
Animating Adult Cartoons, With Peter Gulsvig
Weekly Inspiration: Becca’s Commute
This week, our inspiration comes from Becca, a beloved member of The Cultured Crew. Becca is inspired by her daily commute on MARTA, Atlanta’s rail system. During Becca’s daily 15-stop ride, she gets to observe beautiful graffiti, people going about their day, and a wide variety of interactions. Nestled in her seat, she mentions seeing some of the most genuine acts of kindness occur alongside a whole lot of awkward moments! She loves to watch the way people spend their time, and admiring the occasional subway fashionista beside people in scrubs and aprons.
How do you find inspiration in your everyday life? Email Michelle for a chance to be featured on the podcast like Becca.
Exploring the life of a freelance animator with Peter Gulsvig
This week, Michelle welcomes illustrator and animator extraordinaire Peter Gulsvig! Pete has worked on FX’s Archer, Adult Swim, PBS Kids, and more, so you know he knows a thing or two about animation. In fact, his own animated series, Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time, was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival in December 2017! In this episode, Pete and Michelle discuss the long, winding journey that led him to animation—but not before he got a degree in history and worked as a custodian at Disney World.
Together, Michelle and Pete explore the hardships of breaking into the industry (and the lengths to which you must go to get noticed) and how to deal with the ebbs and flows of life as a freelancer. Of course, both being hypercreatives, the subject perfectionism and its many pitfalls comes up more than once.
What starts out as a conversation about animation and cartoons, soon turns into one of resilience and finding your niche.
About Peter Gulsvig, animator, illustrator and writer
Peter Gulsvig is an Atlanta based animator, illustrator and writer. His animation can be seen on FX’s Archer, Adult Swim, PBS Kids and Comedy Central. His recent work includes creating an animated series with Cartuna, a PSA for the Georgia Board of Regents and animated shorts for Billboard Music. He grew up in Minnesota, where he studied theatre and obtained a BA in history from MSUM. After his time in Minnesota, Peter completed Vancouver Film School’s classical animation program.
Follow Peter Gulsvig on Instagram