Allen: I want to start interview stating it is extreme honor interviewing you Rob. I was just studying your bio. Can you add something about your early years which helped your desire to do art projects?

Rob: I really can’t think of a time when I wasn’t interested in art and drawing. I remember watching the old Warner Brothers cartoons and loving the characters and their expressions. I also remember drawing in class and suddenly having the other kids stand around and watch, but the one thing I think always made me want to draw even more was when I could make someone laugh when I would do a drawing about something that happened or a funny caricature of someone. At Disney we had a caricature wall and that was always fun to add to each week. We would literally cover the wall with drawings of each other and if you made a mistake or did something that everyone found out about, it was over.

There would be 20 to 30 drawings up that day and they would be hilarious because each artist would add their own take on the situation they were drawing which really made it funny because you never knew when it would happen or what they would come up with.

Allen: What was the first comic book you ever read?

Rob: I know this will sound blasphemous, but I really didn’t read a lot of comics as a kid. I would buy comics, but it was really because of an artist or style I liked. Artists like Arthur Adams, Alex Ross, Jeff Campbell, Adam Hughes are some of my favorites. I did buy and read Mad magazine and loved the humor and artwork of Sergio Argones, Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker and Don Martin were all big inspirations for me and my art and sense of humor.

Allen: How did you become encouraged to be artist? Was there specific person that noticed your art talent?

Rob: I think my teachers were a big influence and encouraged me to pursue a career in art, but the one person that pushed me to take art classes and really supported me was my mom. It’s hard to understand, when you’re young and you’re taken to art classes that are being taught by someone you don’t know or having to draw still life after still life in someone else’s living room, how it would ever amount to anything, but only now as I look back can I appreciate her doing that for me. I probably wouldn’t be the artist I am today if it hadn’t been for… my mama!….Ok,,sniff, next question.

Allen: Who are some of your favorite artists?

Rob: As far as the masters are concerned, I have always been very interested in Leonardo DaVinci, and Michelangelo because of their incredible draftsmanship and commitment to their art. It has always been fascinating that so many of these great artists struggled with their own ability and their desire to glorify God in their creations. They did not hesitate to acknowledge the one who gave them their creative skill.

Allen: How did you become associated with Disney animation department?

Rob: As a kid I watched the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights and loved shows like The Swiss Family Robinson’s, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Old Yeller and The Computer wore Tennis Shoes, but 101 Dalmatians was the one film that made me want to be a Disney Animator. The path to getting there led me to do a lot of different jobs, but all that brought me to a place in my life where I began to finally realize that if I was going to make it to Disney I needed to go back to school. Around that time I found out that Disney would be offering animation internships at their new animation attraction, at the yet to be completed, Disney MGM Studios in Orlando. That was all I needed to know, so I called Disney in California and asked them what classes I would need to take to help me make it into Disney as an animator. That’s when I was told about Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. They told me that they recruited from several colleges across the country for internships and Ringling was one of the schools on their list. That was it!

So, when my wife came home from work that afternoon I told her if I was going to make it to Disney we would have to move to Sarasota and I needed to enroll at Ringling in order to get my chance. God bless her because she agreed without hesitation. I immediately enrolled at Ringling, we both gave our 2 weeks notices and began to prepare for the move. I attended Ringling for about a year and in that time I was able to get time with the recruiters to go over what I needed to concentrate on and include as part of my portfolio to be eligible for a Disney internship. After that I was on a mission and the following semester I was told that I was one of 6 students who had been chosen that year to be excepted into the Disney internship that year.

The training ran for about 15 weeks and at the end I was asked if I wanted to stay and help on “Rescuers Down Under” or go back to school…well it didn’t take me 2 minutes to decide that I was where I wanted to be. I was there for 15 years and I can honestly say that I loved every moment of my experience as a Disney animator. It was a chance of a lifetime and was able to be apart of something that had, at one time, only been a dream.

Allen: How did you make decision to work on other projects out side of Disney? I noticed you even worked on commercials.

Rob: I’m not one to just sit around for long so I began to do little films during downtime between pictures and commercials. They were a way to push myself and get more experience as an animator and get paid to do it. At that time I worked for a company out of California called Cornell/Abood and was able to land several jobs on different cereal commercials. I went from doing 1 or 2 scenes to taking on full commercials and being able to direct and manage several other animators who wanted to stretch themselves artistically. They were a lot of work, but it was a great learning experience for me.

Allen: How did you get to know Tom Bancroft?

Rob: To be honest with you I can’t remember the first time Tom and I met at Disney, but we’ve been buddies for going on 20 years now I think. Tom and I worked together on several shows, but we really hit it off on Mulan. He was the supervising animator on Mushu the dragon and since we were already good friends it seemed like a perfect fit to be cast on his unit as an animator. We have always been hard on each other artistically and have a very similar work ethic and expectations about what we want and expect out of ourselves and each other. Tom is a great friend and a tremendous artist. I have learned so much from working with him and I can’t stress enough how important it is to surround yourself with talented people that you can show your work to.

