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July FableFriday: Adam Gravett, Artist/Animator

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Adam Gravett had an artistic goal in mind and just needed to figure out his path. “Ever since I was a little kid, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do or how I was going to get there, but I was certain that I wanted to be in the field of art and animation,” says Adam. 

With a keen interest in aliens, animals, wizards, knights, and other creatures, Adam breathes a creative, humorous, and cartoony aesthetic into his character designs and animation at FableVision. Inspired by other artists and the wonderful work that he stumbles upon, Adam continues to improve his illustrations, discover new techniques, and grow his incredible portfolio. 

Keep reading to learn more about Adam’s creative process, hopes for future projects, and unparalleled hat collection. 

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
It began back in 2016, when two ambassadors for Lesley University came to my high school art class and talked to us about the college. Lesley ended up being the college that I attended. During my junior year, I took a character design class taught by FableVision’s Bob Flynn, Director of Art and Animation. I had previously heard about the class and I knew immediately that I needed to take it. FableVision stayed on my radar for potential post-college work. Bob told me that he liked my work and wanted to keep in touch. 

A year later I ended up seeing him and taking a tour of the old FableVison studio space. I’m happy I did that because soon after that COVID-19 started, and I moved home to Albany, New York. Bob contacted me and I started doing some freelance animation work for FableVision. A year and a half later, I received an offer for a full-time position as an artist/animator, and moved back to Boston to start the next chapter of my life. 

How did you get into art and illustration?
Ever since I was little, I knew that I wanted to make cartoons. I loved watching SpongeBob SquarePants and I realized from a very young age that I wanted to make something like that. I never thought about doing anything else.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your art? What types of characters do you like to create and animate?
I’m inspired by other artists I find on Twitter and Instagram. There are so many talented people out there, which encourages me to keep drawing and making art. I always enjoy drawing fun little creatures – animals, aliens, and monsters are so much fun. 

Can you walk us through your creative process?
When it comes to drawing, it usually starts with me looking for reference images to help me get some ideas on where to start. Using those, along with the knowledge of what kind of feeling is supposed to be perceived when looking at the art, I’ll make a few versions of whatever it is I’m drawing. I’ll push certain elements to ensure the art is as dynamic as possible. 

When it comes to animating, I’ll start by looking at what I’m going to animate, and I act out the movements myself to get a feel for how the characters are supposed to move.

What would you like to work on in the future at the studio?
I’m a big fan of longer series of animated shorts, like the NoiseFilter series or The Paper Girls Show, a Global Tinker and FableVision collaboration. In a similar format, I’d love to design and animate alien characters based in space. I’m a big sci-fi fan, so getting to work on a project like that would be a dream come true. 

When you go to a museum or art show, which works do you look at first?
When it comes to museums and other art shows, I want to consume as much art as I can. I have a very simple solution –  I head towards the closest thing near me and try to circle through all of the works.

Tell us more about your hat collection.
I got my first hat back in high school. I saw it out of the corner of my eye while shopping in the mall with my mom, and just thought it looked neat. I started wearing it every day and I eventually bought more. Some of my hat highlights include my Squid Hat, Umbrella Hat, and my most recent addition, my Bidoof Hat.

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Adam’s Favorites

Favorite cartoon: SpongeBob Squarepants is easily my favorite cartoon. It was the first cartoon I remember watching and it’s partially the reason why I am where I am today. 

Favorite movie: I don’t think I’ve ever watched a movie more times than I have with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I saw it four times in theaters and five more times after that.

Favorite game: Destiny – I’ve put too much time into that game, both playing it and learning about its deep DEEP lore.

Favorite hat: My hats are like my children – you can’t choose one over the other… except my gray flat clap with winter flaps (but don’t tell the others).

Favorite vacation destination: Saint Martin, a part of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. My parents have a timeshare there and it is absolutely beautiful and a great place to scuba dive.  

Favorite snack: Pretzels, both soft and hard. Top tier snack.

Favorite New York state attraction: The Saratoga Race Track.

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June FableFriday: J Milligan and Cassandra Berger, Co-Founders of Lanky Co.

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J Milligan and Cassandra “Cass” Berger are…well…lanky. The dynamic co-founders of Lanky Co. met at the award-winning digital toy company Toca Boca. That collaboration has flourished into the launch of Lanky Co., a development studio for high-quality, kid-focused projects to delight and entertain audiences wherever they may be. With a cadence of colorful projects up their sleeve and vast experience working with high profile clients, Lanky is ready to take on any project.

