PKD Media Spotlight Presents: Jim Miller a.k.a. Big Jim
Hey everybody, welcome back to the PKD Media Spotlight, shining the light on independent creators, comics, and various bits of pop-culture you may be sleeping on. Stop sleeping!
Today we interview animator, artist, and all around nice guy Jim Miller, a.k.a. “Big Jim” to his friends and peers. Jim got his big break in the animation industry by working on the long-running Cartoon Network series “Ed, Edd, & Eddy” from its conception to its end, and recently provided the front cover artwork for “PKD Media Presents.”
His insights on the industry and where he’s headed in the future really interested me, so I hope that you enjoy this interview.
1) What is your favorite cartoon (or comic book) and why?
This is a tough question! It’s always hard to pick only one. Ever since I was merely Little Jim, my favorite hero has been Batman, and 99% of the time I’ve enjoyed him in whatever form of media he’s been presented in (F-you Batman and Robin by Schumacher!). That being said, the cartoons that I think had the most influence on me as an artist and as a person are the classic Warner Brothers Looney Tunes shorts. In my opinion, it really doesn’t get better than that. Awesome artwork and animation, zany AND cerebral humor, pop culture references that don’t beat you over the head, and a sense of timelessness that keeps them as fresh today as when they were first created. I think these shorts really colored my own sense of humor, and are still the yardstick of success I strive to attain (yet, obviously fall VERY short of!).
2) What was the moment in your life that you decided that animation and art would be your focus in life?
I had always drawn, as long as I can remember anyway. My dad use to bring home reams of used computer paper from work for me and my sister to draw on the back of. I remember thinking I was a genius, when drawing out Star Wars scenes, drawing in an image of Yoda super hard with the pencil, then erasing him to create a ‘ghostly’ image of his Jedi spirit form! But after seeing Tim Burton’s first Batman film, I became enamored with comic books. I was 13 at the time, and it became a dream of mine to be a professional comic book artist. I basically taught myself how to draw by first tracing images from artists I liked, and then moving on to doing some of my own. As I grew up, I still collected comics, but the idea of getting paid to draw seemed to move away from me. I spent a lot of time doodling, but concentrated mainly on my schoolwork. I enrolled in university and was going to be a genetics major. I was sitting in a lab one afternoon, and I had a moment where I just couldn’t picture myself sitting in a little room, wearing a lab coat and mixing solution A with compound B for the rest of my life. I had heard a friend of mine from high school was studying classical animation at film school in Vancouver. I gave him a call, and he encouraged me to try it out. I decided that, since it was only a one year commitment, that I’d put my science studies on hold. I could always come back if it didn’t work out, right? Anyway, I went to film school the following year. It was a very intensive course, and I made some awesome friends. I realized early on that this was a million times better than science (sorry science)! I got to sit in a little room, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, making character A fall on to prop B! It ruled! I’ve never looked back.
The Punisher by Jim Miller
3) You worked on the critically acclaimed Cartoon Network series Ed, Edd, & Eddy. What was that experience like, and what did you gain from it?
Wow. It was great. The Eds was essentially my first professional animation job right out of film school. I was hired, along with a few other guys I knew from school, to come in and do storyboards on this brand new animated series being done by Danny Antonucci. We’d all heard of Danny from his infamous ‘Lupo the Butcher’ short film, and his short lived ‘Brothers Grunt’ series on MTV. Danny was a bit of an imposing figure, but you really couldn’t have asked for a better chance to prove yourself. He really took a chance on the lot of us newbies. a.k.a. Cartoon (the studio that made Ed, Edd, & Eddy) was essentially like a cartoon bootcamp. I think I learned more in my time there than I ever could have in school. It really was ‘trial by fire’. I had the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing artists in the animation biz, many of whom I’m lucky to call friends now. I really learned about the cartoon making process, and what it takes to make what I feel is a really great cartoon. I feel like my time on the show really helped to develop my ability as a graphic storyteller, and really made me step up my game in terms of my draftsmanship. I don’t think I’d be half as good an artist as I am now without having spent 10 years at a.k.a. I owe the Eds, the studio, and Danny a lot.
The Legion of Doom by Jim Miller
4) Are there major differences between the animation process now and how it was done a few years ago?
