Spotlight: Erica Lack

What's your name and what area of VFX or animation do you work in?:

Erica Lack and I’m a TD for 2D Harmony Pipelines.

What was your journey into the VFX or animation industry? What got you into VFX or animation?:

Throughout my final years of high school in New Zealand, I knew I wanted to work in a creative field. My family wanted me to go into the sciences, which, now that I look back, I think would also have been a great option but at the time it felt very mundane.

There was a small animation industry in New Zealand at the time, stemming mainly from a Disney feature animator, John Ewing, who had emigrated to NZ a few decades earlier. He had set up a studio that trained its own artists and, due to his links with Hollywood, worked on outsourced animation for American Saturday-morning cartoons.

The studio’s teaching programme evolved into a full-blown, accredited animation school, which is where I went to study. It was very much based on the Disney way of doing things, with a strong emphasis on the 12 principles and solid drafting/drawing skills.

From there, I was lucky enough to get a job in a local studio partway through my second year.

What does a typical day look like in your role?:

There isn't really a typical day. A TD’s  day changes based on the part of the production cycle a project is currently in and it can vary drastically from project to project . 

At the start of a project there is a lot of planning and testing to make sure the processes and systems being implemented will work as expected. 

During the early  stages of production there is onboarding and demos making sure artists know the productions and studio technical processes. 

Once artists have bedded into a project, trouble shooting the Harmony and pipeline issues they come across takes up most of the day.

Towards the end of a project its about supporting departments when there might be overruns and gaps and finally packaging up files for client deliverables.

What skills do you think are most important for your role?:

Logic, problem solving and communication. If you like logic puzzles you’ll like being a TD.

What tools or software do you use daily? Is this what you started working in or have you pivoted to this one?:

Before working with digital 2D software, I spent my first few years doing a bit of everything. I worked with pencil and paper as a clean-up artist, key animator, and layout artist.

I didn’t transition to digital until around 2004–05, when I taught myself how to animate using Flash 8. Around this time, I decided to go travelling, with the idea that I might fund my trips by basing myself in one of the larger animation hubs. I moved to Vancouver and later to Dublin, where I was fortunate enough to get a position at Brown Bag Films when they were in the process of training staff to work with Toon Boom Harmony.

My time there was split between hand-animating a music video for Oasis and undergoing a crash course in Harmony, which I’ve been using ever since.

What's your favourite part of your job/career so far?:

Finding a simple solution to a tricky  problem, there is nothing more satisfying.

What's a common misconception about your job?:

That it is  purely technical. I think it surprises people how involved the TDs get with the creative side of productions.

What challenges have you met as a woman in the industry?:

The main thing that springs to mind is from early in my career. The micro difficulties of being one of only a small number of girls in a studio where all mid and senior positions were occupied by men.

That was changing as i started but i do remember there was a 50/50 ratio of men and women that started working from my year of animation collage. 2 years later most of they guys were still in the industry having been taken under some ones wing or mentored but me and only one other girl were still working in animation.

What's one piece of advice you wish you'd received earlier?:

Nobody is responsible for your career except for you. Don't be afraid to put yourself forward. Even when imposter syndrome is telling you to keep quiet. 

How do you balance work with your personal life?:

I am lucky enough to work from home. Once I pass through the office door at the end of the day I’m in personal time.

What's one stereotype you'd love to break about your field?:

That the role consists solely of learned technical knowledge applied to the softwares being used in the pipeline.