Recently, J, Cass, and FableVision’s Tone Thyne teamed up to produce the quirky earworm that is the new Don’t Mix Us Up music videos. The series addresses the common catastrophe of mixing up things that are easily mistaken for each other but should never be confused. The result is a viral sensation, out now on Aardman studios’ new YouTube channel for teens and adults, AardBoiled.   

“We’re always delighted to hear that our work stands out in the landscape of kids media, because it’s not intentional, it’s just our personalities. We never want to talk down to our audience, and humor is number one,” shares Cass. “Visually, we’re both drawn to similar things so that results in having a cohesive output. We’re not afraid to put something different out there, as long as it’s true to us.”

 We sat down with the duo to talk shop, their preference for Cabbage or Lettuce, and what makes Lanky Co. so…lanky in this month’s FableFriday.

Congrats on the recent launch of Lanky Co.! Tell us more about your mission and the motivation for launching your own studio.
J: We launched Lanky because we both always wanted to have our own studio, and when our last gig came to an end we thought it was time to go for it. I’m really glad we did. Our mission is to make great stuff, add to the culture in a positive way, and focus on projects we care about.  

Cass: We were both at a time in our careers where it felt right to go for it. We wanted to be creatives who have a sense of ownership for whatever work we do, big or small. Whoever gets to the office first texts the other a trophy emoji, that’s how excited we are to get to work.

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Both Lanky’s live-action and animated projects have such a unique, creative style that stands out in the world of kids’ media! How do you describe Lanky’s personality? What unique perspective is your content adding to the landscape?
J: We like to challenge the audience a bit—we try to get them engaged and invested in a way that we can leave things out and have them fill in the blanks. We do this with visuals and writing and for any age audience. It’s fun to watch something where part of the story happens in your head.    

You previously worked together in animation and production at the game development studio Toca Boca. We’d love to learn more about the history of your collaborative, creative partnership!
J: Cassandra came on to the Toca TV team as the Director of Animation. We’d sit in this half-finished interior room called The Barn with the content team and laugh hysterically for an hour or two coming up with ideas for mini-shows for the Toca TV platform. This was my favorite part of my job, which also involved running a subscription business and building a technology platform. We basically do the same thing now all day long in a much smaller office but with cleaner bathrooms and free kombucha. 

Cass: Back at Toca TV the Product Manager once told me that she was jealous of my meetings because she could hear my laughter coming from all of them. That’s the beauty of working on comedies, laughing means it’s working! We’ve carried that through to Lanky, where we know we’re on the right track when we’re cracking each other up.

Cass, before Toca Boca you spent some time as Art Director and Designer on several broadcast properties and published books. How have those experiences in visual development and show production influenced your work as Creative Director at Lanky Co. today? 
Cass: I’ve been lucky enough to work on a bunch of broadcast shows as well as a lot of show development. At Lanky we’ve taken on a few projects that are pure development, which is my favorite part! Because I’ve worked on shows before, I’m able to avoid complications down the road while we develop a project, as well as poking an idea enough to see if it has legs.

J, you’ve had some amazing experiences working with new technology as Creative Director of the Content Innovation Lab at Sesame Workshop! What technologies or content areas are you most excited about right now?
J: We’re doing a lot of bite-sized content for social media right now, and I love the challenge of packing a lot of story and information into a tiny thing. It’s like writing a sonnet or haiku, only with sound effects and speech bubbles and getting the timing exactly right. There is also a lot of interest in audio and speech recognition right now through podcasting and smart speakers which I find kind of cool and funny because it harkens back to radio theater, which gets the tech out of the way and puts the movie in your head, so to speak. 

Lanky may be young, but you’ve had a lot of collaborative experiences under your belt already, including the partnership with FableVision Studios to create the Don’t Mix Us Up videos. What was it like working with Tone Thyne on this wacky series of shorts?
Cass: Tone is one of my favorite people. He got me my first job out of college and has been a sort of mentor ever since. I was so excited to be able to work with him on an original project because I knew with him involved, it would be great.

J: Genius just wafts from Tone’s mind like that yeasty smell at Subway. Seriously, Tone is the best. When we gave him the note, “can you make the lyrics stupider?” he sharpened his pencil and molded the clever bits for a general audience and voila! Music video history was made.

