My profession is that of a voice actor. Or a voiceover artist. Or, if you prefer, a voice over artist. There are lots of different ways of saying: I spend a lot of time in a box, which in this business is a good thing. Sometimes we even get to go outside.
I do a lot of voice over animation. I’ve been doing these for many years, and it’s always been a lot of fun. There’s never been a time when I did a cartoon but didn’t have fun.
The worst thing you can do in the world of animation is to grow up.
I remember walking into a session with a director, and I had my serious face on and I guess I was tired and we’d never met before, and I’d been hired for a new cartoon series. It was very cartoony.
I’ve gotta tell you, when I first met you I just wasn’t sure about you. You walked in and here’s this guy, kind of serious while everybody else is laughing. But then you spoke, and I was able to relax.”
In cartoons it’s very important to be relaxed.
So you’ve been cast in an animation show. You get the show’s breakdown. You’ll see some characters you know you’d be right for. It’s not at all uncommon to be asked to read more than one character. You want to be able to do two or three characters.
Here’s something that will make voice over agents love you:
If you can do more than one voice they’re more apt to hire you, because it’s going to save them more money on the show. The more range you have, the more they can use you for other incidental characters that come up in cartoon shows.
It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of versatility.You have to be able to sound young or naive or wise or strong.
Or you have to sound old, or very old. Or happily old.
Is he thin old, or is he very fat old?
You have to have a real good picture in your head of what this character’s like.
For years I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with the Transformers franchise. It’s given me an opportunity to work as the bad guy and the good guy.
In cartoons, it’s always most fun to be the villain.
It’s harder to play the good guys, because their dialogue is always something like! Our help is needed!” Most of the other characters roll their eyes when the main hero talks because…Well, often it’s just not very interesting.
The bad guys are always thinking about different ways to create havoc. Like characters out of Shakespeare.
When you get a piece of script it’s important to play with it so you can take a pause or sit back or start again or go quickly. This is different from other voiceover forms where you have 30 or 60 seconds.
With a paragraph, you can take more to develop your performance. You can’t take too much time, but you get more time to play with the character.
Having an acting background is a big, big help. But even without an acting background, learn to develop your characters. When reading for animation or cartoons, it’s important to have fun and to relax at the same time.
And, of course, you shouldn’t sound as though you’re reading it. That’s extremely important.
In the world of animation, if you’re casting for cartoons or series it’s always good to find someone who has a broad range. It’ll keep you within budget. And you’ll probably end up working with fun people.
And your colleagues are fun and creative and wacky. The wacky people are the most fun to work with.
When you do voice overs for animation, those crazy people you work with make it a lot of fun.
Learn how to act. You’ve got to make it come alive.
You need to have fun.
Work on adding more solid characters to your repertoire. Discover what you can do with your voice. Find out what you’re capable of, if you’re going to be small or young or silly or serious.
You’ve got to be able to shift on a dime.
So, to review: Have fun, learn to change gears, develop your character base, and above all….never grow up.
I wish you luck in your animation voiceover career, because it’s a wonderful way to make a living.
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