Cartoon Kitty

JOANNA

davidovich

Interview by Heather Leary

When did you first think about what you wanted to do as an adult?

I knew I wanted to do something with cartoons in some form since I was about ten years old. That’s when I found out people made a living doing cartoons and I thought why would I want to do anything else. So all those dreams of astronaut or marine biologist went out the window.

Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, or mentors?

They were incredibly supportive.They wanted me to be happy no matter what. I asked my dad recently why he let me do this and he said “You had a passion for it, it was all you did. For all your life all you would do was

draw so of course you would be miserable doing anything else.” I thought that was a nice thing for him to say. Nobody in my family had any experience in visual arts, they’re all very artistic people they do dance, performance and athletics. I was the oddball.

Where did you grow up? What kind of kid were you?

I was born in a little suburb in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a nice place to grow up. Most of my childhood was spent in my parents gymnastics school. I don’t remember not being with them and doing gymnastic during my entire childhood. I would be there at the gym or I was at the beach, so I had a really great, fun childhood.

I was very, very shy. I was that kid in school who never really talked. I think that’s why I liked drawing so much and reading books. I would stay up all night reading my favorite books. I loved a lot of illustrations in children's books and watching movies. I still have my VHS of the “Little Mermaid.”

What was that defining moment that made you decide to go into animation. How did you start getting interested in animation?

I think it was the understanding that it was possible. When I was growing up that magical thing called the

internet became mainstream so I was getting a lot of exposure to what a production was really like from people talking about it online. The more I saw that it was not just a thing that appeared in movies and television, that people actually did specific things to make this all happen. It became easier to see how I could be a part of that. So it wasn’t just one big epiphany it was sort of a progress of everyday learning a little bit more about how to become one of those people that makes it happen. It was still very unclear even into college, but at that point it was internships and getting portfolio reviews that made it more clear about my career path. If there is one good thing I can say about college it’s that it put me in an

environment where I could get these kind of bread crumbs of information.

Who and what inspires you? Was there an artist who influenced your art style?

The two biggest influences I can think of are Chuck Jones and everybody who made “Animaniacs.” The show “Animaniacs” just opened up a universe for me. I love cartoons and animation because of that show, but there was something about “Animaniacs” that made me feel like anything was possible. There were a lot of different studios that animated individual cartoons on the

show, so I could see how different artists would draw essentially the same thing and I would figure out what I liked and didn’t like. I still remember the one time I figured out how to draw lips, getting some volume on the lower lip to get a really big expression. I figured that out from drawing what I saw on “Animaniacs” cartoon that Startoon studios animated I was just like “Oh my gosh! I am so happy I learned this little bit of visual language! Thank you Animaniacs.” Chuck Jones had been a common thread of influence since before I even learned his name. He put such an emphasis on appeal and personality. Basically any cartoon could be good if you have an appealing character