I grew up in Montgomery, a small town in the woods of New Jersey. My childhood was relatively isolated so I often had to rely on my imagination or the television to entertain myself. I was raised on reruns of Looney Tunes as well as a solid mix of early Nicktoons including Ren & Stimpy, Doug and Rugrats. Like many younger siblings, I was the defiant one, often watching the shows that my mother tried her hardest to prevent me from seeing. From a young age, I studied The Simpsons with far more reverence than religion. I was about 11 when South Park came out, and I recall many an evening when I would stay up past my bedtime (much to my parent’s chagrin) just to catch the latest episode. During my teenage years, Adult Swim shows like Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman’s offbeat humor and stylized animation became a major influence on me.
When I was young, one of my teachers asked us to draw a picture of ourselves performing our dream job. I composed a picture of myself doodling with the word cartoonist scrawled across the top. It’s a dream I never forgot. My parents insisted that I get a degree I could back up on in hopes that I would not wind up as a starving artist, so I wound up going to Clark University to pursue a degree in Studio Arts and Communications.
During my sophomore year, I developed a severe stress-based illness, so as a coping method I began to study animation. I took continuing education courses at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and eventually landed an internship working at World Leaders Entertainment working on various projects including an unaired pilot, some animation for kids and some cleanup work on The Venture Bros. I immediately felt at home, and knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I later took the skills I learned there and fought my way into the senior thesis show at Clark, creating a series of satirical animated shorts aimed at religion.
After graduating, I continued to follow my dreams and found work as a freelance animator. I created ads for several prominent politicians, served as the assistant animator on a program for the Philadelphia Eagles and eventually landed a gig as the senior 2D animator for a start-up studio (which often meant that I served as the entire 2D department). I spent much of my free time animating shorts and developing an animated pitch about a sleazy private eye investigating mysteries in a comedy-noir themed world.
I eventually wound up here at SCAD to pursue my Masters of the Fine Arts in animation. Since arriving I have been making invaluable connections, refining my style and filling in some of the inevitable gaps that occur when you are primarily self-taught. All I’ve ever wanted to do with my life is to make people happy, and animation has always been my best medium to do so. With the skills I am learning here I hope to eventually be able to get my pitch on the air or at the very least get the opportunity to work on an animated show. Animation has gotten me through the darkest periods of my life, and made the brightest even better. It has the power to put a smile on people’s faces and I can’t imagine a higher calling than that.
Scott Kalison - animator 