You’ve also teamed up with Aardman animation studio to distribute the Don’t Mix Us Up series on their new YouTube channel AardBoiled. How is AardBoiled the perfect home for Don’t Mix Us Up?
J: We have always admired, no, worshipped Aardman’s comedy, craft, action sequences, attention to detail, and high, high bar for quality. It’s like everybody else was doing things one way and Aardman came along and thought, we’re just going to painstakingly make brilliant comedy for people of all ages and see what happens. We hope that Don’t Mix Us Up appeals to Aardman fans. We’re really happy to be working with them and to have the series on their channel.

We had so much fun working with you on Don’t Mix Us Up! Now that the series has launched, what’s next on Lanky’s horizon?
J: We have irons in fires all over the place. We’re creating new ideas for original shows and books as well as working with partners on edutainment, digital design, content marketing, and other kinds of storytelling. We love working on different kinds of projects, collaborating with folks, and are always looking for new challenges.

Finally, the Lanky mascot has an interesting (and creative!) presence on Instagram. Who is the mastermind behind-the-scenes?
Cass: When we had downtime early on we talked about creating some kind of Instagram comic, something that we could do just ourselves to get a presence out the world. We both come up with ideas and I draw them. The idea is to make quick bites that we can post to get a laugh. You can tell that we’re busy when there hasn’t been a post in a while but there are definitely Lanky fans out there eagerly waiting for the next piece in the series.

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More about J and Cass:

Favorite Muppet:
J: Cookie Monster                     
Cass: Grover

Junk food of choice:
J: Shrimp Chips              
Cass: Fritos

Animated short that inspires you: 
J: Virgin Atlantic Safety Video
Cass: The Little Boy and the Beast

New technology you’re excited about: 
J: Cordless Vacuum Cleaners—total game-changer           
Cass: Virtual Reality drawing/digital painting

Kids’ show that makes you nostalgic: 
J: Magic Garden   
Cass: Pinky and the Brain

The best viral YouTube video:     
J: This should be viral.  Please everybody watch this!  
Cass: Don’t Mix Us Up: Cabbage & Lettuce (If I say it, will it make it viral?)   

Cabbage or Lettuce? 
J: Lettuce 100%   
Cass: Cabbage 100%

Favorite way to unwind?            
J: Chopping wood in my orange safety chaps
Cass: Watching The Real Housewives 

 

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May FableFriday: John Lechner, Art Director

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“A good story starts with a character, someone the audience can relate to,” explains 20-year FableVision veteran John Lechner. “If the audience cares about a character, they will follow them through any journey, and cheer when they succeed.”

For this story, May’s FableFriday, the main character is John – art director, children’s book author, nature enthusiast, animator, puppeteer, and co-founder of FableVision. He recently shared a bit of about his journey to FableVision, family life, and creative passion.

What's your journey to FableVision story? How did you meet the Reynolds brothers?
After college, I worked at a few different jobs doing graphic design, but I really wanted to do more with illustration or publishing. I sent resumes and samples everywhere, with few results. A friend told me about an educational technology publisher company called Tom Snyder Productions. I had an interview there, and also at their new satellite office that Peter had started, which he called FableVision. It was located in the offices of CF Video, a company run by Bill Churchill and Paul Reynolds.

Peter hired me as a freelancer to work on animated software for schools. The FableVision office had five people and one dog in a small room, and I used a program called Autodesk Animator. (This was years before Flash came along.) About a year later, FableVision became part of CF Video, and I became a full-time employee. I didn’t know much about animation at the time, I was mainly an illustrator, but I learned as I went.  I realized over time that I was part of something special, a studio that would survive several recessions and many changes while keeping true to its core vision. I'm proud to have helped build such a wonderful company.

As one of FableVision’s co-founders, how have you seen FableVision grow? What has it changed? What has stayed the same?
Physically the company grew in size, and became independent of its parent company CF Video (later Cosmic Blender.) We started as an animation company, but then began to build our interactive capabilities, doing our own in-house software development, and publishing our own educational products. Our office expanded a few times, moving to a bigger space in Watertown and then a bigger space (where we are now) in Boston, above the Children’s Museum.

