S 4 EP 11: Community Conversations: Creating An Animation Revolution feat. Jasmine Katatikarn

Jasmine: 0:00

So everyone was kind of talking about how we can increase diversity and whatnot. And, frankly, I was sitting on the panel and with a bunch of amazing people studio heads and everyone was talking about on this level, like how do we increase diversity in the studios currently? And I was sitting back and I was thinking, wait a minute, are we looking at the right thing right now? And that's when I posed a question to the recruiter well, are the applicant, is it applicant pool type first, and then the answer was no. And that is the primary reason why we don't see more diversity in animation.

J. Lee: 0:42

Hello, hello everyone. Welcome to school after hours podcast, where we talk about all things related to out of school time program and education. I am your host, Jaylee, and today we have a wonderful guest. This person has been in animation for quite some time and they have done it and been involved in certain productions like the Ice Age, Peanuts, Rio, just to name a few, and they've also started their own online school to help people, as well as young people, to help them develop the skills in animation. Their newest venture is starting their own after school programs to help increase diversity in the world of animation. So our guest today is none other than Jasmine Patatacarn. But before we go into our main interview section, let's go ahead and get into our community corner and for our podcast only listeners. During this episode, we show some of the animations the students have made from the Academy of Animated Art. Also, during the second part of this interview, Jasmine shows us the starter kit that each child receives and shows us the different ways it can be used. So if you're interested in seeing those visuals, make sure that you check out this episode on our YouTube channel. The link will be in the show notes. Now let's get into it. Community Corner is a segment of the show that allows guests on myself to share tips, advice or information on a specific topic with young people, families or community members. Without further ado, let's go ahead and get into our community corner conversation. All right, Jasmine, this is our community corner sections. So for community corner, my question for you is this how can communities and families support kids who want to pursue careers in animation if they have like great skills or um hobby that they want to develop?

Jasmine: 2:26

I love this question, and that's one of the main reasons why I created a program for younger kids. Well, the first thing is give them permission to go into exploring the creative world of animation, um, and then once you kind of help them, to encourage them to kind of pursue this curiosity that they might have, then there's several ways. I think, resource wise, like the Academy of Animated Art, um is able to give the program to students out of cart, not necessarily only in afterschool programs, so that would be an avenue that a child can go and find it. Another thing you're just um this tutorials. You know there's tutorials everywhere on it. You can find it on YouTube or any of the Udemy type of uh programs as well. But I think the biggest thing is um to let the child explore and then you can figure out where those resources are. But it could start really small, like a stop motion, depending on the age right, just buy some clay you can buy. You can start a child off so easily by having clay and perhaps a stop motion app that you could have on your phone, and you just give those two things and you'd be amazed at what someone could start creating. Also, a very easy project is a flip book is all you need is a post-it note uh, like a post-it pad and a pencil and that's all, and then you can then look into how to create the books and that child can start playing with motion, and all they need is paper and a pencil. So there's so many avenues, but I think the biggest thing is encouraged by it, right, encouraging them to explore the curiosity and then finding avenues for them to start doing it.

J. Lee: 4:26

Well, just stuff. So, with that being said, we're going to go ahead and jump into our interview section. All right, everyone. So now we have entered into our interview section of the show. So we have Jasmine Katatacon here with us and she's going to be sharing with us her story and how she started her after school time. Programming and animation, right. So, jasmine, go ahead and give people a little bit about yourself.

Jasmine: 4:52

for those that don't know, Okay, my name is Jasmine Katakarn. I am the CEO and co-founder of the Academy of Animate Art, which is an online school that helps adults get jobs in the industry but also brings animation to the younger generation as well through our animation after school programs. And in addition to that, I have worked in the animation and visual effects industry for over 20 years, specifically as a lighting artist and yeah, and I also worked as the tech manager as well for Fortune 500 company right now, and I live in New York City with my two kids and my husband, and I love it. Yeah, that's a little bit unique, Awesome.

J. Lee: 5:45

So my question for you is you started an app school program in New York. Of all the places, all the places. Why do you start in New York?

Jasmine: 5:55

Well, the easy answer that is I live in New York, so I started in New York City. Just for proximity, but also the diversity in New York City. Right, one of my biggest aims for my animation program was to increase diversity in animation in New York City is very diverse and that is why I started, and then also I knew some schools already in the city, so it was a really good connect to that and also, since I live in New York City, it enabled me to visit the schools personally very easily, especially when starting our program. I really want to be kind of more hands on and ensure that the program is going well, so for me that was a big reason to also start it locally where I live.

