Meet Oscar Hernandez, a talented Intermediate CG Animator currently working on our action-adventure series, Daniel Spellbound.
Check out a few pieces of his artwork above, and get to know him a bit below.
What inspired you to work in animation?
When I was a kid, I wanted a Nintendo 64, but my dad mistakenly but me a Playstation instead. Thanks to that, I got to grow up playing Crash Bandicoot.
That game was incredible to me, but my favourite thing to do was to put the controller down and just watch Crash. After a while, he would get bored and start playing with his yoyo, looking around, and doing random stuff waiting for me to play the game.
I loved to watch him do those things because to my young mind, it made me feel like he was alive. From that point on, I knew I wanted to do something to do with re-creating that. Engaging with something beyond just watching and connecting with something intangible.
That eventually led to me becoming an Animator.
What is your favourite thing about what you do?
What I love about animation is that it’s never the same thing. Every project is different and every character has their own personality. It’s always a challenge to be creative and put a little bit of myself in the characters I get to work on.
Are there any other creative disciplines you do in your spare time?
I enjoy playing guitar (mostly heavy metal) and skateboarding. I also enjoy building my personal computers… the more RGB lighting I can get, the better!
Is there any accomplishment you’re particularly proud of?
Until now, I’d say my biggest accomplishment would be moving to Canada permanently 2 and a half years ago. I was born and raised in Mexico City, and even though I love my country, moving to a different one was a dream I’ve had my entire life.
Reaching that goal was very tough, required a ton of effort and hard work. So I am very proud of getting to live in Toronto and to be able to work on amazing shows.
Do you have a tip or piece of advice for aspiring animators/artists
Don’t give up. This industry is tough and highly competitive, but if you dream of working in animation or any artistic discipline, you gotta go for it. Knowing when to be stubborn is also useful. Back in Mexico, I had many opportunities to start my carrier as a 3D Modeller or a 3D Generalist, but I was so set on becoming an animator that I skipped on those chances, punched up my Demo and kept looking until I found my first 3D Animator role.
What is a ‘fun fact’ about you that most people don’t know?
I’ve been fluent in English for most of my life. I learned the basics at school, but 90% of my knowledge of the language, comes from watching TV and movies.
When I was a kid, I loved to watch TV and movies in their native language for some reason. So I grew up watching a lot of shows like Friends, The Simpsons, Dexter’s Laboratory, Invader Zim, and all Disney movies in English, with and without subtitles. Eventually phrases, words and sentences started to stick and I started to understand more and more of the language.
The easiest way to learn a language… just watch TV!
Thank you for the work you do, Oscar! You are awesome and we’re so proud to have you on team Industrial Brothers.
Follow @oscarhdzh on Instagram, and check out his Vimeo page to see more of his animation artwork!