Sadako "Dako" Leong-Suzuki • She/Her • Storyboard Artist at Netflix • Previously a Storyboard Revisionist on Jurassic World: Chaos Theory and KFP Dragon Knight • Previously Production on Spirit Riding Free • looking for good food & a good time • Usually found making bad jokes and drawing • Requires food, minimum 5 hours of sleep and puns daily • is not actually 47 bees pretending to be a human • Opinions are my own
To say I’m so honored is an understatement!! Queer representation in kids/family media is so important. The ability to see ourselves as just another part of the world, to see our complicated feelings validated in the same way as our nonqueer peers is so powerful for kids. ❤️
Do you have any more pictures of Blender we can see? I'd love a better idea of what we looks like
I might somewhere but I need to look lmaoooo - otherwise, if you're looking for actual reference, I might keep an eye out on the instagrams of some of our visdev artists. I make no promises, but sometimes they post designs!
Hi!! Im sure you get this question alot, but how did you begin working for the specific sub-sector of animation studio for chaos theory? And what advice would you give to someone looking for jobs that are more niche like that?
I am a digitak media/animation student and storyboarding feels like something id like to push towards as an option later down the line, but there aren't alot of resources for the ins and outs, and networking where I am is nearly impossible (peep the THREE other students in my 3d animation class 😅) as there are not alot of bigger animators still connected with my unis animation program, and my only animstion professor doesnt actually have hardly any studio expirience to offer us. What's the story of how you got connected working on the CT team?? And what kinds of practical work should I be aiming to put in my portfolio?
THANK YOU!! the work you all do is so endearing, I cant wait to hopefully reach that point some day.
Hello! Sorry I left you on read for so long, I don't always pop onto tumblr all that often, haha. And thank you for the very kind words!
My short answer is - personally, I don't think you always need school/university for Animation Work. The key things you get from going to school is making connections, learning basics (though you can find a lot of resources on that these days online), and potentially access to tools/software to practice with. (a lot of industry-grade software, which is good to know for your resume, can be pricey so if a school can provide those things and classes on how to use them, its useful.) I ultimately got my start with the combination of the Network I made a school (my first job I got from knowing an upper classman) and having the skills to back it up. From there, I worked my way up from working Animation Production Work to eventually doing Storyboard Revisions.
I know I said that was the short answer lol - but the longer answer I've put below, to save everyone's timelines lolol
My longer answer is I met and became friends with an upperclassman of mine, and worked with them in our School Animation Club. I was secretary and so she saw I could take clear, thorough, and fast notes (good soft skills) and after I graduated, she put my name in to become her assistant - and so I started as a Production Assistant at DreamWorks on Spirit Riding Free. After that, right before the pandemic, I switched to a Production Coordinator on Kung fu Panda the Dragon Knight, where after half a year my wonderful bosses, knowing full well I was interested in going into storyboarding, looked at my work and familiarity with the show, and hired me on for doing Storyboard Revisions. The following year I moved onto JWCT and the rest is history.
Any takeaways from that? I'd say, if you are - 1) a decent professional people-person 2) can be organized with files 3) take fast and good - consider looking into Production work. Its no guarantee you'll transfer to doing art-related jobs, but I feel like its often an area people overlook, when you actually can learn a LOT on the job to see how the animation pipeline works, meet a TON of artists, and get a better sense of what you want to do. While not for everyone, I think its really amazing what production workers do.
Another thing is, cause you mentioned going to a smaller program - consider signing up for online classes with industry professionals. I know theres a number of them like Concept Design Academy offer online and in-person courses taught by industry professionals, and I know theres a number of artists that host their own classes you can take independently. I think its a great option for people who are remote/not in the LA area, you can learn a LOT hands on from experienced artists, and also grow a network there. In fact, I think I was the only Revisionist on JWCT that did NOT get their job from knowing our Supervisor, Zesung Kang, from the class he teaches. And even outside this example, I've heard numerous colleagues meet mentors, friends, and coworkers from classes either because they were teachers or fellow students in a course. Build an online community if you don't have one in person!
Speaking of the other revisionists, I highly recommend messaging them as well - I know @kngstr and Fernando Caire have very different paths from mine that DIDN'T go to school/do the whole university path that I did to get in, so check them out! I hope this helped, and feel free to message again! (I only apologize I may be slow to respond, heheh)
Gonna try sharing more of the Boards and Revisions I worked on for Season 4 of Chaos Theory. This shot I think actually was cut from ep 31, but here's our little tomato lad bumping around in the car :]
Did you storyboard anything for Chaos Theory Season 4 episodes 6-9? And if so are you allowed to share any? I'd love to see them for angst reasons haha
P.S your work is wonderful!
