Tag Archives: Dreamworks Animation

Meet Your Steward – Liz Davalos

Production Coordinator Liz Davalos shares how she views every animation project as a puzzle to be solved, her belief that production management is an art form, and her personal background that led her to become a DreamWorks Shop Steward.

Name: Liz Davalos
Job Title: Production Coordinator
Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Contact Info: stewards-dreamworks@tag839.org

Tell us a little about yourself and your career.

Animation has always been an integral part of my life. For years, animation was my babysitter on Sunday mornings and the educator on how to envision different worlds outside my own. Growing up in the Northeast as a child of parents from two completely different backgrounds, Animation made me feel seen. When college arrived, I was determined to study 2D animation to help bring back the dwindling art form and help push storytelling that represented folks of all backgrounds.

Although my time at School of Visual Arts brought more love and admiration for the craft, I felt I could not find my niche until I learned about production management. I loved the feeling of organizing people of different talents and driving them toward a goal while still being near the art. When I graduated SVA in 2019, I quickly pivoted my career path to pursue production instead of art. I gained my start in commercial animation as a freelance PA and grew over the next seven years into feature animation. I’ve been a Production Coordinator for four years now, working at WDAS and currently at DWA. Although I am still creative in my free time, I’m so glad that I pivoted to production management as a career path. I consider it a craft and an art form. It’s part of the drive that keeps me in the industry, on top of wanting to see more diverse storytelling!

Walt Disney Animation Studios solidarity break.

What do you love most about working in animation?

I love the people and the craft! Animation is one of the rare careers where you find folks from all different walks of life in the same place. Those different backgrounds inform each craft the person is a part of. Everyone is so kind and values collaboration. I also enjoy the ever-evolving art form and the puzzle each production brings. Each project is so unique, and I love the process of each show finding its unique look or voice. (Minus the compression of it all.)

Woman wearing a light brown coat and black and white skirt giving a speech in a public area.

Liz Davalos giving a speech during a Solidarity Break at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Why did you volunteer to serve as a Shop Steward?

Maybe I was always destined for the siren call. I grew up listening to the talk of generations of Irish American family members in unions such as Steamfitters, IATSE, and ILA. I was always taught that unions brought the “weekends,” but most of all, provided the added protections and benefits my family could not have without it. Simultaneously, I saw my immigrant Latine father struggle to protect his rights as a landscaper without a union. Countless times I watched my mom advocate for him and remind his employers of worker rights because she had grown up in a union family. I grew up knowing the benefits unions provided but how easily workers can be taken advantage of without them.

Before joining DWA, I was part of the Organizing Committee at Walt Disney Animation Studios for production. The OC provided my full union education as prod endured a long process of refusal of union recognition by the company, which ultimately led to an NLRB hearing. Despite the low morale the unit experienced as the days dragged on, I watched as TAG and prod members of the studio came together in solidarity to encourage WDAS to recognize production members. Our WDAS Stewards at the time played a huge role in helping build solidarity and lead actions when prod did not have protections. I understood fully then the huge part Stewards played as an extension of the Union in mobilizing and in educating, organizing, and empowering co-workers to ensure everyone has the best working conditions.

I serve as a Shop Steward because of my care for community and commitment to building a better future. I want folks to feel empowered to know that WE are the Union. Especially production as it is a newly joined craft within TAG.

Liz Davalos (right) and other TAG members marching in solidarity during the WGA-SAG strikes.

As a Shop Steward, what are your priorities in helping TAG Members at your studio?

My priorities for TAG members at DWA are connection, engagement, and education. DWA already fosters a great community. It’s important to continue to build connections to know what each member is experiencing. I want members to feel confident in understanding the CBA or knowing who to turn to when they have contract questions. Most of all, I want members to feel empowered to know that THEY are the Union. WE make up the union and have the power to create change!

As the world and industry change rapidly around us, it serves as a reminder of how little control we feel we can have at times. It may be an employer’s market currently, but as history demonstrates, workers hold so much more power than the companies want us to realize. An informed, supported, and strongly organized labor workforce can create the change we want to see around us. Whether that begins by ensuring an uninterrupted lunch break, labor organizing, or lobbying for a tax credit that encourages jobs to stay in California, in small ways, every TAG member can contribute to influencing the world around them. My priority as a Shop Steward is encouraging each member to know that they are the change!

Siggraph Spotlight: Paolo Deguzmen

Tell us a little bit about the Siggraph panel.

On Tuesday, July 30 from 3:45-5:15 (West Hall B), I am honored to be a panelist presenting the production session: “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden What?.” We will be discussing the challenges and hurdles we encountered during the production of the final film in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy—one of which includes developing, testing and deploying a whole new workflow in just a few months time. I will be speaking on the task of overhauling our shader and material workflow to improve the trilogy’s visual appeal while maintaining the style and spirit of the previous film.

