About

My name is Dermot O’ Connor – an itinerant animator, making a living through contract work. This is great, as it allows the freedom to live where I want, and work from home. Long may this continue!

I’ve worked (and dodged work) in the animation industry for over 20 years, in feature, tv, interactive and mobile projects.

Currently I’m working on a 30 minute animated documentary about oil, energy, and economic growth. It’s going to be HILARIOUS.

I created a few animation tutorials back in 2000 on my first site, idleworm.com, which became pretty popular. They’ve been re-posted on this blog, and hope to add more, along with commentary on the animation industry.

The cost of animation schools is now a disgrace. Many struggling animators are carrying student debt well above $50,000 (with interest) – for a three year education that they could have acquired in a fraction of that time on the job…which is the way things used to work. We’re talking about cartoons here, not brain surgery…it’s not that difficult! I was fortunate – my first job was an entry level position working for Don Bluth in the late 1980s, and over the course of a few years I received an education, AND got paid for it.

Hopefully the tutorials and articles on this blog can help some people to make their way in the industry, without them becoming slaves to debt; this is a practice that is now taken for granted by young people. It should not be tolerated.

More lessons will be added over time – mostly short (10 minute) video lessons on the basics of animation – both traditional and Flash.

email: dermotmoconnor “at” yahoo.com