Animated filmmaker Richard Forero has achieved success with talent and perseverance

Was there something in particular that enticed you into making Animated Films?
Yes of course, since I can recall, I've always wanted to create a short film. I remember drawing stick figures in the bottom right corner of my notebooks as if it was a flipbook, and I would then start flipping the pages to see the animation that I had created. It was more than obvious that it wasn't my best, but I've always felt an attraction for movement and how it’s so fluid.

I also remember watching Looney Tunes cartoons almost the entire day, and I think if I still watch them at this time I would still enjoy them and crack up even more. I don't know…it was really something inside me that wanted to create stories, express ideas and creativity, and this type of art was the most attractive that caught my attention, the most magical that would help express those feelings that I had.

Tell us a little about your film "Happy Loneliness.
My first animated short film is called "Happy Loneliness", and it’s a story of never giving up. Sure, it may sound cliché and all, but I've always believed that success comes from perseverance.

In this short story, I wanted to show the intention of wanting that "special something" through my character, a tiny, but very cute little robot named 'Cubie'. In his case, that "special something" was to make new friends and when he teleports into the kitchen he sees something in the utilities that are in there, he feels somehow identified. "Cubie" fails several times in his intention of making new friends, because neither of them are alive, but as you can see, he never gave up until that special moment happened.

This animated short film was developed in Vancouver Film School, in the 3D and Visual Effects program.

How many hours do you spend creating a character before you begin the animation process?
To be completely honest, I wouldn’t know the precise amount of time spent. In my experience, the second term of studying at Vancouver Film School, they ask you to pitch your story or idea for the short film and select which path you would like to continue with: Modeling, Animation or Visual Effects. For us, the animators, we could create our film with rigs that were already built, but fortunately, I had some background and wanted to do something different and create my own rigged character. Let me say that it was quite ambitious, I didn’t quite know all the work that had to be done in such a short time period. Lucky enough, I have a friend from my country, Colombia, who is an amazing concept artist. His name is Andrés Martínez and with some pre-established ideas, he helped me by creating the concept art of “Cubie”.

Then I started with the modeling, texturing, which had a lot of iterations, and finally I rigged the character, which I enjoyed a lot doing. The rig was getting better and better while I was animating, because I saw some limitations in the rig that wouldn’t let me create the ideas I wanted for the shot. So like I said before, I wouldn’t know exactly how much time I spent, because we had other classes and assignments at the same time. But if I were to estimate, it would be three to four months of development in Modeling, Texturing, Rigging and Environment.

Do you have a favorite film genre?
But of course I do! I love action/fiction movies, but especially completely animated movies. Every time that I see an animated movie, I feel so much respect and inspiration for the artists and creator, especially the animators, which you can say are the “actors” in animated movies.

What piece of advice would you give to filmmakers making their first Animated film?
I would say four simple things that would make the process challenging, but quite enjoyable:

• Never give up! Keep trying harder.
• Always have a good attitude and disposition.
• Be humble and respectful.
• Never stop dreaming! Have a new goal each time.

Can you tell us what to expect from you in the near future?
Actually, I am very happy working for Bron Studios in their first animated feature film “Henchmen”. And let me tell you…Its looking amazing! Work is how I imagined it, the artists that work along me have an incredible background, so I try to absorb all of that animation information from 15 to 20 years of experience every second that I can! By the way, I want to thank those guys for letting me do that, especially the Lead Animator, Rob Lodermeier. He is such a talented guy, with an incredible patience and I want to thank him for pushing me every day and for giving me the opportunity to animate in a feature film as my first animation job. Did I also mentioned that my girlfriend is working with me? I couldn’t be happier! Her name is Jennifer Duverglas, and she is also a talented animator. Check her out!

No one knows what the future would be, I only wish to keep growing as animator and be part of a family like it is on Bron Studios, that would give me another opportunity to keep breathing animation, in others words, doing what I love!

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Visit Richard's Website

www.richardforero.com