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Podcast EP 227: How Keika Lee Started Greyscale Animation and Produced ‘Odd Dog’

Studio founder shares how she went from big studio production work to launching her own animation studio, producing her own work, and funding her own films.

Check out Terry Ibele’s Animation Industry Podcast, featuring a new podcast every week focusing on the stories of today’s animation professionals - how they got to where they are and what they learned along the way. Now home to 227 episodes, the podcasts cover all areas of the industry, including storyboarding, writing, animating, directing, visual development, and game design. Guests have included returning guest Aaron Augenblick; the notorious JJ Villard; Spike & Mike’s Spike Decker; Disney Director John Musker; Sony Lead Animator Humberto Rosa; Frederator’s Fred Seibert; Tumble Leaf’s Scarlet Nelson; and many others from major animation studios all over the world.

Podcast EP 227: How Keika Lee Founded Greyscale Animation and Produced Odd Dog

This episode features Greyscale Animation founder Keika Lee – known for the viral short Odd Dog and upcoming Oren’s Way. In this chat, Lee shares how she went from the production side, at studios like Electronic Arts and DreamWorks to founding her own animation studio, funding her own films, and building her own animation teams.

Tune in to Ibele and Lee to hear:

  • Why Odd Dog went viral on YouTube.
  • Lee’s secret to a successful Kickstarter campaign.
  • How Lee connected with animators to hire for short-term projects.

Ibele has begun to publish the interviews as videos as well – you can find previous interviews here!

Social Links:

  • Visit Greyscale Animation’s website
  • Follow Greyscale Animation on Instagram
  • Follow Greyscale Animation on Twitter

Ibele, himself a stop-motion animator (see AWN’s Fresh Takes piece on his whimsical short, The Silly Duck Wizard), deftly digs into all manner of topics, encouraging interviewees to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics like pitching shows, marketing your work online, key skills studios look for when they bring on talent in storyboarding, vizdev, character design, and animation.

In 2018, Ibele, who lives in Toronto, decided to quit his career as a Marketer and pursue his love for animation. Since then, he’s become well known for his viral animation productions, which include the previously mentioned Silly Duck Wizard, which is how A.W.N. first came to know him and his work.

Learn more about Ibele’s work and podcast by visiting terryibele.com. You can find all The Animation Podcast episodes on his Soundcloud site: https://soundcloud.com/animation-podcast.

Debbie Diamond Sarto's picture

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.