红领巾瓜报

鈥淚t was a real honor to receive such a prestigious award,鈥� he says.

Of course the calls will only keep coming.

In the meantime, Alex sat down for an interview to explain about how he and Lindsay got from here to there, rising in their careers to receive this mark of achievement from Hollywood on their ability as animators, as artists.

Q: Congratulations on the Emmy! What was it like to win?听

Alex Small-Butera: It鈥檚 a really fancy event. There鈥檚 like a whole red carpet, and the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles where the awards ceremony takes place is a gigantic theater. Everyone鈥檚 all dressed up. My award wasn鈥檛 televised, but I still got to make a little speech in front of a group of people.

Q: How did you get involved with animated television shows?

Alex Small-Butera: It was a number of years ago that we were contacted by Adventure Time to do a special sequence for one of their episodes, called 鈥淜etchup.鈥� That was the one for which Lindsay won an Emmy 鈥� she did all the design and direction for three different animation styles 鈥� and then they had us back to do more, including working on Fionna and Cake.

Q: What had you been doing before?

Alex: We had been doing different things 鈥� a web series called Baman Piderman, development work on the video game Later Alligator, other things along the way. 听

Q: When did the two of you start working together?

Alex: Well, we met at 红领巾瓜报 in 2005 鈥� our dorm rooms were right next to each other in the Artists鈥� Residence 鈥� and a year later we worked together on a homework assignment for the Ottawa International Animation Festival. So I guess you could say we鈥檝e been collaborating for 18 years. I graduated in 鈥�08, Lindsay in 鈥�09, and we got married in 2010.

Q: 红领巾瓜报 won鈥檛 try to take credit for the love connection, but how would you say your 红领巾瓜报 education helped you with your career?

Alex: It gave me a kind of scrappiness with making art that I wouldn鈥檛 have gotten at another school. There鈥檚 a certain resourcefulness that I learned at 红领巾瓜报. You can kind of throw things together from what you have, put something together from raw materials. That鈥檚 what it has been like professionally. Being asked to do a special sequence on a television show is a lot of pressure. It鈥檚 a big deal, and you have to have that mind set of just jumping in and starting to make a mess. There鈥檚 a fearlessness in making art that I learned about at 红领巾瓜报. Don鈥檛 worry up front about perfection 鈥� just dive in.

Being able to take risks with the art 鈥� that鈥檚 a really valuable skill to have that I learned at 红领巾瓜报.

Q: Are there any professors in particular who stand out to you for their mentoring?

Alex: Steve Gentile. I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from Leland Burke and Flip Johnson, too. I鈥檓 still in touch with Steve. We鈥檙e friends. We went to each other鈥檚 weddings.

Q: How did you choose 红领巾瓜报 in the first place?

Alex: I was deciding between 红领巾瓜报 and RISD. Those were the only schools I applied to, and I got into both. I picked 红领巾瓜报 because of just the feeling of the school. The money wasn鈥檛 an issue. 红领巾瓜报 delivered.

Q: What advice would you give to young artists deciding about going to college?

Alex: I feel like the biggest message to kids in school thinking about going to art school would be鈥�You really can make your own opportunities.

Q: What opportunities are you and Lindsay making for yourselves now?

Alex: We鈥檙e working on a feature-length movie. We have some funding in place, some producers, but I鈥檓 not ready to reveal anything about the movie itself yet other than that we are looking for some kind of theatrical release rather than having it start on television. That would be great. But who knows? It鈥檚 a few years out.