Passion, perseverance spell success for Philippine-based animator

Fernan Jose Lagran. www.plaxo.com

Like the characters in his animated works, Fernan Lagran has proved that following one’s heart can lead to success.

Animator/director Lagran is one of the artists behind globally successful cartoons like Walt Disney’s “Lilo and Stitch,” Universal Studio’s “Land Before Time” and Emmy award winning series “Curious George.”

Lagran is currently a project director for Toon City Animation Inc. based in Mandaluyong City.

“I oversee everything, the entire production from layout, animation, clean-up, among others, and handle an average of 25 artists,” said the artist, a licensed nurse by profession.

After a client sends the story board, Lagran instructs his artists on how the scenes should be created. When their work passes his standards, the drawings are digitally processed.

Before shipping the scenes, Lagran views the first runs with Toon City’s creative director Russ Mooney and sometimes, with the client in a digital room run by software Avid, where the black and white drawings come to life.

The consummate animator had always loved drawing and painting. When he was still in grade school, his father enrolled him at Arts Instruction Schools (AIS), a correspondence school-based in Minnesota.

“My father knew I had talent. When I was young, we used to draw together. My mom would be the judge. Of course, my mom would let me win,” he said with a laugh.

Throughout high school, Lagran juggled academics and sessions at AIS, and joined every art contest in town.

“Winning in drawing and painting contests helped me gain exposure, experience and confidence,” he said. His achievements include the Blue Ribbon Art Award, which is given to the best AIS students from all over the world.

A chance encounter with a  friend proved to be his ticket to the world of animation.  “I once tried selling computer packages in Parañaque after college. A colleague who happened to see my portfolio introduced me to his sibling working for an animation company,” Lagran said.

But he appeared to have been prepared for the calling all his life.

The nursing graduate from the University of Santo Tomas recalled that while in college, he would spend time at the university’s central library to read art books. “I was curious and hungry for information,” he said.

Taking up nursing to please his mother who wanted him to become a doctor, Lagran later took an expected detour. “I had intended to follow my mom but I felt I would do better if I were in the field of the arts, so I asked her to let me choose the career I wanted after finishing college,” he said.

“If you want to excel, you have to work hard for it. You have to be passionate and knowledgeable,” he added.

When he was Mooney’s assistant, he recalled a time when he retouched piles of rejected drawings reaching almost 4-feet high.

Sensing his perseverance and a great attention to details, Mooney deemed him ripe for promotion as project director at Toon City.

Today, Lagran shares his passion and expertise with aspiring animators to help raise the standards in the country’s thriving animation industry.

Lagran gives inspirational talks to students and trains some of Toon City’s entrants, passing on what he learned from AIS and from reference tools at the Toon City library.  Phinma has also tapped him to teach professors, who will pass on the fundamentals of the art to their students in Araullo University, Cagayan de Oro University, University of Pangasinan and University of Iloilo.

Apart from Mooney, he also draws inspiration from former bosses Ric Jamlig and Zaldy Zuno who served as his mentors when he was just starting out.

“The country is blessed with talented artists,” Lagran said.  “My proposal is to teach Drawing 101 (basic principles of Arts) as early as in grade school to help gifted students hone their talents at an early age.”

The lack of animators who are skilled in both 2D and 3D services is one of the challenges faced by the industry, he said.

“Changing times call for adaptability. What’s ‘in’ today may not be useful tomorrow. Right now, technology challenges the traditional 2D animation medium and somehow dictates the trend,” Lagran added.

India, one of the Philippines’ closest competitors in the creative outsourcing arena, is ahead in terms of 3D animation technology, he said.

Filipino 2D animators are just starting to learn the intricacies of 3D, but their knack for humor and their great attitude towards work will always be an advantage, he said.

Big animation studios like Walt Disney and Warner Brothers prefer Filipino animators because “we understand American comedy,” Lagran added.

But if he were to create an original concept, it would highlight “the Filipino brand of comedy – funny yet heartwarming,” he said. “Definitely not slapstick and violence.  As animators, we are accountable to our viewers, mostly children. It should reflect the aspirations of the Filipino community and should be a good influence on children.”