Through all this, much has remained the same. Our tagline from the early days was Stories That Matter, Stories That Move – that’s remained intact and at the core of what we create. We still strive to create projects that make the world a better place, that inspire creative learning, and help everyone achieve their true potential. We have a collaborative team, and everyone is allowed to give their creative input. And we still have many of the same toys on the shelf as we did twenty years ago!

What connects you to FableVision's mission?
I love to create stories, so I love the storytelling approach to many of our projects. I also share the learning philosophy of FableVision, that children are natural learners and we should tap into their natural curiosity, rather than force information upon them. I also like how FableVision does so many different things, from animation to websites to software, and we’re always pushing the boundaries of what we do. That makes it a very exciting place to work.

You come from a big family! How do you think that influenced you as a creative person?
I grew up as one of seven children, each with our own creative interests, so we all inspired each other. My parents encouraged all this creativity, and they didn’t mind art projects everywhere. There was always music in the house, and I learned to play the violin and guitar. We put on plays, concerts, and puppet shows. I think it inspired me to think creatively, to be open to a world of possibilities.

What's your favorite project you've worked on at FableVision and why?
It is hard to single out a favorite project, but one that stands out is the animated film of The North Star, based on the picture book by Peter H. Reynolds. It allowed our team of animators to shine, and it truly was a story that mattered, and also moved people. We animated it using Flash and After Effects to bring Peter’s watercolors to life.

Tell us a bit about your creative process!
That depends a lot on the project. When I’m creating designs, illustrations, or storyboards, I usually brainstorm in my head – I imagine different possibilities, and sketch out the ones that seem the most plausible. Those are refined later. For my books, I usually write story ideas in a hardcover sketchbook, then work on various drafts and revisions.

I’m not always objective about my own work because the vision in my head is often so strong it overshadows what actually gets down on paper. So I often like to take time away from a project, then come back to it and see it with fresh eyes. With my illustrated books, I usually end up doing the final illustration twice (or more) because I inevitably think of ways to make it better. 

Do you have a creative workspace at home? What’s it like?
My workspace changes depending on the project. I have a studio where I can write or paint, but I often work on the floor, or the dining room table, or any open space. Since I work on many projects at once, I tend to fill up all my available spaces. And I also do different kinds of projects, so I’ll often need to move a pile of research books to work on an ink drawing, or push aside my watercolors in order to cut out shadow puppets.

How does puppetry play into your passion for storytelling?
For me, puppetry is another medium for telling stories. Creating a puppet show is much like creating a book or animated film, you get to bring a story to life in a way that's totally unique. There is something magical about seeing the characters in a story moving in front of you, in the same room. It really builds a strong connection between storyteller and audience that’s different than a book or film, and very unique. 

Can you tell us about your involvement with Puppet Showplace Theater?
Puppet Showplace Theater is a unique little theater in Brookline, MA, that was started in 1974 by an educator and puppeteer named Mary Churchill. It is still going strong today, presenting live puppet theater for all ages. I am currently President of their Board of Trustees, and I have also performed there several times.

As one of the few permanent puppet theaters in the country, I think it’s a vital cultural institution that helps preserve a unique art form. Especially in this age of electronic devices, live theater can inspire young minds like nothing else, and puppet theater incorporates multiple levels of learning and storytelling that make it truly special. Like all nonprofit arts organizations, Puppet Showplace Theater is supported by donations, and you can learn more about the theater here. 

Who is Sticky Burr?
Sticky Burr is a character I created for a webcomic in the 1990s. He lives in the forest and has adventures with other burrs. He was inspired by the burrs in our backyard when I was a kid, and I created the webcomic to help inspire children to look at nature more closely. The stories often include insects, birds, and other animals that live in the forest. I’ve also created books and animations based on the characters. You can learn more at the Sticky Burr website. www.stickyburr.com

What’s your favorite piece you’ve created for a FableVision Creative Juices art show?
It’s hard to say, but a particular favorite was a 3D paper sculpture that I designed for one of the shelf spaces. I’ve always liked shadow puppets and silhouettes, which are so different than my usual style of illustration. This is something I would like to do more of. 

Favorites!

Illustrator: N.C. Wyeth
Movie: Nausicaa (also my favorite graphic novel)
Musician: Itzhak Perlman, violinist
Month: May, when spring is in bloom
Medium to create in: ink and brush
Vacation spot: Maine, Narnia, Middle Earth

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