People that will give you good, honest and constructive feedback about your art that will continue to inspire you to become a better artist and creator. Good art is never created in a vacuum. You need input and support and that is why Tom and I have always been such good friends and worked so well together.

Allen: What is Funnypages Productions company?

Rob: Good question and I know I’m supposed to be able to say that in one sentence, but right now the question should be what is Funnypages Productions “NOT”? We came into this business right after Disney shut down the Orlando animation department in 2004. We knew we wanted to form a company that would stay in the animation universe, but with the industry in so much flux we felt like the odds of us making it as a full blown animation production company were pretty weak. So we decided to make Funnypages Productions a multi-faceted company that covers everything from illustration, story and content development, consulting to directing and art directing. As Christians we also felt led to apply our training and expertise in the Christian children’s market and make ourselves available to contribute to something we really believed in and hopefully help raise the creative bar in that area.

We have been very lucky to have been able to do just that and get a number of our own properties into the Christian market along the way like Andi’s Journal and Tomo.

Allen: How hard is it to go from feature film animation to story boarding comic books?

Rob: Animating and storyboarding or doing comics are really very similar because you are still trying to tell a story with your drawings. I say that because in both animation and storyboarding you are looking for the very best pose or drawing that will illustrate a characters mood or personality. The biggest difference is in animation you have to actually make the character walk, talk and behave over a predetermined amount of time in each scene.

You also have to constantly remind yourself to think about things like acting and performance, what is the character feeling, weight distribution, timing, overlap and follow-thru, slow ins, straight ahead versus pose to pose, what was the character doing in the scene before and after the one you are doing and on and on. The key is to do all of that without your scene looking like you were doing all of that. In the end you are still doing story telling drawings to do it.

Allen: Please talk about Tomo. How did you decide Zondervan would be Home for series?

Rob: Tomo was one of several stories and concepts we created and present to different publishers and film companies as potential books, animation or live action shows. We submitted several concepts we thought would interest Zondervan and Tomo, which was a more secular story at the time, was actually put into our pitch packet by mistake. Well we heard back and they were very interested in Tomo because they content for a new Christian “Manga” series they were launching as part of their new Z Graphic Novels and they thought our story would fit well there. The only thing was that we would have to rewrite the story to have a more Christian message.

We jumped at the chance, which was a blessing and a curse, and began breaking it down and working out what could stay and what would have to go and finally came up with a story that is fun, exciting, mysterious and uplifting all at the same time. We presented everything to Zondervan, addressed a few story notes along the way and made a deal for 8 books. We are included along with 5 other very talented creators, artists and writers in the series and very excited about Tomo and the depth of story we are telling.

Allen: When can we find this comic book on the stands? Is there website which gives information about Tomo?

Rob: Tomo book 1 and 2 are available now and can be found on line at the Zondervan website www.zgraphicnovels.com , Amazon.com or at a local Lifeway Christian bookstore.

Allen: Who is the writer and artist of Tomo?

Rob: Tomo book 1 was written by Andrew Simmons and myself. Andrew is a good friend of seventeen-year veteran of animation with fifteen of those years at Walt Disney Feature Animation in Orlando, Florida. He currently enjoys the good life in middle Tennessee with his wife, six boys, two dogs, two cats, and koi fish. Tomo books 2 through 8 being written by none other than Jim Krueger. Jim is one of the top-rated writers currently working in American comics. In addition to creating his own comics properties, his projects include the prestigious X Trilogy from Marvel Comics, and Justice from DC Comics.

We wanted the art style of the series to at least resemble a traditional manga and knew that as Disney trained animators it wouldn’t be as natural for us to do ourselves, so when it came time for us to decide on an artist we were able to locate a very talented artist working out of the Philippines named Ariel Padilla. Ariel has been drawing comics for the past fifteen years. His most recent work has been on the relaunch of the eighties comic series The Maze Agency for IDW Publishing.

Allen: Why do you think readers will be interested in reading Tomo?

Rob: There is an air of mystery in Tomo that develops in the very first issue and slowly reveals itself to our heroine, a young Japanese girl named Hana. We tried not to talk down to our readers, because we wanted to make them think about what they’re reading. Tomo is a Christian story which deals with heavy secular undertones that permeate our society today as it relates to current events and thought. The story of Tomo place’s Hana and her grandfather in the heart of an epic struggle for not only her own soul, but the souls of the inhabitants of a world much like our own, but in an entirely different universe.

Allen: what is publishing schedule for Tomo?

Rob: Books 1 and 2 were just released simultaneously and are currently available. The remaining 6 issues will be released individually over the next 6 to 7 months.

Allen: What conventions will you be attending or have attended?

