Podcast EP81: Aaron Long's Journey from Student to Director on ‘BoJack Horseman’

Take a moment to head over to Terry Ibele’s Animation Industry Podcast, home now to 81 in-depth interviews he’s done with a very cool selection of artists from animation and related industries. With a new podcast every week, Ibele is dedicated to sharing the stories of today’s animation professionals - how they got to where they are, and what they learned along the way.  Episodes cover all areas of the industry, including storyboarding, writing, animating, directing, visual development, game design, and more. Guests have included the notorious JJ Villard, Spike & Mike’s Spike Decker, Disney Director John Musker, Sony Lead Animator Humberto Rosa, Cuphead’s Tina Nowracki, Frederator’s Fred Seibert, Tumble Leaf’s Scarlet Nelson, and many others from major animation studios all over the world.

His most recent interview is Episode 81: Aaron Long's Journey from Student to Director on BoJack Horseman.

This episode features Aaron Long, a director on BoJack Horseman and current supervising director on Adult Swim’s Tuca & Bertie. Long shares how he got his first job animating on TripTank fresh out of Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto, then worked his way up to director on BoJack.

Tune in to Ibele and Long to hear:

• The number one skill Long worked the hardest at to get where he is now
• The ins and outs of producing and animating his independent series, Sublo and Tangy Mustard
• The biggest piece of advice that Long followed throughout his journey

Social Links:

• Check out Aaron’s YouTube
• Check out Aaron’s Instagram
• Watch the first episode of Sublo and Tangy Mustard
• Watch Fester Fish
• Watch TripTank
• Watch the animated works of Masaaki Yuasa

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 AWN first came to know him and his work.

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

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.