Interview with Kirsten Lepore

Interview by Nate Williams

Kirsten Lepore

Which one do you like doing most? illustrating or animating?

It’s a tough call — sometimes illustrating is more relaxing;  I’ll just put on the tunes and cruise on autopilot.  Although, I struggle with design decisions, so starting an illustration can sometimes be a challenge.  Animation, however, is really where my passion lies.  It can be tremendously tedious and endlessly frustrating, but watching my drawings and puppets move on their own is always worth it.

What is the process for creating an animation? 

The process varies greatly depending on the style of the animation.  Generally, I’ll storyboard everything out and then move on to illustration, and then animate.  However, my process can be totally unconventional at times.  For example, with “Story from North America,” Garrett Davis and I started with a recording of the song, then storyboarded the animation a few verses at a time, as we went along.  We wanted to keep the whole animation fresh and exciting for ourselves, so we never planned too far ahead.

Which is your favorite animation you created to date? and why?

My favorite animation I’ve created to date is probably “Sweet Dreams,” my 10 minute stop-motion thesis for undergrad, and labor of love.  It took 9 months to write, storyboard, and animate, and was the largest film-related undertaking of my life!

How long does it generally take you to make an animation?

Depends entirely on the piece; It took the better part of a year to make “sweet dreams,” but only 6 hours to animate and edit my short “Worst Date Ever.”

Almost all or your animation utilize humor. Why is that?

I’ve always believed that a sense of humor is essential to a full and happy life.  As artists we all have choices over what we would like our viewers to take away from our work.  I prefer my audience to walk away feeling entertained and hopefully uplifted.

Who are your favorite illustrators?

Off the top of my head, the ones that first come to mind are Andreas Nilsson, PES, James Paterson (presstube), Chad Pugh, Leo Lionni, Michael Slack, and some of my contemporaries Garrett Davis, Mylinh Chau, and Erin Womack.

If an illustrator wants to learn how to animate … where should he/she start?

I strongly encourage all illustrators to try animation…I think there’d be so many more visually astounding films out there if this happened!  To animate in a traditional sense, all one really needs is a camera, drawing tools, paper, and some means of compiling frames together (Final cut or even quicktime pro can do this simply and easily).  Or hell, you could even bypass the computer entirely and shoot with a 16 or 35mm movie camera!  Adobe flash is also a great place to start for experimenting with digital animation.

In your bio you mention you like traveling and learning languages.  Where have you traveled to and what foreign languages are you studying?

My interest in traveling and language was sparked when I studied abroad in Florence during college — while living there I became really serious about studying Italian.  I returned to Italy the following summer, practiced my language skills, and backpacked around several other European countries with my sister.  Also, last January I visited Japan, fulfilling one of my life-long dreams to go to Asia.  I tried to pick up as much Japanese as is humanly possible in 2 weeks (so not very much).  My next dream destination, though, would be South Korea.  I’m absolutely in love with their cuisine.

What are you working on now and what are you looking forward to?

Right now I’m finishing up a 20 second stop-motion client piece,  although I’m looking forward to several personal projects I will be doing within the next month.  In a few days I’ll be animating a new reel bumper (in claymation!) that I’m super psyched about!

Influences/Inspiration?

My sisters, Paul Driessen, Jim Henson, craft stores, and nature

Top 5 Favorite Things in Life?

Asian grocery stores, playing piano, gut-busting laugher, home-fermentation, bike riding

Top 5 bands/singers

Of Montreal, The Knife, Erlend Øye, Michael Jackson, Claude Debussy