Sergio Lebrija pitched the aniBoom Creators Studio, they laughed, and the rest is history. So what makes this animator tick?

How did you end up doing what you do?
I was a 20 year old economics student when Jurassic Park came out, and I was mesmerized, I had seen Luxo Jr. and other similar films, but I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the screen. After seeing the movie 2 or 3 more times I knew I was in the wrong field.

I somehow bought a copy of 3d Studio Max and started playing around with it. Eventually I became pretty good at it and I started making 3d commercials and corporate animations. After a while I wanted to do my own stuff but I found that working in 3d was slow and the characters needed a lot of work just to get off the ground.

I had worked with Flash before in Web applications and a lot of people were using it to make cartoons so I figured I would give it a try; I've been doing it ever since.

How did Animal Nation come about?
It was 6 months after the birth of my eldest daughter and my wife and I were on a plane back from a trip to New York. We were talking about starting a new side project, so we came up with a simple idea right there on the plane - six animals with human characteristics, each with its own personality. Above all, they had to be funny.

We decided to launch the idea on the Internet. We figured we had to produce the content and then pitch it, so we launched the site in May 2007.

One day, my brother called me and told me aniBoom was looking for talent, so I decided to send them some of my work, since I figured no harm no foul. This was on a Friday and by Monday I had a reply - they loved it and they wanted to form a partnership. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.

After a few emails I formed a partnership with aniBoom and the experience has been great, I couldn't be happier or more excited about the future.

Who are your influences?
I wish I could say there is some obscure Armenian animator that inspired me, but the reality is most of my influences are commercial animation: Beavis and Butthead, The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Sponge Bob, etc.

I love character driven shows. I am a firm believer that the story is by far the most important part of the show. I love to write, I love to do silly voices and I love to animate.

So here I am. I'm not 100% sure where I'm going but I'm sure it's going to be a fun ride.