ASIFA Seattle Members’ Biographies

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Steve Ball

Flash and Photoshop artist. I've also made a couple of clay, stop-action films and dabbled in After Effects and 3D animation. I have fond memories of the Oxberry back at RISD.

Michelle Conto

Michelle is a graduate of Sheridan College's Classical Animation program and has worked on animated tv shows, commercials, and Barbie's first ever (direct-to-video) movie: "Barbie in the Nutcracker". "The best thing about animation is it can go anywhere, and when done just right, you'll enjoy the ride". This is her first term as VP of anything.

Jason Fruchter
A and J Studios

A&J Studios is an illustration and animation studio based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Aka Chikasawa and Jason Fruchter, we create original artwork plus content for licensed properties. These include Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. properties such as Dora The Explorer, Go Diego Go!, The Backyardigans, and Ni hao, Kai lan. Be sure to visit the A&J Children's Book Store where you can purchase many of our published titles and get a FREE poster with every checkout, customized with your child's name and your own special message! http://www.aandjstudios.com/store.html

Jason Fruchter always loved to draw cartoons as a kid including flipbooks, comic strips and creating his own characters. He always knew he would one day be a cartoonist and an animator. After high school, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he studied traditional drawing and painting. He created his first animated film during his junior year. It was a 7 minute film featuring a battle between two characters named "Hermie and Hal" and was animated using 2,000 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper photographed using a 16 mm film camera and an Oxberry Animation Stand. The final film was edited on a flatbed editing deck using reel to reel film and a manual film splicer. After graduating in 92, he took his first art-related job in 1993 at a graphics and animation studio in New York City called 4-Front Design where he did character animation and did a variety of other website, multimedia and illustration work. Jason left 4-Front Design in 1995 to became a freelance animator that allowed him to work for a number of different New York City based animation studios. From 1996 to 2002, he worked for a variety of studios, including forming A&J Studios with his partner Aka in Tokyo in 2002. In 2007, they relocated to the west coast and eventually made their way to Seattle which they plan to make their permanent home.

Robert Musburger

Robert taught animation history at the University of Houston School of Communication and has written several books about animation.

David Roomes
Bad Alien Productions
Personal site: The World of Khoras
david@badalienproductions.com

David is co-founder and co-owner of Bad Alien Productions, LLC, an animation and visual effects boutique. David has been dabbling with computer graphics since the mid 80’s on his first computer, a Texas Instruments 99-4A. His first experience with 3D was the terrain generator Bryce 2. He was immediately hooked and, since then, has moved through a long series of 3D programs before finally settling on Hash’s Animation:Master and Autodesk's 3ds Max. David also works with digital compositing, special effects, photo retouching, audio visual stage productions, photography, film and video. David is, at heart, a story teller. He has been a role player for more than 20 years and is a published writer. Film, video and 3D computer graphics are just another way for David to tell stories. His chief interests lie in science fiction and fantasy. David is the creator of the World of Khoras, a fictional fantasy realm, at The World of Khoras.

Linda Spain
www.LindaSpain.com

Linda Spain has been fascinated with animation since seeing a Chuck Jones documentary at the age of six. After seeing how a series of drawings played back in order made Bugs Bunny walk, she wanted to make her own drawings come alive. She moved to Seattle from San Francisco in 1995. Here she learned the trade and got a BA in Media Arts and Animation. Her first animation job was at Humongous Entertainment where she worked on game titles such as Backyard Sports, Blues Clues, and Pajama Sam. After a few years, she left Humongous to work freelance from home, specializing in Flash animation. She has had the priveledge of working with Tony White on the Fire Gods project - an animated film that now plays at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. She also did animated shorts for the PBS television show BizKid$. Now she works on a variety of projects from animated web banners to commercials, and she's happy to be doing what she loves for a living.