By BILLY JEAN LOUIS, The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE (AP) — Rebecca Stern becomes anxious in noisy spaces and has trouble communicating and socializing. The 26-year-old, who has autism, said she hopes to create characters that look and sound like her.
Marina Khatin, 29, said there was a shortage of black female cartoon hosts. It’s problematic, she says, because it can be difficult to tell the true stories of women like her. A 2019 USC Annenberg report on women in animation noted that only 1% of animated film directors are women of color.
Stephen Church Jr., 16, said there aren’t enough black cartoonists telling the stories of black culture. While there are high-profile exceptions — the Oscar-winning “Soul” was directed by Kemp Powers and the recent Netflix show “Karma’s World” was executive produced by rapper Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges, critics say it doesn’t. is not enough.
The three artists now have a chance to develop a show with Cartoon Networks Studios and former Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Trevor Pryce’s Outlook Visual Effects studio. They are among six participants in a program designed to identify, develop and showcase the work of underrepresented and unrecognized artists.
political cartoons
The six participants will be reduced to three and then to one. Cartoon Network will choose one finalist, whose project will be produced by OVFX, as Pryce’s studio is known. No broadcast date has yet been set.
Stern, who grew up in Colombia, now lives in the Tuscany-Canterbury region north of Baltimore. She graduated with a degree in animation from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2019 and since then has struggled to find work.
“It was hard to find people to work with me, so when (Pryce) asked me to do this project, I immediately said ‘Yes,'” she said.
Stern began working on his craft around age 3 because his mother, Sheri Dunn, and grandmother, Bella, both deceased, were artists.
“My mom is my biggest inspiration of all time,” she said. “She was very accepting (of) the way I am.”
While Stern was cautious about her project, she said the main character was a young child with autism.
“Please be patient with us. Please accept us,” she said. “We are like you. We want to be like you and we have to work together.
Kathin is a Silver Spring native and a 2010 graduate of Montgomery Blair High School. Six years later, she earned a degree in animation from Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio.
Prior to joining OVFX three years ago as a character animator, she worked at the University of Maryland, University College (now known as the University of Maryland Global Campus), in the commencement department.
Her project is called “Beyond the Stars” and tells the story of a little girl who travels to a kingdom of constellations when she falls asleep. Kathin, an animation fanatic since she was 6, said she hadn’t seen many black female characters in cartoons that she could admire growing up.
“It’s always important to have that person in the room with you to say, ‘Well, let me tell you about my experience,'” she said. gay friend or black friend, trying to make their experience the only experience in the story you tell.
Church is excited to tell stories about his community.
“I don’t think there will ever be too many or enough because I feel like black people have so many experiences – so many different experiences to share that haven’t been heard from for hundreds of years. years because of the places where we were placed. ,” he said. “Our voices aren’t always heard first.”
Church, originally from Randallstown, is a friend of the Pryce family. He is a sophomore at Park School of Baltimore in Pikesville. His project is called “Party Poopers” and involves crime fighting as well as monsters throwing parties.
He is a rapper, writer and designer. His goal is to attend a liberal arts college in California or New York, and probably to study something artistic. Church, whose stage name is $armie (pronounced Sarmie), recently released an EP titled “Prep.” He also owns a streetwear clothing line named Phart.
“I like to work on a lot of creative things at once because you never know what’s going to work,” he said.
Sam Register, chairman of Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Animation, said in a press release that building “original and diverse creative voices” is one of Cartoon Network’s top priorities.
“Outlook Company’s mission to work with artists from underrepresented communities makes them an ideal partner and I look forward to the work ahead with Trevor and the incredible group of creators he has assembled,” said declared Register.
Pryce said he believes in all projects.
“Some of the ideas, even if they’re not chosen, other people (on other networks) want to see them,” he said.
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