Lionel Ivan Orozco
Stop Motion Production Advisor

The Clayman is happy to introduce Mr. Lionel Ivan Orozco as a Stop Motion Production Advisor.

Lionel Ivan Orozco joins The Clayman & Associates as our Stop Motion Animation production technical advisor. Lionel has had over 20 years interest in general special effects, with much of that time focusing on work in the stop motion industry. His credits include Gumby, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Bump in the Night and so many more. Lionel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In his youth he have always had an interest in gadgeteering, tinkering, and particularly, Stop Motion Animation, but at the time, thought that was totally beyond his abilities. It was only until much later, that he decided to call it quits with the so-called "straight" 8 to 5 jobs and attempt to pursue work in animation, craftwork and effects. After wandering around, working for little or no-pay on effects jobs, he landed his first real animation job on the "New Adventures of Gumby" (1987-88) television series which was produced in Sausalito, California.

The requirements for being an animator on the show were minimal. Art Clokey (creator of Gumby) was happy to see almost any kind of Stop Motion demo reel, and even if it was not that good, they were still hired! As raw stop motion beginners they were actually students learning how to animate on a real TV show! This is where Lionel first met Anthony Scott, now a very talented & well respected Stop Motion Animator with additional skills as a computer animator.

After Gumby, stop motion animation jobs were few. he decided to try a "behind the doors entry" approach, thinking this would give him an advantage in getting animation jobs. He started teaching himself how to build animation armatures. There were no books on how to make these mysterious articulated metal devices. He studied the few published pictures of armatures available at that time and taught himself just the basic machining skills necessary to fabricate them. It took much practice and lots of mistakes. Sometimes one can get too technically involved with only armatures and not see the "big picture". Eventually he did some freelance jobs exclusively making armatures and other puppet fabrication work and small effects jobs.

Like Anthony, Lionel also very much appreciates Stop Motion. In his visits to Anthony's stop motion website-message board, He was very pleased that there still seems to be a worldwide interest in this fantastic art of Stop Motion. Sometimes, one feels "alone" in this avocation. Currently, regular work in Stop Motion Animation seems to be sporadic; however, it does seem to make these cyclical comebacks with renewed popularity to new audiences. Hopefully, all this interest & activity on the internet will in some small way, contribute in keeping Classic Stop Motion Animation alive & more viable in the marketplace, alongside Cel animation & CG animation which is why Lionel is happy to offer his experience as a freelance agent to The Clayman & Associates.