Peter Chung (Animator)

"Creating is as much knowing what to avoid doing then knowing what we have to hit" 

Peter Chung, a Korean /American animator whos best known for his works such as: The Rugrats movie, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury and Transformers. Peter has lived in many places of the world including London and Nairobi and even Tunis. 

Kick-starting his animation career at the age of 18 in Maryland, he worked for lead animator and illustrator Dominic LoPiccolo then finally being hired to Disney for feature development. So what made Peter Chung so popular in the animation world today? Why is his process of animating differ to everybody elses?

Back in 2003 The Animatix was released, a feature length animated film based on the Matrix Trilogy which if you haven't seen already is about the human population amerced in an artificial world, created by machines. The film consists of 9 animated short film, one being named "Matriculated" being written and directed and directed by Peter himself, which I have to say is definitively worth a watch. Coming in late to the process, Peter was used to doing everything by hand. This included drawing and using 2D elements but when it came to working with the Animatrix at the time Peter describes finally being able to use 3D elements for a change is a tremendous relief. But this doesn't mean he has to stop drawing slides by hand, the computer will just aid putting frames together. 

 Peter tried to base the scene on what he thinks and feels about, trying his hardest to make the act seem as if a robot was allowed into a human dream, cool right ? He did this by making sure the drawings for the robot character which had to be portrayed in a way that it came across as a living, thinking and feeling consciousness. Peter spent months designing and re-designing the concept for the robots in the film making sure that the robot he was designing had to have to right look of menace yet a look of innocence. It was a strict rule that the robot would not be allowed a human face or anatomy. 

Peter Chung's creative desire of story-telling is shown in his scene in the Animatrix and shows that mystery and ambiguity serve an important function in visual art today.