J. Lee: 6:45

Right, and let me backtrack a little bit, because you have this amazing career in animation and you've done some great production in animation. You know one of the things being, you know, ice Age, which I love me. That was me and my brother's thing growing up, that whole series. But what made you want to do an app school program after being in animation for so long?

Jasmine: 7:06

That's a great question because if you had asked me maybe 5 years ago, I probably would never have thought about it. So there's a couple of things. The idea started when I was on a diversity inclusion panel and during a computer conference about 3 years ago and, as they're representing my school and also the company I work for, and we were talking about diversity in animation and, frankly, the animation industry is not that diverse. So everyone was kind of talking about how we can increase diversity and whatnot. And, frankly, I was sitting on the panel and with a bunch of amazing people studio heads and everyone was talking about on this level like how do we increase diversity in the studios currently? And I was sitting back and I was thinking, wait a minute, are we looking at the right thing right now? And that's when I pose the question to the recruiter Well, are the applicant, is it applicant pool type first. And then the answer was no, and that is the primary reason why we don't see more diversity in animation. So that's where I thought, well, I have experience with Building an online curriculum on an education and why don't I use that experience to then Start educating and having awareness in the animation industry to the longer generation and that's when this year came to me and it's kind of the the long game, right, if we want to increase diversity animation, let's reach the kids that are eventually going to be in animation, make them aware that it's there. So that was what started my process there. And then also, speaking to my own personal story, I wish I had known about animation at a young age and and giving this awareness of there's all these creative Opportunities out there other than maybe what you might know as like oh, when a child says, oh, I love art, the parent might just think, oh, no, I don't want my child to be a starving artist and you know whatnot. But there's all these other avenues that I never knew of as a kid and that's where I saw this also as an opportunity to bring that awareness to child or to the parents that there's so many different avenues that you can go to with the creative skill sets that are so multifaceted. That's what I love about animation and teaching is something for everyone, is very technical, it also includes story.

J. Lee: 9:44

So that is kind of how I came about to develop my after school program in animation to, you know, increase diversity but then also increase the awareness of creative fields for that Nice when I think about it, when you think of all the things that is coming out in animation right now, you would think that, oh my gosh, it's a problem with diversity when we have great stories that's coming down the pipeline from Pixar and Disney, but the process in those animations you really don't think that you know there's not someone behind the scene that actually can represent the character that's on the screen that we see, and so I think that's interesting. But that's also a great thing for you to go out into these communities and be like, hey, you have this skill, you want to develop this skill, it's something that you're thinking about. Let's go ahead and give you the tools to do so. So I think that is amazing, and I'm interested to see any more of those stories actually come down the pipeline.

Jasmine: 10:45

Yeah, absolutely I agree. I mean it's definitely improving. It's slow coming, but improving. And that's where, Taken creative fields is also one of my passions, especially females, and I will say when I first got into visual effects, it was not unusual for me to be the only woman in the room Of artists. It's just very dummy and it's getting better. But I think it's also animation can be quite technical too, so kind of breaking those barriers with women in tech too is also Also one of my big passions, to help help improve.

J. Lee: 11:30

So awesome. All right, everyone. With that being said, we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back with question. All right, everyone. We are back from break and I'm here with Jasmine and she's talking with us about her afterschool program and animation and we're going over the wonderful things of how she got started, and we discussed that in the first half of the show, but on the second half, I want us to dig a little bit deeper. So we're gonna go ahead and dive into how it all started, with me building the program, but also what are some of the challenges, right? So let's go ahead and start with the question what are some of the things that your students are learning in afterschool program and animation?

