Interview with John Irving L. Prudenciano (Animator for MLP!)

So Don_ko Sent me this interesting email earlier! It's an interview with John Irving L. Prudenciano, (Known as Irving-Zero)

He provides us with some insight into the creation process for a pony episode! Check out the full interview after the page break!

Don_ko: Is animator your main profession? How did you become an animator?

Irving: Yeah it is. Actually I finished a totally different course in college but wound up in animation training while looking for a job

Don_ko: You are from Philippines. Other animators are situated around the world. How do you communicate?

Irving: Email, I guess.

Don_ko: In what programs do you work? 

Irving: Just Flash 8.

Don_ko: How many time does it take to animate a 1 minute?

Irving: Well depending on the scene (and more often than not the animator), a minute may take from 3 days to 1 week to animate...

Don_ko: What can you say about other animators? How long does it take to animate one episode?

Irving: Well we have different levels of animators. the ones who could do lots of scenes are the veteran ones. we have a month scheduled for an episode, including fixups on scenes and retakes from the client. So back in MLP I only did about 30 something seconds per episode. I can say that my scenes at winter wrap up were harder coz they were efx and action as compared to this episode where my scenes were acting (though it's a pain to animate acting because I'm not really good at it).

Don_ko: As you have mentioned there are animators with different skill level. How is the work divided between all animators?

Irving: The director divides the episode among animators considering their skill level, and well maybe also their speed and motivation.

Don_ko: "Friendship is magic" is awesome with it's animation goofs. Were all those funny face expressions intended to be on storyboards or that's animators job?

Irving: We follow the storyboards pretty much strictly but there are times when animators fool around with the background characters and gets away with it.

Don_ko: When the actual animation progress has started?

Irving: It actually started April last year.

Don_ko: When was the job finished?

Irving: We finished the project last december.

Don_ko: Will you participate in creation of the second season? (because the internet is filled with rumors about season 2)

Irving: I don't know. It depends on the director. But I hope I'd be included.

Don_ko: Do you like what you do?

Irving: Of course! Being a part of an awesome show is just, well, awesome. (insert rainbow dash expression here)

Don_ko: have you ever visited pony-related sites like Equestriadaily.com or 4chan itself?

Irving: It's pretty much hard to miss, so, yeah. At first it's kind of a culture shock but you grow outta it after several post readings.

Don_ko: You have great art in your gallery. Can we call you a brony after that?

Irving: Maybe, I dunno. Brony seems too hardcore for me.

Don_ko: Your favorite character is...

Irving: Pinkie Pie, of course. As much as I can request I'd go for scenes with pinkie pie, especially the flutterguy- spitty pie zecora song.

Don_ko: Big thanks! Have you any warm words to tell for our readers?

Irving: Eat lotsa sugar, do random stuff. (insert Pinkie Pie expression here)

I love how the people from the show are so vocal in the community. Derpy Hooves becoming a canon character still amazes me.  We may rag on Hasbro for their...toy "designs", but it's really cool that they allow stuff like this!

Thanks again for Don_ko and of course Irving for making this happen!