Rob: We were recently invited to attend a signing for Book #1 at ICRS in Atlanta, which was a lot of fun. As of right now we haven’t made any plans to be at any other conventions and besides, Tomo is a Christian property and anyone that knows the market knows that you don’t see a lot of Christian content being made available outside of the Christian arena, at least not successfully. I’m not saying we aren’t trying, but we just understand the obvious hurdles that are in front of us and other Christian story tellers, artists and creators. There are a million misconceptions about what is or isn’t Christian and what that is supposed to look like.

What it really boils down to is quality story telling that embraces a Christian worldview that not only introduces the secular market to a whole new way of looking at life and the world around them, but provides encouragement for Christians to go out and live what they believe without being misunderstood or embarrassed.

Allen: How can someone contact you?

Rob: I can be reached via my company email account at: Rob@funnypagesprod.com .

Allen: What is your website address? Do you also have any other Websites which might help readers see your efforts?

Rob: Our company website is really outdated, but we are in the process of getting new material posted in the next month. You can still go to www.funnypagesprod.com and check out some of our old work. We also have accompany blog that we post to on a regular basis at: www.funnypagesproductions.blogspot.com

Allen: What are your hobbies and recreational activities?

Rob: Big surprise, but I love to draw and read. I love spending time with my family, they are the center of my world. I have a beautiful wife and 4 awesome kids,2 boys and 2 girls. I call them my monkeys. They really keep me going and never cease to amaze me. I also love the outdoors and working in my yard. I was raised in Louisiana and was always outside doing something. I guess it’s just in my blood to always be working or spending time outside when the weathers good.

Allen: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real-life from Any time period, who would those 6 people be and why?

Rob: Only 3 real life? Wow, that’s hard because I could think of several. Real life would have to be:

Jesus: Other than the obvious reasons. I would just want to spend time with him and ask him about things I have always pondered about. Now the other’s will pale in comparison because I will have already spent time with the creator, but since I have to I’d say:

Leonardo Da Vinci: I have always been fascinated with his art and creativity. He was not only a great draftsman and painter, but a scientist and inventor. A man ahead of his time.

Dr Greg Bahnson: An incredible Christian apologist who argues from a presuppositional approach to the validity of the Christian worldview and against the bankrupt ideals of a secular mindset. Bahnson died several years ago, but I would love to talk with him.

Ok, I have to put down one more! Charlie Chaplin: One of my favorite all time comics and directors. He was a genius both in front of and behind the camera and his contributions to comedy are timeless.

As far as fictional characters go? I know I may end up regretting not going for it, but I can’t think of any that could top my real life ones or have anything worth knowing…..sad isn’t it?

Allen: I have pretend idea. If you suddenly were able to draw for any Comic book company which character would you like to work on for few issues?

Rob: Ok…If I have to and only because you asked, I’d say Spiderman. I love the character and the idea that Peter was just an average guy who was given incredible power and chose to use it for good. As a kid I remember wishing I could be Spiderman. I remember getting a Spiderman web shooter that went on your wrist and shot out a suction cup dart. I loved that thing!

Allen: If you could go into any time machine, what year would you stop At and tell us why.

Rob: Man, you ask some tough questions! Knowing what I know now….It would be a blast to go back to junior high or high school, but I would rather go into the future 100 or 200 years. Things are changing so fast now and I would just like to see what happens and know that my children made it through life and were happy.

Allen: What TV shows, movies, cartoons do you like?

Rob: I don’t watch a lot of TV shows, but I can and have watched a ton of movies. I love a good science fiction story like Alien, The Thing, both versions, Gattaca, Sunshine. Horror movies interest me, I just haven’t seen a good one in years. I don’t get into the gore or gratuitous violence of the new shows that are out there like Hostel, Saw or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Crime Dramas like Heat, Donnie Brasco, The Departed. Comedies like Waiting for Guffman, Meet the Parents and The King of Comedy or older movies like Papillion, Cool Hand Luke or Little Big Man.

I tend to favor more independent type films, usually something less commercial or off the beaten path. I enjoy a good story and character development and one that doesn’t play down or spoon feed you along the way. One of my biggest pet peeves is a movie that I can second guess, anticipate or recite along the way…I hate that!

Allen: What books do you enjoy?

Rob: I’m a slow reader, but I read a lot and favor, almost exclusively, non-fiction. I like to feel like I’m learning something as I’m reading or can apply what I’m reading to life. I love researching in order to know or better understand someone or something and typically have 3 to 4 books going at the same time, all on different subjects.

Allen: What gives you your creative energy?

Rob: Life, my kids, movies, books other creative people. I love spending time with my kids or other kids because they really don’t hold back on what they’re thinking or how they see or perceive the world. I love making them laugh. Music is a big part of my creative process and helps me to focus when I’m brainstorming or working on a project. I love to brainstorm and pitch out ideas and break them apart and think through them…now that gets my motor running!

Allen: This ends the interview, any encouraging words of wisdom?

Rob: Hmmmmm, well as an artist I’d have to say “Never stop drawing” This is one I like to remind myself of from time to time:

“Don’t ever think that you’re too old, too young or too dumb to learn anything new. There’s always room for improvement”.