I did! I helped board the beginning of ep 9 (though actually a lot of it changed. )
I'll probably be posting my boards after this Friday, just to give people a whole week to watch the show :3 but I'll post those soon, and thank you for the very sweet message!
I think the line got cut for some reason, but I think everyone should know that in Jurassic World Chaos Theory Season 4, Smoothie's father was canonically named 'Blender' 😂
I'm pretty sure @dakooftacos came up with it while the storyboard artists were joking around, and the writers wound up writing it into the script and the name actually got cleared by legal.
There used to be a part where Sammy and Yaz named him on screen v_v
What did the various story teams do on "Jurassic World: Chaos Theory"? Were they assigned different episodes or different characters? Was there any inter-team rivalry?
Woops sorry if this was sent a while ago
But to answer the questions-
1) what did the various story teams do? - there were 3 Story Teams on JWCT (internally referred to as Team 1[Team Ankylosaurus], Team 2 [Team Raptor], and Team 3 [Team Pteranadon]). Each Team consisted of a Director, 3 Storyboard artists, and a Story Revisionist.
Once a Team would finish an episode, we'd then pass on the episode to our Supervising Director and Producers, Editors, and a Lock Revisionist to work on the very final animatic before sending it off to animation. This was our "Locke/Shipping" animatic (and no, not Shipping like that lol). That last animatic typically tended to last minute notes, timing/editing adjustments, and tweaks to acting.
2) Were they (the teams) assigned to different episodes or different characters? - All the episodes were split up between all 3 teams (team 1 took ep 1, Team 2 on ep 2, etc). That said, and this was up to the directors and board artists' discretion, certain board artists have certain interests, strengths, and affinities, so directors may hand specific board artists specific types of scenes that may/may not overlap with certain characters (like if I recall correctly, @tio-trile would often get a lot of dino-related sequences, so I remember complaining about never getting to really draw gia lol, and @natamouche-art getting a lot of Pyro, smoothie, and scar scenes like brooklynn running from red in ss2)
3) Was there any inter-team rivalry?
Jiedi and Josh No of course not!!! We were all peaceful and well adjusted. :]
What did the various story teams do on "Jurassic World: Chaos Theory"? Were they assigned different episodes or different characters? Was there any inter-team rivalry?
Woops sorry if this was sent a while ago
But to answer the questions-
1) what did the various story teams do? - there were 3 Story Teams on JWCT (internally referred to as Team 1[Team Ankylosaurus], Team 2 [Team Raptor], and Team 3 [Team Pteranadon]). Each Team consisted of a Director, 3 Storyboard artists, and a Story Revisionist.
Once a Team would finish an episode, we'd then pass on the episode to our Supervising Director and Producers, Editors, and a Lock Revisionist to work on the very final animatic before sending it off to animation. This was our "Locke/Shipping" animatic (and no, not Shipping like that lol). That last animatic typically tended to last minute notes, timing/editing adjustments, and tweaks to acting.
2) Were they (the teams) assigned to different episodes or different characters? - All the episodes were split up between all 3 teams (team 1 took ep 1, Team 2 on ep 2, etc). That said, and this was up to the directors and board artists' discretion, certain board artists have certain interests, strengths, and affinities, so directors may hand specific board artists specific types of scenes that may/may not overlap with certain characters (like if I recall correctly, @tio-trile would often get a lot of dino-related sequences, so I remember complaining about never getting to really draw gia lol, and @natamouche-art getting a lot of Pyro, smoothie, and scar scenes like brooklynn running from red in ss2)
3) Was there any inter-team rivalry?
Jiedi and Josh No of course not!!! We were all peaceful and well adjusted. :]
Today is premiere day for THE LAST season of Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. It's been such a satisfying journey working with these characters over the course of 2 series, and I'm grateful that we had the chance to push the boundaries of what we knew was possible. We hope you've enjoyed the ride 😌.
Still waiting til at least the weekend is over to post crew memes but just uprooted more (had to go digging since it's been like a year lol) but excited to share with yall (my fav are of someone's dad >v>)
gummygunk
germansingergirl
origamiaround
prguitarman
dededos
janainaart
