The video and animation of cartoonist and animator Ryan J. Smith

My Childhood:

Ever since I was 8, I wanted to make cartoons. I created my first cartoon character--Ronnie Raccoon--and all his buddies when I was 10. Growing up I watched a lot of animation and would always be drawing.

College, 2000-2005:
I studied art since I was young. Upon graduating from high school in 2000 I applied to the Joe Kubert School for Cartoon and Graphic Arts--a school that specializes in the creation and business of comics and cartooning, and was rejected. Deciding instead that I needed a more well-rounded experience in art education, I attended Raritan Valley Community College in Raritan, NJ and majored in Art. In 2002 I transferred to Caldwell College (Caldwell, NJ) to pursue their Bachelor's in Fine Arts program. I graduated and received my BFA in 2005.

2005-Present:
Now that I was college-educated and had 5 more years improvement on my art skill, I returned to the Joe Kubert School and was accepted.

I am currently in my third and final year of the Film Animation course, and am in progress of my final project: a fully animated short film "GUNK!", produced and animated entirely by myself, which I plan to finish by summer 2008.

Work Credits:

In the Summer of 2007 I was given my first animation job for an independent film called "Trip to the Planetarium" by Licorne Films, Inc. This short film incorporates both live-action and traditional animation.
It is still currentlyin post-production and should be due out in 2008.

I currently am also working on a video game with a new independent developer, Haze Studios, doing character animation for a game in pre-production for the Nintendo DS. More information for this project to come soon.