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Original animation model cels from Disney’s The Little Mermaid  

I’M…BEING…BORN!

Dylan Glynn is a Toronto-based director whose short films, including “Service Magique” (above), have screened in festivals worldwide, earning him distinctions including a Canadian Screen Award nomination. His shifting, playful style and bright, bleeding color palette have splashed across campaigns for Redbull and Columbia Pictures and onto the pages of The Huffington Post and Vice Magazine. He is soon to be a published children’s book creator and is Animation Director for the art+literary journal Nat.Brut. Dylan and I discussed French bureaucracy, the freelance route, and a famous drag queen horse.

When did you know you wanted to make art professionally?

It’s funny: I went to an arts high school, but I never thought about doing it professionally. I was sort of socialized into the whole ‘starving artist’ stereotype and believed it. My mom really expected me to bring home As, and I was pretty good at math, so I figured I’d go into business or something. But an older student at my school who was super talented and working hard to pursue animation at Sheridan encouraged me to consider that path. So by the end of 11th grade, I was drawing everyday and really motivated to get better, because I knew I wanted to go to Sheridan for animation.

How did you like the Classical Animation program at Sheridan?

It’s a great community of talented artists. I think the community is Sheridan’s greatest asset. And there are some really incredible teachers. Tim McCormack, I’m lucky to have as a friend; he’s an amazing person and mentor. And Chris Walsh, who encouraged me to have broad tastes. They made me feel like my voice and personal style was valid and worth developing. Sheridan focuses on preparing its students for the industry, especially in Toronto. I thought I would work as like a concept artist or pre-production designer but after a couple years out of school I learned that I actually had a pretty naive and inaccurate idea of what those jobs actually are. Gradually I stopped focusing on trying to work as a pre-production/concept artist and focused more on creating a portfolio of animated shorts with a consistent “brand”. It was a relief to have professors encourage me to deviate and do my own thing. Sheridan also produces fantastic artists, probably because there’s a big culture of life drawing there. I used to really love life drawing and still like it. But I actually think Sheridan is too centered on life drawing.

How so?

It’s like life drawing is emphasized over other important areas of filmmaking. There’s a notion at Sheridan that if you can succeed at life drawing, you can succeed at anything. But something like storyboarding requires so many skills in storytelling and filmmaking that you just don’t learn drawing figures. So although Sheridan produces awesome artists, there aren’t as many awesome films coming out of each year’s class as there probably should be. Which is a shame, considering the talent in that pool.

Did you always know you wanted to be independent?

Pretty much. I did my co-op at Imaginism Studios, which is a very independent, artist-driven studio a bit apart from the core Toronto industry. After graduation I was a gymnastics coach for two years while figuring out how I could do what I’m doing now: be an independent illustrator, animator, director. I didn’t have the portfolio built yet. A year out of school, I was fretting about not being part of the industry and feeling like I should be, so I started doing tests. If I’d gotten one of those jobs, I probably would have taken it, and things would have been very, very different. Instead, I went back to school.

And your ‘big break’ happened in that directing for animation program?

Yeah - I made a film called “Lost Daughter” that got me visibility on Vimeo which led to my first client gigs. Which was totally my goal making it - I worked my ass off on it. I flexed all of the technical ability I had at that time. My graduation film from Sheridan was messy, so this was another shot at making something that could be a game-changer for my career. And it was - I got contacted by a company called Booooooom, and they commissioned me to do a spot for Redbull. After that I got a 1-minute animation job from CBC (the Canadian Broadcast Commission). And I’ve been taking freelance jobs and making films since.

It would be much better if I could find the original designs for all these characters but they’re either buried deep in some folder or I dont even have access to them. I’ve never inquired but it seems very early in OK KO’s development a ton of background character concept art was produced. I was still freelancing for OK KO on this episode and was given the original concept art as well as the board artists redesigns.

You’ll have to take my word that each of these are a departure from their original concept design. My job was to blend a little of the old in with the new for the final design. 

