L.A.-based animator, creator, director and writer Amit Tishler has been navigating the tricky worlds of animation and graphic novels for many years. He has worked on shows such as Mr. Pickles (Adult Swim), Lalaloopsy (Nick Jr.) and Animals (HBO), and is the creator of the acclaimed original graphic novel Edenfrost, which hit the mainstream book market in May. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about this multi-faceted career and entertaining projects:
Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about your animation background?
Amit Tishler: I spent the first half of my career animating and producing in a variety of mediums. From TV shows to music videos, and video games to educational software, I pursued any opportunity that looked interesting or beneficial for my career growth. The second half was more focused on software design and my work as a startup founder, creative director, product designer and writer for entertainment brands. I took on creative, logistical, and managerial roles to develop products like location-based activations, mobile apps, and immersive, gamified experiences. But as a side hustle, I’ve also taken on various work for hire writing jobs over the years, developing and optioning original TV shows, and recently, comics, audio dramas, and more. This side hustle’s been taking more and more of my time of late, and it’s been an absolute blast!
You are also an accomplished player in the world of comic books and graphic novels. When did you get into that market?
Like many 2D artists, I actually started out with drawing my own comics before pivoting to animation. My love for the medium pushed me to read, draw and master the English language, which was helpful when I developed a passion for TV and video games. I was and still am an obsessive media consumer. To me, comics, video games, TV and films are all branches of the same tree. They’re all just different ways of telling stories.
I got lucky a few years ago when I signed multiple publishing deals for original comic books — some solo, like Edenfrost, and others with my close friend, creative partner and fellow animation vet Elliot Sperl (Bob’s Burgers, The Great North). The first deal we signed led to more and now, at the time of writing, we have a whole stack of soon-to-be announced graphic novels and adaptations of our existing comic series in various stages of production. There are differences between comics, animation and video-game production pipelines, but plenty of overlaps as well.
So, in addition to being a fan of the format, having experience in production, business and development helped with the transition to working in comics quite smoothly, providing an undeniable competitive edge in the marketing, deal making and management of each project.
What are the advantages of being able to play in both worlds and different media?
Knowledge and skills gained from working in different media verticals give you a competitive advantage. Time, patience and willingness to learn allow you to adapt and apply your skills to other mediums. In adjacent industries like comics and animation, someone with production skills can more effectively art direct artists and develop high quality marketing content to help promote your product. Additionally, the same knowledge can be useful when entering licensing agreements for adaptations that require production skills that writers and editors from other industries don’t necessarily have (i.e. video editing, audio mixing, animation, graphic design, etc.)
Can you give us some highlights of your projects?
This year’s a big one! American comic-book publisher Mad Cave Studios released my original comic title Edenfrost earlier this year as both a single issue limited series and a graphic novel. It’s a historical fantasy that reimagines the classical Jewish folk tale of “The Golem.” It tells the story of two Jewish siblings, Alex and Yuli Lowe, who summon the power of a Golem to fight their way through the fires of the Russian Civil War. The book chronicles a harrowing journey through war-torn Ukraine, in which the duo face the harsh realities of warfare, ethnic bias and national pride as they fight for their own place in the world. You can buy the book through Simon and Schuster, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local comic-book shop or directly through Mad Cave Studios’ website.
The second title is the first of a whole series of original titles that spawned from my partnership with Elliot Sperl. We co-created a supernatural horror thriller comic series called The Last Wardens, that tells the story of Danielle Pryer, a girl who lives in the rustic town of Bleakwood with an alcoholic father and a hole in her wallet. One day her life goes from bad to worse when her long-lost brother, Bruce, returns from the Vietnam War, plagued by a mysterious and monstrous mutation, and hunted by an incompetent team of paranormal misfits. Throughout this rollercoaster of a story, Bleakwood becomes ground zero of a supernatural battle that forces Danielle to choose between everything she holds dear and the fate of the world as a whole. The series is now a few issues in, and on March 11, 2025 Mad Cave Studios will release this first volume’s trade paperback to the mainstream book market, just like they did with Edenfrost.
