Interview with Don Dixon
Hi could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in CG?
 I grew up with a father that created robots and electronics for toy companies like Tyco, and Worlds of Wonder. So I was always surrounded by creativity. My dad taught me how to draw Popeye when I was 4 years old and you could say that's when I first became fascinated by drawing and animation. Years later I was told about an arts school in northern michigan called the Interlochen Arts Academy. This was a high school/boarding school that had a major focus on the arts, music, dance, creative writing, theater, and visual arts. It was at this school that I really learned that I could make a career out of art. It was at this school that I really became passionate about art. Not just the art I did but the art of great musicians and writers. I remember going downstairs in the dorms and seeing 15 year old kids playing the piano until their fingers bled. I knew that I had to take my art just as serious. So I took drawing and painting, metal smiting, figure drawing, etc.
From there I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where I began to seek a degree in Sequential art, but later decided on animation. I only spent two years at Scad, and found myself back in michigan attending the Center for Creative Studies, which is now the College for Creative Studies. It was this school where I received my BFA in animation and digital media. After graduation I spent a year looking for work while working at a movie theater as an usher and also creating window art for all the upcoming movies. I finally received a position at WMS Gaming in Chicago where I worked as an animator for 6 years. I felt the need to push myself and try new things so I left WMS for a position in Dallas Texas at a small studio called GreenGrass Studios.
As we can see in your blog, you done a lot of drawing before start modeling but all are toony characters, there is any special reason except you love them infact we all love them!
Well thank you, I think all artists have stronger work when they get the idea down on paper, whether it is a storyboard for and animation, or a quick doodle to have a concept of what you want to model. That first sketch or doodle is going to have all the excitement and energy that you need to push the idea to completion. I tend to stay in the cartoony realm because I love toons! I like the idea of taking strong bold shapes and using them to simplify a more complex feature in a human or an animal. To break it down to its most simplest form. I see the realistic models that are created by other artist and I am just in awe of what they can do, and I should be because I can't do it! :) But for me it’s never been about making that model or character look real, my only concerns whether it’s real or cartoony, is that it convey emotion. I want the characters I animate and draw to make people laugh, or feel sympathy towards. For me that's what makes great art, art that gives a mood, a feeling of strong emotion, and the cool thing is this can be done with cartoony and realistic characters. This is something I always will always reach for and work towards. Sometimes I will get it and sometimes I will fail horribly at it. That's what it’s all about.
If you could create yourself as any 3D cartoon character in film then who would it be?
I would call up John Lasseter and Brad Bird and say, "Hey how about a sequel to the Incredibles, and how about you take my Afronaut character and make him Frozones Cousin!"
If that was done then my answer to this question would be I would create myself as the Afronaut, voiced by Dave Chapelle. :)
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