The biggest change is the incorporation of technology in to the whole process. While on the Eds, it was really stressed that we do as much of it ‘old school’ as possible. All the boards and props, the coloring for design, the painting for backgrounds, all of that was done by hand. It was animated by hand. “Ed, Edd n’ Eddy” also was the last commercially produced cartoon to be shot on film with hand painted cels. Everything nowadays is colored digitally in the computer. When I first started on the Eds, they were still editing on film as well. As far as I’ve heard, everything being done now is colored digitally, edited using an Avid computer, and outputted digitally. A number of studios are also starting to do storyboards digitally as well, using either a computer program called Flash, or a newer tool called a Cintiq, which is essentially a computer screen the artist can draw on directly. I, myself, have bought a Cintiq in the past year in order to better prepare myself for the new ‘paperless’ trend a lot of studios are taking. A large number of shows are also no longer ‘hand’ animated, but rather are done using Flash (primarily for 2-D shows), or other 3-D animation programs. I often lament the decline of a lot of the more traditionally produced shows. Technology’s great, and it can really help speed up a production, and can do some amazing things. Unfortunately, it can mean a transition in to shows produced more by technicians as opposed to artists, in my opinion. There’s just something to me about the purity of something drawn by a person that is intrinsically imperfect and unique. It’s one of my professional goals to try and keep hand drawn animation andcartoon series around in some fashion. I know I’m not the only one who loves them!
Fear Agent by Jim Miller
5) Do you ever think they’ll be another explosion of cartoons on television (or on other mediums) like we had a decade ago?
I definitely do. Like all things, I think cartoons are cyclical by nature. If you look back over the history of animation, particularly on tv, you can see their ups and downs in popularity. ‘Ren and Stimpy’ really helped to revive tv animation in the early 90s, and then things died down in the late 90s. They picked up again in the 00s when networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network came in to being, and they put out some really cool shows. While I’m really disappointed that CN has seemed to dump most of their animated programming in favor of live action reality and game shows, I do think that cartoons will make a comeback in some fashion. All it takes is the one break out hit that no one sees coming, and everyone will be back on board that train. Also, I need to hope for that, otherwise I’m outta work!
Daredevil by Jim Miller
6) I’ve heard industry people say that unless there are toys and ancillary products for a cartoon, there’s no way that a cartoon can be made. Is there any way to break this model?
I don’t think that that is intrinsically true. While it has been a very successful model for some shows, I think that ‘Ed, Edd n’ Eddy’ is a perfect example of a show that proved to be very successful DESPITE the lack of merchandise. Yeah, there were a few items produced, but nothing on the same scale as say ‘Ben 10′ or ‘Spongebob’. I think it’s folly to denote the success of a show based on the sales of its toys. I’d like to hope that people will always see the quality in the show, as opposed to what they can buy. If the quality isn’t there, the toys aren’t going to sell for very long. Unfortunately, the point of the cartoon, aside from entertaining folks, is to make money for the network. That usually means merchandizing in some fashion. But that being said, I don’t think there are as many cartoons being produced today that had the toys come first before the show, as opposed to in the 80s. When I go to the toy store here in Canada, I don’t see the shelves flooded with ‘Chowder’ and ‘Flapjack’ toys, but these shows managed to get made, and are still popular. Then again, I’m in Canada, so what do I know?
7) I know that you are currently expanding your horizons to touch other forms of the artistic medium. What other mediums are you hopping into?
Well, like I mentioned before, one of my dreams was to be a comic book artist, and still is! I’ve had a few chances to dabble in the medium, offered by very generous folks. I did the cover to PKD Media Presents (Thanks Shawn!), and I also designed and illustrated the first episode of a new webcomic series written by Zack Kruse called Mystery Solved! (http://www.mysterysolvedcomic.com). The first story should be up sometime in the next month or two, to be followed by ones done by other awesome artists by the likes of Dave Dwonch (http://www.spacetimecondo.com), Dave Wachter (http://www.gunsofshadowvalley.com), and Katie Cook (http://www.katiecandraw.com)! After that, Zack has asked me to come back and draw up a few more stories, which should be fun! I’d love to get on a comic series as a regular artist, but there doesn’t seem to be as much demand for my kind of ‘cartoony’ style at the moment. I also have been working on a cartoon series pitch of my own with my friend Paul French, which we’re hoping to show some networks in the very near future. I’d also like to try my hand at painting (my color sense needs work), or even doing design for video games. I’d like to try it all, really! But, who knows where I’ll end up in the future? As long as I get to draw, I’m sure I’ll be happy. I don’t think that there’s a better job in the world.
Mystery Solved by Jim Miller
8 ) I also know that you are currently taking commission requests as well. How would one get in touch with you in order to get a commission?
I just set up a new e-mail address where people can contact me about commissions and rates, etc. People can feel free to e-mail me at big_jim_commissions@shaw.ca if they’re interested.
9) Where can we find your artwork, and where can we find you on the internet?
Whenever I do up something new, I usually post it up on my sketchblog. Anyone who is interested in seeing any of my artwork can got to http://bigjimsucks.blogspot.com to check it out! When you’re there, be sure to check out some of the other awesome artists I have links for on my page. You just might find someone super cool who you haven’t heard about yet!
Thanks again to Jim for the interview, and I wish him nothing but the best in all of his future endeavors. He’s a true artistic gentleman in every sense of the word.
Come back tomorrow as we start Chapter 4 of Mercury & The Murd in “The Cosplay of Doom!” More PKD Media Spotlight comes next Thursday.
Peace and good times.
-Shawn
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