The Animator’s Friend
Befriending animators, 24 questions at a time. The Animator’s Friend creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for lighthearted and unexpected conversation.
Episodes
Episode 22 is a lucky one with director Natalia Poteryakhin, sharing anecdotes of endurance, logging off, and blind faith, all bolstering her animation career. Further blessing this episode is the appearance of non-human guest Zoe Lombardi-Bello.
Watch on video on Youtube or Spotify!
Sunny Side Down is a sci-fi parody series where existential dread is served hot with a side of 90’s nostalgia. Just beyond the event horizon of a sup...
Conducted my interview with Arco creators Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry ~on twos~ to learn about their penchant for sandwiches as well as gain more insight into the driving forces of their beautiful film. Experience the podcast with video for a change! I prefer you watch on YouTube B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBrnoduxTs
A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-o...
The Animator's Friend podcast has been turning into The Animator's Italian-American Friend for some time now, and 3D artist/designer Andres Salazar has made matters worse by getting your host's spaghetti in a knot with some hot takes on Italian cuisine.
Andres is a Colombian-American designer and 3D artist based in Astoria, New York. His work explores the magic in the mundane, blending photorealistic 3D creations with surrealist vi...
I enjoyed chatting with fellow Beatles freak Tess Martin about our other shared fixation: The Netherlands. What business does their coffee have being so good? How easy is it to be a working artist there? Is the countryside really like those old Dutch paintings? Find out within.
Tess Martin is a film and visual artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She brings her perspective as someone who was raised between cultures to explor...
I learned all about Danielle Goldwert's numorous hobbies and have a feeling I barely scratched the surface! Stop-motion animation is just one of her many interests, which she executes perfectly in her film waterlogged. Hear about how Danielle's creative interests and doctorate research converge.
In waterlogged, a climate scholar confronts the haunting reality of his research as surreal environmental catastrophes unfold around him, ...
Between moments of being outsmarted by a mosquito, hear Simeon Kondev expose the metal-head within.
Simeon is a Bulgarian-American animator whose latest cartoon Society Animals deserves your follow on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO
Links to points of discussion:
Preempting their Student Academy Award win for their student film The Shyness of Trees, listen to Loick Du Plessis D'Argentre, Simin He, and me giggle over unexpected animation crushes, rats, and French cliches.
In the film, Hélène, 40 years old, comes to visit her aging mother in the french countryside. But her mother isn't being her usual self. She seems to have formed a strange bond with the plants, insects, and the old oak tree...
You can find Amanda, me, and her dog Bacca under the pergola, discussing our shared provenance which includes italianess, shyness, and punkness. Her film Confetti is available online for the first time through Director's Notes and her and fellow animator James Thacher have just started their own studio called Magician with a screening coming up at Ridgewood Community Cinema on 11/2/25 at 7pm.
If you need a bar recommendation, enjoy Lena's encyclopedic knowledge of cool karaoke bars, including the ones that exist only in her mind. Throats Karaoke Bar is the setting of her latest short film Tuna Tartare, which challenges you to be yourself but hotter.
Set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Tuna Tartare is a trashy, karaoke musical about an expired can of tuna fish and her BFF Susan (a fake Louis Vuitton purse) as they strug...
The Animator's Friend is live-to-tape at the The Animator's Picnic! As part of the 2025 Ottawa International Animation Festival (aka my favorite festival)! After meeting her for the first time at the last OIAF, I asked my fellow media pass girlie Sarah Schmidt of Malt Adult to join me to talk to the good people at The Animator's Picnic! In true TAF-fashion, we talked a little shit, swooned over our favorite festival picks, and a...
In anticipation of the Made in New York: Best of NYC Indie Animation showcase and panel at Metrograph this Saturday (9/13/25, 5pm), I had the opportunity to speak with Signe Baumane and Debra Solomon about the screening, making it in NYC, and 417 Hz YouTube videos.
Just as New York has long been the capital of America’s artistically ambitious “Second Cinema,” a scrappy foil to the Los Angelino industry of streamlined entertainment,...
Nayon and I met on a grueling hike in the French alps after a revelrous week at Annecy International Animation Festival, bonding us in a unique way. I can say for myself, she saw my most bratty, unvarnished self within only hours of meeting, which I can't say for most people! Hear us reminisce.
Nayon Cho is an animation director and artist born in Seoul, based in New York. She uses a technique whi...
We're at the drive-in this week for the Hudson Valley Film Festival's 10th Anniversary! There's no doubt how much this fest loves animation, and they invited me and my friend Kristie Kish to interview selected animators including Ryan Castrillo, Michael McGoldrick, John Quinn, Zac Max, and friends of the pod Arnesh Kundu, Michael Dondero, and Shengnan Dong. We were also honored to be part of Laura Faith's Filmmakers Journey discu...
Tala really knows what it means to live life creatively! She blurs the boundaries between her art practice and personal life to lead an existence that feels like a work of art in and of itself. You can experience this rapturous reality by attending one of her many retreats, workshops, and community events! Join her orbit: @talaschlossberg.
Tala Rae Schlossberg is an American experimental artist known for her distinct animated style...
Cynthia and I are passionate about being able to communicate with cockroaches one day, but for now, we'll have to settle on talking to eachother. Listen to us in our middle-of-the-night post-lasagna daze, spiraling over roller-coasters, ghosts, and crystals.
Cynthia Chu is a 2D illustrator and cel animator originally from NYC. Her style goes between painterly and moody to silly and simple. Past Clients include Nickelodeon, SONY, Gi...
We are live-to-tape at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Festival! Take a pew with me and my friend Barnaby Catterall (who I met at Annecy 8 years ago!) as we chat with Animation Talent Picnic attendees about how well they tan, what animal would play them in a Better Man type biopic of their life, and what they have or have not yet seen at the festival this year.
Links to points of discussion:
In the interest of making new friends while attending Animafest Zagreb this year, I hung out at the festival picnic to record some impromptu conversations. This feels especially meaningful since Animafest is where I got the idea for the podcast this time last year! I was graciously joined by Sawyer Rippon, designer of the TAF logo, to chat with some new buds about Animafest's programming, frogs, and the beauty of the animation comm...
Listen to my chat with my two favorite Annecy Achievers Michael Dondero and Shengnan Dong, whose film Nostril has been programmed into Annecy International Animation Festivals 2025's WTF Block! If you are going to Annecy, book your ticket for one of the WTF blocks ASAP or rush day of!
Links to points of discussion:
Two episodes in one month!? Don't get used to it!... yet.
Brent Sievers was in NYC a few weeks ago to receive a Webby for his show The Land of Boggs, becoming the podcast's first Angelino; allaying any blind East Coast/West Coast allegiances with his holistic perspective on the bites, the vibes, and the views.
Links to points of discussion:
The Animator's Friend reaches Unc Status by having Jasper Lin on the show. In our chat, Jasper does everything in his power to get us both canceled by crowning me the Joe Rogan of Animation, starting animation beef with Oscar winners, and attempting to settle multiple disputes with me on mic.
Jasper is an animator, computer artist, and educator. His work ranges from narrative short films to experimental video and sound pieces, but...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.