Jasmine: 12:39

Students are learning. I think some people will be surprised because when you think of animation you think, oh yeah, they're making. You know they're learning how to animate, which they are doing. But what I love about how I design this program is not only are they one creating every single lesson, but they're learning back in the pipeline of what it takes to make an animation. And I often start out with the question to students how many people do you think it takes to create an animation? Or types of people and the types of artists. And usually I know for me I was like, well, what right an animator? But it's so far from the truth. And what the students end up learning is there's not just one type of artist, there's multiple type of artists and everyone has the different skill set. So when they go through my program, we go through the whole pipeline from, like, the storyboard artist to the rigging artist, to the animator, to the lighting artist and so on, even to the producers, like the production management, everything that makes an animation come to life. And they meet also artists in the field, like when we talked about storyboarding. They meet a storyboard artist, that Pixar, that then dives deeper and says kind of gives them insight on what they do every day. So, from that point of view, they end up gleaming with this full knowledge of what goes into an animation production, but also, I hope, kind of giving them a snippet of like oh, you know, I really enjoyed that lighting lesson more than I thought, and maybe they're more inclined towards lighting, or like a rigging artist, like no one might know what that is, but they leave thinking like, ooh, and there's something for everyone. But most of all, what they've learned is, while they create animations, they're learning the art of visual storytelling, which, because you know, life is about storytelling and how can you tell a good story through writing, through verbal, but also visual? So it gives them this other skill set on how to communicate there to the world in a visual way and that confidence, right to create and to take something that's just in their mind and how can they put it out on on video, on paper, and then showcase it and be super proud of it. I think one of my favorites are going to the showcase at the end and watching the students we go over presentation skills to present their work and it's so exciting. It's just, it's just the beginning for them, right? So there's all the things that you think of creating animations, but they're also learning the whole back end of what goes into an animation production. They are learning visual storytelling, how to tell a good story, and creative thinking and problem-solving too, I like to say, because production never goes as cleanly as you think. So when they're doing things I give them that kind of motivation, like okay, when things are go, what, how, how can we fix this? And kind of have like this critical, creative thinking going on. So it's so much more than that. And they do do a little math. So everyone's like how do you do math? Well, frames per second and whatnot, and like add the fun into it too. So they kind of get a full spectrum, leaving at what you think would just be, you know, a cute animation that they produce, which they do, but they come out with so much more. So that's why I get so excited about this program.

J. Lee: 16:22

Awesome. It sounds amazing from them going through the process of learning. You know how to go ahead and write out their stories, their visualization, the technical skills that go with it, but also, I think the bonus part is them actually going into the field and seeing it. You know, I think it makes it that much more tangible for them when they see artists actually putting the sculptors together or go ahead and putting in the numbers for the software to make sure that they're getting the right visuals on screen lighting and everything that you mentioned. I think it gives them an idea of this is obtainable, but also that reassurance that we talked about or that you mentioned earlier. Like this is really what I want to do and having that confirmation feeling Exactly.

Jasmine: 17:02

Yeah, and even if they don't want to become animators, they don't all have to come out wanting to work in animation. It gives them that creative confidence to take anything and be able to explore and be curious, and that's what I want everyone to leave with.

J. Lee: 17:16

That's great. That is amazing. My next question for you is when you started this process and putting your programs together, what were some of the challenges that you faced in making that process?

Jasmine: 17:29

Yeah, that's a great question. I think one of the challenges I faced was how can I design this program to reach as many students as possible, because my main mission was to increase diversity at scale right, and make it accessible to all that's kind of a lot of my Academy of Animated Arts mission philosophy but also be super engaging, right. So the way I modeled it and this is where it's interesting for schools too, when they first come into contact with me and I explain what the model is essentially, the curriculum is done for the schools already. It's done by me and my school and it's delivered through video. So there's a module of videos that comes with little snippets of lessons, right, and what it enables the school to do is then they can have any teacher. They don't have to have a creative background at all or an animation background to teach this program to their class, and we supply the kids and everything. I don't. I should have brought the kid here with me. The super engaging is actually one of the best parts of the kids love it. Actually, can I pause and get the kid? Sure, can.

J. Lee: 18:50

One minute later.

Jasmine: 18:51

These are one of the kids that we have. This is to the Welcome to the World of Animation kit, and each child gets one of these kids and it's filled with clay, tripod lights, everything that they need to create, and even this is where I joke. I live in New York City. When I designed this, it's super optimized. So, if you notice, these are actually backplates for their possible stop motion animation. So they have this one here. They have this a transform. It's a transform roll box, but they have this one inside. Here is yet another scene. This is where I truly optimized space is this you can see, transforms into yet another set right, then acts as their stop motion animation backplates, and then they have the clay and everything. So what this does is all the kids get this kit and then they have the curriculum done for them. The teachers do, by the way, that I made art and I also provide teacher onboarding and full support for the teachers. We have weekly office hours and everything, and that model enables us to reach as many kids all over globally in the world. So I think that was one of my Biggest kind of like design problems to solve for like, how can Basically extend this curriculum and this experience out To unlimited amounts of kids all over the world. And that is kind of the solution that we have and it's been working really well, I will say, and that's how we've been able to expand to school as a year over year.

