The Morning Blend
Welcome
Complete Media Kit
Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA — As a cartoon animator Mike Gerard always wanted to produce the best drawings he could.
But when he started work on a new cartoon series for Fox television, he was astonished to be told that the creators did not want good animation.
It was just one of the aspects that made his time on “The Simpsons” so interesting.
 Mike Gerard displays Norbert, an "angry beaver" character he's drawn. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
“I worked on the first season,” said Gerard, who moved from the metropolis of Los Angeles to Hereford’s rugged landscape and wide open spaces three and a half years ago.
“They were just developing the series then. It was an interesting series where they created their own methods.
“Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) was adamant that the show should be about humor, the characters, and that the animation should not look good. That was really difficult for me and I would get frustrated when he would tell me something was too good. So one day I picked up a scene I had thrown in the trash and he loved it.”
Gerard has spent more than 20 years working for some of the world’s biggest film studios in 2-D animation.
His long list of credits includes “Beauty and the Beast”, “Angry Beavers”, Stephen Spielberg’s “Animaniacs”, “Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries” and the 200th “King of the Hill” episode. He also worked on the special effects for “The Hunt For Red October,” starring Sean Connery.
The evolution of technology and the increasing use of CGI in today’s movies, however, have sent Gerard’s career in a new direction.
Although he still works on animated productions from time to time, his main focus now is on security and enforcement — he is an Arizona Ranger and a federal officer with Transportation Security Administration, based at Sierra Vista Municipal Airport.
It was a line of work he originally found himself in to keep the money coming in during the quiet periods of the animation business.
“When I first started out you would generally work on a cartoon series from April to Thanksgiving and do other things the rest of the year. The studios would shut down during that time,” he said.
Gerard learned his craft from the best in the business. He was sent through the California Institute of the Arts by Walt Disney Features from 1977 to 1979, after sending the studio an animated short he made in college.
During his time there he met John Lassiter, who went on to make “Toy Story,” Brad Bird, who directed “The Incredibles,” and Tim Burton, of “Edward Scissorhands” fame.
“We were instructed by these older men who had worked with Walt Disney,” Gerard said. “And there I was, this guy who had no clue about the film industry or animation, with limited experience. I was surrounded by these guys who had known they wanted to be in the business since they were a kid. I thought Warner Bros. was still making Bugs Bunny cartoons, but they had closed that studio down in 1955.”
After working on a number of cartoon series, such as “Tiny Toons Adventures” and “The Simpsons”, Gerard became involved in his first feature film — “The Prince and the Pauper”, starring Mickey Mouse.
He then moved on to “Beauty and the Beast”, where it was his job to animate villain Gaston.
But this was all before the advent of computer graphics.
“It was all done with paper and pencil,” Gerard said. “On ‘Beauty and the Beast’ I was animating for about a year. It can be a timely process.”
Following his role as creative supervising producer/director on “Angry Beavers”, from 1996 to 2000, Gerard took a good look at the industry and decided it was time for a move.
“I just decided that CGI was going to be the rage,” he said. “At that point a lot of people were losing their jobs. I was getting tired and I felt I had reached my peak.”
Gerard and his wife Barbra decided to move to Hereford after falling in love with the scenery during annual visits to see friends in Tombstone.
The couple do not regret their decision to leave Los Angeles, and Gerard admits he even enjoys today’s animated movies.
“I think animation is evolving and I think that’s great and I love it,” he said. “But there’s still nothing wrong with 2-D animation.”
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Amanda Baillie can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at amanda.baillie@svherald.com.
Ezai I. Martinez wrote on Jun 24, 2009 7:58 PM: