Professor John Canemaker, Stephen P. Neary, Instructor Zoya Baker and Animation Area Manager Sonya Artis
On April 4th UGFTV Animation Alum Stephen P. Neary came to visit the Animation Area. Neary works at Cartoon Network as a director, artist, producer and showrunner and was also a former story artist at Blue Sky. He visited Professor Canemaker's Storyboarding class. He discussed his career after graduating from NYU and how to get jobs in animation.
Stephen P. Neary is a Hoosier-born, LA-based director and artist. Recently wrapped as Supervising Producer/Showrunner on Cartoon Network's Annie Award-nominated CLARENCE, Stephen is also the creator of THE FANCIES for Cartoon Network, a new, original project produced through the studio’s shorts program. After graduating from NYU in 2008, Stephen cut his teeth at Blue Sky Studios, drawing storyboards for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Epic, Rio 2, and the Golden Globe-nominated, The Peanuts Movie.
While working at Blue Sky, Stephen utilized his daily Brooklyn-Connecticut commute to animate Dr Breakfast, a short later selected for Sundance 2012. In 2009, Stephen's NYU Kanbar Animation student short, Chicken Cowboy, won Best Undergraduate Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at NYU's First Run Film Festival. Chicken Cowboy later won Best Animation at AFI Dallas, and was broadcast on TV in France and Germany.
In his spare time, Stephen enjoys baking pies, worm composting, and running ultramarathons. See more of his work at http://stephenneary.tumblr.com/ or @stephenpneary on instagram