Insights by the Pros: Animation Supervisor Patricia Magniez

Meet Mediawan's Animation Supervisor Patricia Magniez as she shares her journey, experiences, and expert advice on becoming a pro CG character animator.

“Learning to animate flight… I have pulled out my course notes on several shows.”

Patricia Magniez is a French CG Character Animator driven by curiosity and passion for storytelling. Currently serving as an Animation Supervisor at Mediawan, she brings over ten years of experience in CG animation, working across feature films, TV specials, and pilots. Her impressive portfolio includes films like The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart and Ugly Duckling and Me, as well as projects like Reflexion, Soulman, and Muse’s Invincible music video. With a career spanning animation, directing, and co-supervision, Patricia remains dedicated to pushing the art of animation forward, always eager for new creative challenges.

Animation Pro Interview

Animation Journey and Inspiration

iAnimate: Tell us a bit about your animation journey and throughout your time with us. Who or What inspired you to become an animator? How did you become an animator, and when did iAnimate become part of your journey?

Patricia: I wanted to be an animator since the age of 10. At this time, the internet and the cellular didn't even exist. As a young girl, I spent a lot of time in front of the TV after school, and the '80s was the golden age of Japanese animation in France. So I spend my other time drawing my favorite Anime characters.  But If I spend a lot of time in front of the TV, that is not the case at the cinema, and that was a total blast when I saw, for the first time Walt Disney's "Aladin", and later "Tarzan", I  was definitely becoming the biggest fan of Glean Keane and I know that was the job of my life. So I went to a 3d school to learn animation, but the scholarship was really too generalist, and I finally came into the industry with great pleasure. But The more and more I was working, and the more I saw that my lack of scholarship in animation was real, so I spent a lot of time working by myself and having a lot of reviews from my talented animator friends, and I finally wanted to be helped by even more expertise and I found in Ianimate excellent mentorships, tips, and courses that missing me to grow up as an animator. The mentors are really invested and can answer all the questions if we want to go further in one or another topic, and the multiple rigs give a choice of one or another style of animation, as you want to make some realistic cartoon animation, so that was really a precious thing.

iAnimate: Can you tell us more about your role and responsibilities?

Patricia: I am actually supervising the animation of a TV show, and what is interesting in this work, and that comes back in an animator journey is that you have to understand what kind of style, character personalization, and humor your Director really wants, and makes the words becoming alive. You have to find the exact way that he/she/they/ have in mind, and that is a great challenge.

iAnimate: What do you think it was about your demo reel or interview that got you the job?

Patricia: That's definitely the Demo reel that makes the job, and this is what is nice about this job is that if you work hard, you will be hired for your capacities. But of course, it is important to know and learn how to work in a team and receive feedback on what will make the difference too.

Animation Lessons and Growth

iAnimate: How did iAnimate help prepare you for the industry? What were the most important things you learned at iAnimate?

Patricia: iAnimate helps me to prepare a lot through the theoretical courses that give the knowledge and the reviews that really make you understand it. For me, the idea is not really to make an awesome shot for my demo reel, (of course, if I can, I do it too ^^) but to understand the body or facial mechanics basis that allows me to animate every shot with the same kind of problematic that I will face in the industry, especially body mechanics and tips of the instructors that makes me more and more comfortable with all different type of characters and to improve my way of working in my scene.

iAnimate: What is the most challenging shot you’ve ever animated, and why did you succeed at the shot?

Patricia: The most challenging shot that I had to do was a very technical shot with multiple changes of actions in a big camera movement.  I was struggling on some points and the deadline was arriving, so I finally asked for some feedback and advice from one of my friends who was on the team I know that he has already dealt with with kind of shot so after all his advice, I finally was able to finish my shot.

[Patrcia's Current Reel]

You can reach Patrcia via:

iAnimate: Do you have any demo reel or interview advice you can share with animators on the job hunt?

Patricia: I know that it is obvious but for a job hunt, sending a demo reel that is fitting to the company production you send it to,  is really important. Most of the time having a generic cover letter and demo reel doesn't show the interest that you have for the company.

iAnimate: What other advice do you have for current or future iAnimate students?

Patricia: Take the time to talk with the other persons in the workshops, they can help you to progress by giving you feedback and talking to your instructors to ask you all that you want to know, and know what are the expectations of the studios.

Animation Career Advice & Tips

iAnimate: If there’s one animation tip or technique you’d share with someone wanting to animate in a feature film, what would it be?

Patricia: Making a blocking animation precise enough as fast as possible, allows you to show your lead and director where you want to go exactly and give them a better visualization.

iAnimate: Given that there’s so much to learn, how would you recommend a brand new animator start their training?

Patricia: The bouncing ball and the wave principle are the 2 principles that you will find on everything you will  animate, so that is definitely the best to learn first.

iAnimate: What makes a great animator or an animator a studio would hire?

Patricia: Somebody who is always angry to learn, and who knows how to receive feedback, and most of it, somebody  who is curious about details of life and of the other members of the team.