In addition to these projects, there are three, yet to be announced, original titles and multiple adaptations already in production from different publishing partners and through different mediums, so…the next few years are going to be quite interesting. Look out for some major announcements at this year’s New York Comic Con!
What are your plans for seeing them adapted into animated projects?
Given my background, it should come as no surprise that I’m all about cross-media adaptations. Given the fact that licensed adaptations to different mediums are already in production for The Last Wardens specifically (look out for announcements at this year’s NYCC), animated adaptations would be a fantastic way to go for all the properties I’m involved with. Elliot and I are exploring different opportunities in this direction, but given the media market’s current volatility, we’re currently more focused on expanding our IP into other verticals. Building franchises is a long journey, and since we’re already getting traction branching our projects into other mediums, there’s no real rush in aggressively pursuing this path.
What is your best advice to newbies who would like to play in this field?
There are two things I tell anyone that wants to get into the entertainment industry as a whole.
- Educate yourself: I’m a big advocate for business literacy, especially in the entertainment industry. The artist community has a self-destructive tendency to think of anything business-related as “dirty,” and artists like to see themselves as outsiders. This infantilization leaves artists vulnerable and leads them to pick all the wrong hills to die on. The entertainment industry is a gig-based industry, so understanding how the financial, logistical and legal side of things works and why it works the way it does can strengthen creatives’ position in the industry. As service providers, artists have always had to think and operate like businesses. We need less buzzword and popular trend hunting, less childish and idealistic “black and white” rhetoric, and more concrete, well-informed artists navigating this landscape with a level of maturity and professionalism that warrants respect. You can be quirky, colorful and creative, but you gotta be smart and educated about your own industry to protect yourself from exploitation.
- Change, adapt, evolve: Observe the path your industry takes and plan for the future. Think about how you want your job to look five, 10, 20 years from now, and be realistic about it. Don’t just think about “how to become the best artist” because that’s an unsustainable strategy. We’re in an ageist industry with limited growth opportunities. What we define as a TV animation director today would barely be considered a “lead animator” in the ’80s and ’90s. In addition, production roles nowadays require more skills for fewer benefits. As a young artist working in an animation studio with almost no colleagues over 50, you have to wonder why that is, and how to get ahead of it. Develop new skills beyond art tools, find a competitive advantage, apply your knowledge to other roles and branches of the industry. Whatever you do, just don’t be complacent.
What are the biggest challenges of competing in this medium?
A lot of great talent is flooding into the North American animation industry, but there aren’t enough jobs to go around. Managing distributed projects has only gotten easier with the rapid improvements in file sharing, communication and management software. On top of that, the production tools we’re using have only gotten better and faster, which means less people are needed across the board. Aside from developing their technical and creative skills, people who want to compete need to develop networking skills and be extremely versatile. It’s important to remember that we don’t live in a meritocracy, and persistence beats talent every single time. To stand out, newcomers need to be bold, tenacious, innovative and adaptive, so make yourself and your value known!
What is your take on the current state of animation for creatives?
As you can tell from my other answers, I don’t think the industry is an ideal place for professional creatives. Production artists have been facing declining work conditions, financial stability and growth opportunities for 30 years. At this point, there’s such a huge gap between corporate and production that it’s hard to imagine things improving. The situation can always improve, but to me it seems like the community’s response is reactive, uneducated and based more on emotional populism instead of strategic thinking.
Rather than fighting outsourcing with a dwindling, financially destroyed workforce, industry leaders should lobby for state-funded animation subsidies, like Ireland, Australia and Canada. And perhaps instead of trying to fight conglomerates’ ability to incorporate new tools into their pipeline, we should educate and train the workforce, and help artists adapt to using technological innovations strategically and developing revised production pipelines that are ethical, properly legislated and built to create new job opportunities (like motion-capture technology and the transition from paper to digital). The truth is that the current strategy has been failing for decades, the industry needs to adapt, evolve and pivot its modus operandi so artists get the security and stability they need and deserve.
Learn more about Amit Tishler’s works at amittisher.com.
