As a little kid, Mr Alan Lopez would always love to draw, be it in his notebooks or textbooks. He was interested with animation though he was oblivious about it then. Later on, he finished an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, not anticipating animation would be the career written in the stars for him.
Mr Lopez shared that ‘Dumbo,’ an animated film by Walt Disney productions in the 1940s, topped the list of his most favourite animated character and film. The emotional element of the story that touches on the infinite extent of maternal love had drawn Mr Lopez to this Disney movie.
The senior animator, who had been in the industry for many years, started his career as an in-betweener in the Philippines. The next few years had seen him moving up as an animator and working overseas - in California and Malaysia. He also became an animation director and got involved with Gwen Stefani’s animated children TV series, ‘Kuu Kuu Harajaku’.
“Philippines is actually one of the go-to-places if you want to produce animation – international animation”.
Mr Lopez also did projects for Disney, Warner Bros., DIC, Marvel and Saban. He held roles in reviewing and approving character designs and scripts and doing storyboard revisions and animatics for the show.
Currently, he is working at an independent animation production house in Sydney. His hands are now on the characters of the popular TV series, ‘The rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles’.
Mr Lopez shared that animation is finding its way back in Australia. There was a time when many animators lost their job after the Disney studio closed in the country. Today, it is making a comeback particularly with traditional animation tweaked with the integration of digital tools.
Pictured left-to-right: Raphael (cool, but rude), Donatello (does machines), Leonardo (leads), and Michaelangelo (party dude). Source: Supplied
Having the privileged to have worked in different countries, Mr Lopez believed there are more artists in the Philippines: “So many animations are being done in the Philippines and Philippines is one of the biggest sources of animation talents in the whole world.”
“I’m actually proud of all my works, even those that did not become popular. If I wouldn’t have done those, I would not be where I am right now.”
He added that a lot of studios in the world are looking at the Philippines as a source of its animation talents. At the moment, several animators who work for them are located offshore, back in Manila. “Philippines is actually one of the go-to-places if you want to produce animation – international animation”.
Mr Lopez also recognised Australian talents and expressed how impressed he was of the animation skills of the younger generation. He was learning from them and vice-versa.
This animation expert advised animator aspirants, “The best thing they can do is watch cartoons, learn from it [and] draw a lot. Drawing is a big part of animation; I don’t know any animator out there who cannot draw. Draw, draw, draw!”
Being in the industry for more than twenty years and gaining for himself respect in the animation industry, Mr Lopez shared how proud he was of his works: “I’m actually proud of all my works, even those that did not become popular. If I wouldn’t have done those, I would not be where I am right now.”
