How did you first get into the industry?
I first worked straight after college on an animated short film, as a junior 3D animator, through two of my teachers in my Animation course in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. Then from there I started working with a Dublin post production house as a junior 3D animator on commercials, TV idents, sports sponsorship spots.
Then I moved on to working freelance more and more because I had an active gigging band at the time, and music was demanding, but 3D animation and film was always one of my great passions.
Where are you based now and who do you work for?
I'm based in Dublin and freelancing again through my new website franpower.net after 6 years in Berlin working for different companies and learning new skills and doing very different work.
What is your personal background and what role did it play in your career?
I come from a family of three brothers, no sisters. I grew up in Portmarnock, east Dublin by the sea so I've always needed to live by the water. My parents are both fine art painters and my mother has always sang in choirs, so music and art runs in our family and extended family in the UK. Music was very present in our house as kids, we had lots of Queen, Donna Summer and Blondie records to listen to while we played with Lego.
I was obsessed with Lego and spacsehips as a child, so building in 3D was always in my life. In school Art was my favourite subject, I won some art contests for painting a beach scene.
I also loved playing 16 bit computer/video games with my brothers and friends and it influenced my art drawings. In my teenage years I was obsessed with Metallica, Nirvana and guitar playing so music became a creative outlet too.
By the time I got to Art college in Dun Laoghaire and started a course in Animation production I knew I was in the right place. I had incredible class mates and artists around me and we all had a great time making little films for fun. Once I discovered 3D computer animation I was hooked. I have travelled and worked in many places from student days until now including New York, San Francisco, Madrid, and Berlin. I love meeting new people and having a few drinks and a laugh. I've probably written too much here.. ha ha!
Can you explain your creative process? What makes it unique?
I like to watch a lot of films, so ideas just pop into my head. Just like with music. If I go for a long walk or a run after seeing a film my mind starts visualizing. Some times it happens at night before I sleep which makes it hard to sleep at times.
How would you describe your style?
Colourful and cinematic. I like dynamic shot sequences, and I obsess over lighting scenes.
Which individuals do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
In 3D animation, I would say Brad Bird, director from Pixar's The Incredibles. For classic cinema its directors like Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Spielberg, The Coen Brothers. Their movies are something I go back to a lot and see more details, notice great shots and subtlety, but great charcters make their films amazing, its always the characters.
What tips would you give to aspiring creatives looking for work?
Keep in touch with people you studied with in Art college. Keep in touch with teachers. Apply for everything you see advertised that you believe you could do. Everyone learns a lot on the job in all industries. You don't have to know everything they demand on a job ad. If you're friendly, willing to learn and knuckle down you will do fine. I think working in teams in person is an important stepping stone in your professional career.
What tips would you give to other professionals to get more clients?
Try to find something in Art, design or film that fits your taste, your niche. I still find that part hard sometimes, but if you work hard on a small projects first, post them online, you will gradually build up a collection other people will find and enjoy looking through. That leads to more possible client work
Can you share a memorable experience from your career journey that shaped your approach to creativity?
I remember when I worked as a junior animator in a post production house in my first year. Our art director and senior animator got poached by a new post production house nearby, so I had nobody to learn from! Some new ads would start to come in and one of the video editors in another department told me not to panic.
Think of it as a little challenge, find out what they want to see from a producer, have a go at it in rough form, then improve on it. Anything you don't know you can learn if you apply yourself, so I did. My second draft renders were way better than the first. I had to work late a lot learning new software tools, but that happens sometimes. Don't be afraid to try, start with rough sketches, shape it as you go along. Learn by doing.
What kind of tools/kit/software could you not do without?
For years it was 3dsmax, then Maya, but now its Blender. The innovations have been incredible. Most importantly you can get really nice lighting and renders quick. Much quicker than the others and the online community and youtubers share great techniques, addons to try, and useful skills.
What’s your secret to staying inspired and motivated?
Watching cultural, film, music and history documentaries. It lets you get an insight into how a whole movement can come together and how inspiring people compete and drive each other throughout time. It always gives me inspirational ideas. That and socializing, meeting friends for drinks, music concert or film and animation festivals, downtime also helps you a lot.
What’s the work achievement you’re most proud of?
It's hard to say, I'm really proud of a few projects but probably working on Brain Freeze the Puppet/Animation kids TV show for RTE and BBC. We had lots of work to do, big challenges in 3D Layouts/environments and special FX, tight deadlines but we made a great team and we pulled it off and won some animation awards, and it was successful on TV.
Besides that my recent short film Man vs Beach, because that was a huge challenge to work on after work hours and weekends in Berlin and during the covid lockdowns. So it was a sanity/insanity situation ha ha!
As someone with experience in the industry, what trends do you foresee shaping the future of creativity?
Well, attention spans are much shorter than they used to be, so there will be more quick shots and edits in advertising, its a speeding up of visual language. TikTok and other short clip social media and memes have changed people's visual wiring a lot. Add in to that A.I. and its really hard to know what to expect. A.I. Animated memes for energy drinks? Who knows? We're at a crossroads in the creative industry.
What do you think sets apart truly exceptional creatives from the rest of the pack?
Talent, someone who can combine different influences into a unique vision and a hard work ethic, but also a kind of fearlessness that we all wish we had.
How do you think technology has influenced the creative industries and how have you adapted to these changes?
Well computing power doubles every couple of years and it has changed everything. Just look at how fast video games have changed in 20 years. I can't keep up. More fascinating tools in the hands of more people in every corner of the world is having an effect.
There has been a lot of great things happening through social media as well as the scary stuff. Artists from far away cities getting to meet each other, or working on projects remotely over the internet. That's amazing! I've been trying to make more new connections with talented people and I researched A.I. for a while.
I think its probably best used as a tool to shape your visions but not as a final product. I think artists do that best. I will combine Chat GPT coding and scripting to speed up my workflow in Blender. You can learn about that online.
What is the one thing that you would change about the industry?
Less layers of hierarchies to deal with in the advertising and film world. I like being direct when working on projects and sometimes the business world can wear out artists and creatives.
Any websites, books or resources you would recommend?
Websites:
motionographer.com – Big fan of this site to keep up with the creative industry
artofthetitle.com – I love trawling through classic Film opening titles for ideas.
blender.org/community/ - Blender has a great community and lots of articles and tutorials that you can learn from, no matter what level your 3D skills are at, you can learn more.
Books:
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole – One of my favourite books ever! Full of great characters, hilarious dialogue, dream like imagery, its so descriptive. Must read!
2001 Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark – Its an amazing book, it really kick starts your imagination whether you have seen the film or not. Very enjoyable.
Reference books:
Design for Motion by Austin Shaw – Its a great reference book for learning motion design and getting better at it. I keep coming back to it to spark my imagination.
The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams – Another great reference book for learning the principles of animation. I've had this book since just after college and I still love it.