J. Lee: 20:48

Awesome. So my last question for you is what do you want your hope to be for your program? And I know that you've expanded into different parts of New York. You're going from Brooklyn to Queens and Manhattan. So what is your hope? Your hope for your program and moving forward?

Jasmine: 21:06

Yeah, my hope, if you probably could imagine, is that we go global right, we reach as many kids as possible and to the schools, but also for those kids that might be interested in animation, they can just come on to, let's say, our site and get the kit themselves Shift right to them and then access to the curriculum so they can do at home, so anybody Can have access to this program. So that is my hope that to unleash, you know, the world of anime and creativity all over, without any boundaries.

J. Lee: 21:46

Awesome value one. Though. That concludes the interview part of our show. We're going to go ahead and jump into our professionals lounge. Professionals lounge is a segment of the show that allows guests to share advice with other practitioners in the OST and youth development field about how they can begin growing their gifts and talents but also develop themselves as professionals in the field. Here's our professionals lounge conversation. Alright, everybody, so for our professionals lounge section of the show. My question for you, jasmine, is what advice would you give to other professionals who want to start an after school program, whether they be in tech, whether they be in the arts, whatever it may be they're like? This is what I want to do. I want to go ahead and teach the children this type of skill. What advice would you give them?

Jasmine: 22:38

Don't overthink it. It's that first step, right? The first step is always the hardest, because we could be having a dinner ahead for years, right, yeah, I'm like just start, right. So think of the easiest first step that you could do To whatever your ideas. Is it writing it down on paper and so like out of your head, right? And so that's the first thing. Think of the first step, that you just need to start, get it out of your head and take motion. And then the other thing I'll say is you don't need to perfect anything to to to get it going, and what I mean by that Ever I create something, I never have it fully done by the time it's time to put it out into the world. And to give you an example is when you know, when I first launched this animation program, this after school program, I spent a lot of time getting buy in from you know the sponsorship right and also for schools to actually have students to enroll in. And then, once I got that buy in and the acceptance, then I went into content creation. I had the outline and I think I had maybe the 1st class completed, but it was a 16 class lesson. I did not wait to complete all of my 16 lessons until I started talking to schools and started talking to people. I think I only had 1. And then what that does is it allows you to optimize your time, right, it's, you're not going to create something that might not Be able to to be received in the world. So, and then what happens when I do get buy in? Then that's my kind of check to like okay, let's start creating, and every 1st course that I do and kind of create the course during that 1st Time period, don't wait last minute, though Of course you want to give yourself some buffer, but you know, it's not a bad thing to do as the students are going through the 1st class and to be working on like the 3rd lesson, and what that does is actually gives you real time. You got like something might not be working as you thought it had, but since you're kind of developing it as you go, you're like, ooh, you can make some quick adjustments and then make the rest of the program even better, versus if you had spent years in this program right, waiting for it to release and then realizing later oh that's in quite work. So, 1st thing, just start and then Go for the minimal amount of content creation to begin with and then create the content as you go for that 1st iteration.

J. Lee: 25:35

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. If anyone wants to get in touch with you to get more information about how to implement your program or to get your program into their school, how they get in touch with you.

Jasmine: 25:47

Yeah, you can reach me at jasmine, at jasmin, at academy of animated artcom. And yeah, I'd be happy to talk to you.

J. Lee: 25:56

Well, everyone, that brings us to the end of our show. If you like what you heard and you enjoyed our conversation, make sure that you're following us on YouTube, but also hit that like button so we know what you're enjoying. You can also find us on other podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, spotify and Google Podcasts. If you want to listen to our audio version as well, get more behind the scenes stuff Make sure that you're following us on our social media accounts Instagram and Facebook, at school after hours. Well, that's all I have for today. In the words of Mr Arthur Ashe, start where you are, use what you have, Do what you can. Until next time, y'all, bye, bye.