Roberta Browne says she grew up on "a steady diet of Looney Tunes cartoons and 'The Wonderful World of Disney.' " All her spare time in high school was spent drawing cartoon characters.
After getting a commercial-illustration degree at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, she tried her hand at freelance illustration for two years and wound up earning the bulk of her income by waitressing and bartending.
Feeling off her game, she returned to school for animation and, upon graduating, landed her first job as an animator. A decade later, Browne joined Bungie Studios in Kirkland last May, where she works as a lead animator, a job that involves everything from 3-D software to brainstorming sessions to pratfalls.
Q. How did you land your first game animation gig?
A. I studied animation at Sheridan College in Ontario. Every year the school would hold an open house to showcase the work of the graduating students. There was usually a big industry presence, with representatives ranging from small post-production shops to big movie houses to game companies from both Canada and the United States.
After graduation, I got a job at a small post-production house in Toronto, creating animations and effects for TV shows.
I was contacted a few months later by Broderbund, a game company in the San Francisco area. One of their lead animators had attended the open house and seen my reel. I have to admit, the initial draw of living in California overshadowed the opportunity to work in games. I wasn't sure what was involved in being a game animator but thought I could figure it out. What I discovered is it is an exciting, challenging and extremely rewarding job.
I worked at a couple of California game companies before moving to Seattle in 2003. Over the years, I worked my way through the ranks, starting as an animator, working up to senior animator and then finally to lead animator. I have worked on seven released games as well as a few prototypes that did not make it to market. Some of the more notable are "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (Xbox), "Shadowrun" (Xbox 360/Vista) and, of course, "Halo 3."
Q. What does a lead animator do?
A. My role has changed from creating animation content to managing. I oversee a team of five animators. Most of my time is spent planning, problem-solving, coordinating with other functional groups and working with the animation team to ensure they have everything they need to create animation content.
I participate in [their] reviews of content so far, brainstorming and acting sessions. Acting sessions involve falling onto mats, jumping, punching and so on. We hand-animate, so there's no motion-capture technology involved. We're old school in that regard.
I try to get in a bit of animation here and there but it is very limited. It was an interesting transition from creating animation to helping others create. animation.
Q. What software does your team use?
A. Maya, a 3-D application produced by Autodesk. There is a wide variety of software packages and many offer free downloadable learning versions. It is more important to learn the basic animation principles, rather than becoming an expert on one software package. But it's a good idea for people interested in computer animation to take a look at the various learning editions available.
Q. How does game animation differ from film animation?
A. With games, animators create a bunch of smaller pieces of content that are then combined in the game engine. In film, animators work on shots or scenes and animate all the motion from start to finish. So a game animator needs to collaborate with other disciplines. That's what I love — it takes art, design and engineering working together to fully realize and bring a game character to life.
Q. What's the Bungie office like?
A. The studio has an open floor plan. Each group has its own unique work style, with some preferring to work in silence and others, such as the animators, requiring creative bursts of energy to get inspired. And while there may be the odd outbreak of "inspirational shenanigans," everyone here is extremely passionate about their job and the games we make.
Q. What hours do you keep?
A. That depends on where we are in the production cycle. On average, a cycle ranges from two to three years.
During preproduction and early production, hours are pretty normal. For me, normal is 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., give or take an hour. This changes as you get close to shipping a product.
Making games is such an organic process. No matter how much you plan, there is always the feeling there is more work to do than time available. You still want to make sure you have time to spend with family and friends, but at the same time you want to work as much as you can to make the game as good as possible.
Q. Are you a gamer yourself?
A. I play games outside of work, about three to five hours a week. But I do not consider myself an avid gamer. My passion lies with animation and bringing characters to life. A lot of my free time is spent taking figure-drawing and figure-sculpting classes. This keeps my observational eye sharp.
Q. What advice can you offer hopeful animators?
A. There are so many schools offering animation courses. My advice is, put your focus on learning how to animate. Many schools focus more on teaching different software, and it is fairly easy to get a character to move around. But to have that character act and emote is the real trick.
Look for the schools that offer training in animation principles and acting. Having a solid understanding of the basic principles of animation and acting is the key to being a successful animator.
If you enjoy [computer] games, then play them! Knowing what both looks good and feels good from a game-play point of view is very beneficial for a game animator.
Ultimately, people are going to buy a game because it is fun, not because it has the most amazing animation.