Jon Baker, son of George and Joanne Baker, is living in Vancouver and working as a cartoonist in the profession he dreamed of as a kid growing up in Virden.
Baker is employed with Atomic Cartoons, which is recognized internationally as one of the leading animation studios in North America. His creativity is being channeled into producing animation for the children’s ‘toon series Max and Ruby.
His recent graduation from Vancouver Film School’s Classical animation program put him in the right place to be hired. From a brief collection of video clips of his best animations the company liked what they saw and decided to give him a chance.
“That credential, as well as examples of my work, showed I understood the animation process.”
Baker has only been there a matter of a few months and says, “I will like the work a lot more once I'm better at it. I'm still very new to studio life and a lot of its stresses still feel pretty big.”
Producing a series like Max and Ruby is a multi-stage work, with the concepts created by people who have been in the animation industry for many years.
“I work on the production side of things. I am given the characters and other assets (backgrounds props etc.), a storyboard and the recorded audio for a scene. From there I make it move.”
The designers started where Baker is at now and he says, “Perhaps one day I will be making more of the creative decisions. I'm looking forward to my career.”
Baker’s identity as an artist had a homegrown beginning. Hi actor/playwright father George Baker is also a talented artist who has produced many canvases and, at the other end of the scale, designed and painted backdrops for stage productions.
After Jon graduated from Virden Collegiate, he studied Fine Arts at Brandon University for two years, before leaving for Vancouver Film School.
Having family in Vancouver was a big factor, enabling the boy from Virden to attend a very good school.
“At BU, I had some fantastic professors; and the instructors at VFS were great, without exception.”
He went to school to learn general animation including 3D animation, but concentrated most on 2D animation.
Within his area of interest, Baker kept a practical eye on the job market. “I figured studying animation specifically was a more hire-able trade; and I focused in on my love for cartooning.”
Just this December Jon Baker graduated with honors from Vancouver Film School, in his own words, “A greatly improved artist, ready to work as one.”
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