Akira (1988) / Cel / 240mm x 350mm

Here’s my rough animation for cyclops sequence from Castlevania. I got to storyboard this sequence as well, which was a first for me. Up until then I’d never had that level of control over anything I’d worked on in the animation industry. 

Welcome to the Wayne | Making of This Scene

Montreal-based director Eva Cvijanović flipped the old story. Adults encouraged her to become an artist; she poo-pooed the notion for years. Good thing she came around, as her films are magic: innocent with edge; light-heartedly nostalgic; Eva crafts well-worn worlds that keep humming along, unperturbed, long past the credits. Born in Sarajevo, her adaptation of one of the former Yugoslavia’s most beloved tales, “Hedgehog’s Home” by Branko Ćopić, dazzled Berlin Film Festival 2017 goers and scooped up 34 awards worldwide. Check out “Seasick” above, then read on for Eva’s take on new techniques, today’s TV, and giving your seat to elderly people on public transit.

What was your inspiration for “Seasick”?

The Canadian winter. It started as doodles on a train ride. Trains are my favorite mode of transportation. There’s something about that tracking view of the world that stimulates my brain. It was November, winter was coming, and I doodled this fat little creature frolicking around on the shore. Canada has really good funding for the arts, especially compared to the rest of the world. When I scanned the doodles I realized that together, they read like a storyboard. Half the work was done so I thought, “Why not apply for a grant?” I got one - the NFB helped me with post-production services, which are quite expensive. That’s usually how I work: I put myself in a situation where I have to make the film. Once you get grant money, you have to deliver!

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be a doctor. I was sick a lot and loved playing doctor to my toys. I always enjoyed drawing. Grown-ups around me would be like, “Oh, you should be an artist!” But I never really liked that idea. So it’s funny that I did end up drawing for a living.

Why didn’t you like the idea of being an artist?

I think I felt like it would be a lot of pressure, or too stressful. And it is pressure, it is stressful! It’s not a straightforward job. But it has very satisfying and magical moments. They make up for the difficulty. I still don’t really consider myself an artist. I just like to make movies.

When did filmmaking become your goal?

My dad was involved in the film industry in Sarajevo when we were lived there. He was a film critic. Right before the war he actually started his own production company. So I was always around that world - I did foley for a film when I was like 5. But it was in Montreal during cegep, the 2 year period between high school and university, that I began really playing with animation. That was when the idea of making films, telling stories that way, really caught my interest.

Where’d you study animation?

Concordia University. It’s an interesting program because as a BFA, it’s really more oriented toward the art world. You take history courses on film and art, get a nice background. It’s not just a technical program; it situates you in the world.

Crucial context! After graduating did you go right to work at the NFB?

Not quite. I did a mix of contract work and cafe jobs. I interned on a film that the NFB produced called Higglety Pigglety Pop, based on a story by Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). I worked on that for quite a while, alongside other freelance things - I got a tiny grant to make a film of my own. The first big thing I did with the NFB was called Hothouse. It’s a mentorship program, sort of their incubator. I graduated in 2008 and got into Hothouse in 2011. Then I was able to focus just on animation.

What does the Hothouse program involve?

They pick 6 animators and give them each 3 months to make a 1 minute film start to finish. I made “The Kiss”. Of the 6, I was the only one who worked onsite at the NFB. It made such a difference to be in the building, get to know people personally. You know, have lunch with Oscar winners?! It was really wonderful. Pretty intense, but then it is a crash course in how the NFB makes films. I stuck around to help on other people’s films after. Then the editor on my Hothouse film, Jelena Popovic, became a producer. She’s Bosnian like me; we had similar upbringings. She ended up producing “Hedgehog’s Home”.

How did the idea to adapt Hedgehog’s Home form between you guys?

Every child in former Yugoslavia reads Branko Ćopić’s poem when they’re little. It’s taught in the 1st grade. Almost jokingly, I was like, “Hey, what if we did this?” Over time, I ended up writing a script. I sent it to her and she really liked it, so we bounced back and forth on it and then… it happened.

Process from a sequence in Incredibles 2.