for MLP!)

    So Don_ko Sent me this interesting email earlier! It's an interview with John Irving L. Prudenciano, (Known as Irving-Zero)

    He provides us with some insight into the creation process for a pony episode! Check out the full interview after the page break!


    Don_ko: Is animator your main profession? How did you become an animator?

    Irving: Yeah it is. Actually I finished a totally different course in college but wound up in animation training while looking for a job

    Don_ko: You are from Philippines. Other animators are situated around the world. How do you communicate?

    Irving: Email, I guess.

    Don_ko: In what programs do you work? 
    Irving: Just Flash 8.

    Don_ko: How many time does it take to animate a 1 minute?
    Irving: Well depending on the scene (and more often than not the animator), a minute may take from 3 days to 1 week to animate...

    Don_ko: What can you say about other animators? How long does it take to animate one episode?

    Irving: Well we have different levels of animators. the ones who could do lots of scenes are the veteran ones. we have a month scheduled for an episode, including fixups on scenes and retakes from the client. So back in MLP I only did about 30 something seconds per episode. I can say that my scenes at winter wrap up were harder coz they were efx and action as compared to this episode where my scenes were acting (though it's a pain to animate acting because I'm not really good at it).

    Don_ko: As you have mentioned there are animators with different skill level. How is the work divided between all animators?

    Irving: The director divides the episode among animators considering their skill level, and well maybe also their speed and motivation.

    Don_ko: "Friendship is magic" is awesome with it's animation goofs. Were all those funny face expressions intended to be on storyboards or that's animators job?

    Irving: We follow the storyboards pretty much strictly but there are times when animators fool around with the background characters and gets away with it.

    Don_ko: When the actual animation progress has started?

    Irving: It actually started April last year.

    Don_ko: When was the job finished?

    Irving: We finished the project last december.

    Don_ko: Will you participate in creation of the second season? (because the internet is filled with rumors about season 2)

    Irving: I don't know. It depends on the director. But I hope I'd be included.

    Don_ko: Do you like what you do?

    Irving: Of course! Being a part of an awesome show is just, well, awesome. (insert rainbow dash expression here)

    Don_ko: have you ever visited pony-related sites like Equestriadaily.com or 4chan itself?

    Irving: It's pretty much hard to miss, so, yeah. At first it's kind of a culture shock but you grow outta it after several post readings.

    Don_ko: You have great art in your gallery. Can we call you a brony after that?

    Irving: Maybe, I dunno. Brony seems too hardcore for me.

    Don_ko: Your favorite character is...

    Irving: Pinkie Pie, of course. As much as I can request I'd go for scenes with pinkie pie, especially the flutterguy- spitty pie zecora song.

    Don_ko: Big thanks! Have you any warm words to tell for our readers?

    Irving: Eat lotsa sugar, do random stuff. (insert Pinkie Pie expression here)

    I love how the people from the show are so vocal in the community. Derpy Hooves becoming a canon character still amazes me.  We may rag on Hasbro for their...toy "designs", but it's really cool that they allow stuff like this!

    Thanks again for Don_ko and of course Irving for making this happen!

    28 kommentaari:

    1. Ha, neat. I hope he really said that last bit out loud in its entirety.

      VastaKustuta
    2. Bronies for life, man, I'd like to see stuff like this from the other animators O_o I wonder if they have similar perspectives.

      VastaKustuta
    3. Good interview, its nice to see some of the design processes that go with animating as I˙m inspiring to be an animator.

      Hope that flash animation becomes more widespread with this show

      VastaKustuta
    4. crosses fingers for lauren faust interview after season 1 ****

      VastaKustuta
    5. He's filipino AND uses Flash 8! I can so relate to him so bad, it's not even funny!

      VastaKustuta
    6. Omg, this is awesome.
      This is that guy who made that sexy humanized pictures of the mainies and even Trixie. xD

      VastaKustuta
    7. Guy is awesome, proves that they really do have an eye on the community.

      VastaKustuta
    8. Great! So very great!



      Actually, this is exactly the kind of thing I hope to see in a DVD/Blu-Ray as additional content if such ever happens. Though perhaps I'm hoping a bit much.

      VastaKustuta
    9. "Eat lotsa sugar, do random stuff"
      Thanks, I will!

      VastaKustuta
    10. If you think about it, I don't think the creators were going into this thinking they would do many interviews or interact that much with fans, seeing as it was made for children. I wonder how taken aback they were and how much they enjoy this added surprise to making the show.

      VastaKustuta
    11. "Eat lotsa sugar, do random stuff" -- But I already do! :)

      VastaKustuta
    12. wait... What pictures was it this guy drew? I've seen so many I'm not sure

      VastaKustuta
    13. The next time we see Don_Ko, let's all give him a brohoof.

      VastaKustuta
    14. @oscarMIKE: Look through his gallery and see if you recognise anything! :)

      http://irving-zero.deviantart.com/gallery/

      VastaKustuta
    15. cool I remember those

      VastaKustuta
    16. Flash 8?! Wow, the show looks so damn good for being animated with such an old version. And I thought I was putting off upgrading (I'm no CS3, aka v9), lol.

      Nice to know that you really *don't* need to invest in the latest and "greatest" incarnation of every single application to still produce great stuff.

      VastaKustuta
    17. Regarding him being a brony or not, I guess its hard being a fan of something you work on as you will always have a more critic view on it.

      VastaKustuta
    18. WOAH WHAAAAAT!?

      AN ANIMATOR OF THE SHOW DID THOSE HUMANISED VERSIONS!?! WOAH!

      VastaKustuta
    19. makes sense the professional artists are getting in on the professional art scene of it too

      VastaKustuta
    20. He's just so relaxed and awesome. It makes me happy ^^

      The whole crew is awesome.

      VastaKustuta
    21. FILIPINOS REPRESENT!

      VastaKustuta
    22. Wait a minute, what do you mean Derpy Hooves becoming a canon character? Are you just referring to the intentional wall eyes in the newer episodes as a nod to us....or is there something more I don't know about?

      VastaKustuta
    23. By the way, what happened with the interview with that guy responsible for music?

      VastaKustuta
    24. @Anonymous
      Waiting on hasbro's legal department to ok it .

      VastaKustuta
    25. :D
      ahahha
      He Rocks.

      VastaKustuta
    26. He is a fucking retard and a leaker that Jhon Irving Prudenciano!!!!!!

      VastaKustuta