Talented animation director, animator and designer Adam Parton has had a rich career in animation, from working on Disney projects such as Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride and Aladdin: King of Thieves to directing and animating on critically acclaimed shows such as Bojack Horseman and Tuca & Bertie. He is supervising director on Netflix’s upcoming adult animated series Captain Fall and is also directing episodes of Velma for Warner Bros. Animation. He was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about the rewards and challenges of working in today’s competitive animation business recently:
Animag: Congrats on your very busy year! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your animation career?
Adam Parton: I started in animation in the ’90s working at the Sydney Australia based Disney Toons Studio working as an in-betweener on projects such as The Lion King 2 and Aladdin 3: King of Thieves all pencil and paper. Then made the jump to digital on what I think was one of the first fully Flash animated TV shows working as an animator on Quads (a coproduction with Nelvana Canada and AnimationWorks Australia).
Off the back of the second season of Quads, a small group of key players and I formed our own company called Square i which was based in Melbourne that ran for roughly 10 years producing a few award winning children’s animated shows including two seasons of Dogstar. Square I merged with another Melbourne based studio called BigKidz and became 12 Field which is still running today.
However, I felt the pull of bigger pastures and headed over to Los Angeles in 2013 and was very lucky to get my start working as a character designer on the first season Bojack Horseman, then by season 3, I was directing episodes and over seeing retake animation. Then on season 4 I went to Seoul Korea to oversee the animation for Bojack at the overseas animation studio Bigstar. Followed that up with directing more episodes on Bojack season 5 and 6 and then same on season 1 and 2 of Tuca and Bertie and then moved to Netflix to supervising direct on the new series Captain Fall . Now I am currently directing at Warner Bros. Animation on Velma.
When did you know you wanted to work in animation?
I was alway sure I was going to make comics (was very inspired by Jamie Hewlett’s Tank Girl) and had no thought s of animation until just as I was finishing high school I became aware that there was a Disney Studio in Sydney I applied and then spent 6 months in there inhouse animation training program and have never looked back…very lucky to get such an early start at that time in Australia. For a while I still thought comics were for me and animation was just a stepping stone…but I pretty soon wizened up and fell in love with the medium.
“I feel that at least for TV animation which is my bread and butter, a good understanding of all the pieces that go into making a show is really helpful. Understanding the boarding, design and animation process I think makes you better at getting the best result out while working within a budget and schedule.” — Adam Parton
How did you get your first job in the business?
There was no animation schools (or none that I had access to ) in Australia at the time so Disney had their own training program, so that was the only way to do it for me as I always and to this day need a deadline to make sure I finish a project. The application involved multiple steps of personal illustrations and drawing tasks and the final stage was going into the studio and spending a day in-betweening. With no training I’m sure they were just looking for any hint of potential, which thankfully I must had a glimmer of. 6 months of training later I was a fully fledged in-betweener.
What can you tell us about your upcoming new Netflix show Captain Fall?
Captain Fall is a dark comedy with an actual heart at its core. Based around a not so stellar wannabe naval Captain who is hired by a dangerous crime ring to be the oblivious frontman for many nefarious deeds.
What do you love about this show?
It has such an off-camber voice. The creators Jon Iver Helgaker and Jonas Torgersen. The creators are Norwegian and not necessarily because of that, but they do have a very unique view and way of looking at things and I think that really helps the show stand out and keep you guessing as to where it is going to go. And they are pretty hilarious too so that really helps.
What were the big challenges (besides COVID, etc)
The scope of the show was massive. There is constant location changes and thus we were forever designing new characters and locations for each set piece, which was a lot of work but really rewarding as well. And we had very ambitious ideas for the cinematic quality of the show wanting to push it far beyond what people might expect from some adult comedies. So really finding the line between making it visually pop and also getting the work in on time and budget without killing anyone. Which we were mostly successful at.
What do you love about working animation?
I love the collaboration. Working with board artists to find the right gag , shot or just problem solve I still get a rush from that moment when you realize…yeah that’s it. That’s such a great feeling. Seeing all the different parts come together and grow is really rewarding.
Who are some of your animation heroes?
Masaaki Yuasa, Katsuhiro Otomo, Pendleton Ward, Rebecca Sugar, and all the people that make Gumball.
How has the industry changed over the past two decades?
Since I started which was indeed a long time ago the industry has grown massively in scale just the sheer volume of animation that is being created (that is of course up until recently) which has been awesome for getting more varied voices to be heard and same thing with the amount of different styles we get to see in all that. I really hope the current dip or realignment in the industry isn’t going to close off the options for some of the more interesting stories that we could potentially hear, as that would be a real shame.
What is the best advice you can give someone who wants to direct animated shows/movies?
I feel that at least for TV animation which is my bread and butter, a good understanding of all the pieces that go into making a show is really helpful. Understanding the boarding, design and animation process I think makes you better at getting the best result out while working within a budget and schedule. Other than that, always keep pushing yourself and keep your passion for animation alive by seeing what everyone else is doing … there’s such inspirational work out there and it can only make you better to keep consuming it…like a giant animation amoeba.
