Interview with Jessica Hoogendyk
Lead animator on Lilly Looking Through
We wanted to share some interviews to give everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the Geeta Games team. For this post the spotlight is on Jessica Hoogendyk, our Lead animator on “Lilly Looking Through,” and she was kind enough to answer some questions.
Q: Can you tell us what sort of work you do on Lilly Looking Through?
A: I animate Lilly, Row, and some other characters as well. My side jobs include some sound design, being in charge of play testing, and marketing.
Q: What’s the best thing about working on Lilly Looking Through?
A: I get to work alongside my husband, and working from home as an animator lets me continue to be a stay at home Mom for my girls.
Q: What are 2 of your favorite games and why?
A: My husband and I played “The Longest Journey” together while dating. It’s one of my favorites to look back and remember, and it was special because we experienced it together. My other favorite is “Fable.” It was so easy to get lost in the beautiful immersive world.
Q: What recent movie made you cry?
A: “Les Misérables.” Steve handed me a tissue just before the movie started and said, “Uh, this is because you have a cold.” I was bawling in the first 5 minutes.
Q: What is the last desert you ate?
A: A way too sweet pineapple upside down cake. With a cup of PG Tips, our favorite tea.
Q: What are some of the crazier jobs you had working in animation?
A: I was a clean up animator for “Barnyard: The Movie” and I was asked to tame down the animation on the cow’s utters – they were flapping all over the place. I think they were worried about the movie having to be rated PG 13.
Q: How did you become interested in animation?
A: It kind of took me by surprise. I had always been computer savvy. When I was a kid, my Dad used to send us his old computers and tell us how to assemble or fix them over the phone. And I was heavily involved in dance and theater in high school, so it was a culmination of all of these things that fell together when I saw “Computer Animation” on the curriculum at my college. It was a perfect fit for all the things that I loved to do.
We hope you enjoyed the interview and learned a little bit more about Jessica. We will be posting more interviews soon!
© 2013 Geeta Games
Reprinted with permission
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