Episode 52: How Director Dave Thomas Carved Out A Career In Stop Motion In Toronto

This episode features Dave Thomas, a Director, Creator, and Animator on how he carved out a path in stop motion in Toronto. You’ll also learn: *The kind of ingenuity it takes to get paid for something you love to do *How to get studios to notice you when you’re just starting out *Why studios aren’t investing in stop motion and what it would take for them to do so More about Dave Thomas: Drawing and dreaming since childhood, Dave’s original plans were to go into physics… but then he changed his mind. He also originally had no plans to enter the world of animation and enrolled in Sheridan College’s Media Arts program, majoring in Film Production. However, he started to experiment with plasticine animation in first year and got bitten by the animation bug. He realized that stop-motion is an exciting mix of live-action film principles and elements (real cameras, lights, sets) and the complete control of frame-by-frame animation. Over the years, Dave has directed award-winning series, specials, show opens and commercials created in an array of techniques and mediums. He has worked in stopmo, 2D, pixellation, traditional cutout, and hybrid productions for projects that range from preschool to adult. Always eager for new challenges and creative fun, he's also worked in show development, written scripts, story edited, designed characters and sets, animated a whole bunch of critters and objects (including a real lobster), and made short films of his own. His list of project clients include Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, ABC Family, MTV2, CBC, Teletoon, HBO Family and Fisher-Price. He has given talks at colleges, schools and panels on animation and mentors 4rth year animation students through their final thesis films. Dave has been known to go for hours without food or water while drawing funny pictures and making stuff. Reach out to Dave by email: DThomas187 [ at ] cogeco.ca Watch Dave's short film Rodent Stew on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0120nWSPpx8