Snow regards Over the Hedge as one of the movies to which he has made his greatest personal contribution. Courtesy DreamWorks Animation SKG.

NC: What is your greatest challenge regarding your work?

JS: My biggest challenge is trying to please everybody (including myself!) -- to keep people motivated and give directors what they want. The work flow lines aren’t always the smoothest and that can be frustrating at times. For the most part, everybody I work with wants a great product and that is a good thing to keep in mind.

NC: Do you believe that to be an animator you should study anatomy, physics and acting?

JS: I believe you should definitely have a working knowledge of them. It sort of depends on what you are trying to focus on as an animator. It is certainly important to be able to act through your drawing. Oh, and physics doesn’t apply to the cartoon world anyway. LOL!

NC: The animation industry has a reputation for being a very tight-knit group, from writers to animators to voices. What does it take to be successful in this part of the business?

JS: Be able to work as [part of] a team. You need to be able to get along with people. You have to be flexible because it is a group effort to make these unwieldy features.

NS: Give me five “dos” and five "don’ts” regarding working in the animation industry.

JS: Dos: 1) Be flexible in your creative viewpoint. 2) Develop your ability to draw and tell stories. 3) Be cool -- you have to get along with people. 4) Understand that other people have viable viewpoints, even if they differ from yours. The more you understand others and communicate with them, the better you can get a unified vision. 5) Send me a million, whoever is reading this, c/o Nancy Cartwright.

Don’ts: 1) Don’t burn any bridges. 2) Don’t be a prima donna. 3) Don’t make the mistake of thinking the show can’t run without you -- it certainly can! 4) Don’t be so inflexible that you can’t appreciate another’s viewpoint, even if you don’t agree with it. 5) Don’t forget to send me the million dollars. Nancy is waiting.

NC: Do you think a university degree is important for someone wanting to work in animation?

JS: Not at all. Art schools can destroy more artists. Seriously, art schools could have a lot to offer, but it is very important that the instruction is useful and not invalidate people who are trying to develop their creative voice.

NC: What is your proudest artistic achievement?

JS: I really liked Tarzan when I was at Disney. I thought it was one of the better movies I worked on. One of the movies I feel my personal contribution was highest on was DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge. Generally speaking, I don’t try to think much about the shows I work on… I just try to do the best I can while I am doing it. I try to keep my integrity on whatever I am working on at the time. I don’t even see the movies I work a lot of times -- I am already on the next show.

NC: Is there anything about the industry that you would like to share?

JS: I love working with other artists. I find them inspiring and, as a group, I would love to develop a stronger unity with them. I think artists can tend to get really invalidated and burn out in this industry. Artists are the ones who are making these movies, so it’s important that they be creatively protected.