Tell us a little bit about your career journey.

As a child I did nothing but doodle and scribble on any piece of blank paper I could get my hands on, and it was that long ago that I decided I had to work in the visual arts. Ironically, I remember saying I never wanted a desk job working in front of computers crunching numbers. Flash forward to my present day desk job working in front of computers crunching pixels for almost 25 years. Obviously, what I do now wasn’t even remotely imaginable when I made that declaration, but here we are. Though it sounds terribly cliche, I still look forward to coming to work daily. If you asked me on my first day in the industry (as a runner at Digital Domain) where I pictured myself to be in 25 years, my answer would be a nearly identical description of what I’m doing now. I feel utterly blessed to be able to say that and to be doing it surrounded by some of the most creative and accomplished artists and technicians in the world.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

My favorite thing about my job is the people I get to spend each day with. Not a day goes by where I don’t learn something new, creative and inspiring from those around me. They come from all walks of life and from every corner of the world. It never gets tiresome hearing anecdotes from industry vets, learning new techniques, and discovering the fascinating histories of co-workers, old and new.

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

As previously mentioned, I find great inspiration from those I work for and with. I gain so much knowledge from the Production Designers with whom I get to collaborate. I also value the fact that I get to work directly with the creative brain trust on films where my input is considered and welcome. Another source of inspiration is looking at all the creative artists online, especially Instagram, and observing their works in progress and seeing their processes. The potential danger though is you can quickly get sucked into the rabbit hole and hours later after seeing all this mind-blowing work, it often reinforces one’s insecurity with their artistic abilities not to mention the waste of time being a consumer and observer rather than being a practitioner to produce art.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Any creative outlet that allows me to utilize my skills and passion take up my late hours—be it learning plein air techniques and any traditional “analog” media as well as writing and playing music. Recently, I’ve rediscovered and become intrigued by vintage synthesizers and other analog hardware. And, one distant dream of mine is learning the art of woodwork and 3D printing to construct mid-century style cabinets and furniture to house modern technology and equipment.

Paolo deGuzman is a surfacing supervisor at DreamWorks Animation. His credits include How to Train Your Dragon 2 & 3, Rise of the Guardians and Puss in Boots.

Member Spotlight: Iveth Bueno

Bueno’s journey as a lighting and compositing artist has taken her from Mexico to London, Canada to now Los Angeles. She currently works at DreamWorks Feature Animation and is also a growing, active member of the Animation Guild, serving on the Communications Committee. Here, she talks about both her professional and personal work.

Tell us about your professional journey.
It all started in Mexico. During my first semester at college, a teacher saw potential and offered me a position as a Director’s Assistant at the studio where he worked. I took advantage of the opportunity and learned from all the artists at the studio, then began helping out as a 3D generalist. I quickly found out that lighting and compositing were my passion and I decided to specialize in that area. For six years, I worked in Mexico at different advertising studios and on one feature film. Soon after finishing school, I moved to London for six months to study compositing for VFX. While there, I worked on various independent short films. This helped me get a job in Canada at Rainmaker, where I worked on a made-for-TV feature project. Shortly after finishing the project at Rainmaker, I got an opportunity at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a lighting apprentice, where I worked on Zootopia. For the past three years, I’ve worked for DreamWorks on exciting projects such as Trolls, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and many others.

The Inka’s Empire

How did you adapt to the working culture in the U.S.?
Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to adapt. I was born and raised in border cities so the city culture is similar. Studios are more experienced, organized and better structured in the U.S. However, one of the biggest challenges of working in a different country is the language, but I have been lucky to be surrounded by a lot of understanding international and local artists

Windows

You are in a male dominated field. What’s your advice to other women who want to purse a career in CG?

Be patient and strong, never give up, and be the best artist you can be, always. It is a challenging industry anywhere in the world. Many of us have experienced situations that demotivate us, and sometimes we need to prove to ourselves more often than our male colleagues. Fortunately things are changing, and I’m hoping it will be easier for future generations to find equality. The desire for change is in all of us, we just need to make it happen.

Tell us about Optical Forest and your light painting?

The Optical Forest is a collection of photographs that explores light using handmade filters and in-camera effects, focusing mainly on diffraction. It started as one of those “mini projects” that fortunately has become a bigger one. In 2017, my feature work slowed down a little bit, so in my spare time I started to photograph light diffraction as a science reference. What started as just snaps evolved into something more artistic and creative. It has been really fun to learn how to paint with light and discover different kinds of diffracted lighting effects. I’m excited to see how this work evolves and improves over time.