| Industry | Animation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas |
| Key people | Frank Gabriel, Brad Graeber, Bruce Tinnin |
| Products | Animation |
| Employees | 30 |
| Website | http://www.powerhouseanimation.com/ |
Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc. is an Austin, Texas-based animation studio that develops and produces traditional and Flash animation for television series, motion pictures, video games cinemas, commercials, and the internet. Powerhouse also creates Flash based interactive games and applications for console games, online MMORPGs, and advertising.
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Headquartered in Austin, TX, Powerhouse Animation was founded on April Fools' Day 2001 as a privately held animation service studio by Frank Gabriel, Brad Graeber, and Bruce Tinnin. The three founders met while working together at an e-learning “dot com” company in the Austin area which was trying to produce an online animated world that focused on entertainment for children. When that company went the way of the rest of the “dot coms,” Tinnin, Gabriel, and Graeber decided to start a service company that offered traditional animation and interactive materials produced using Macromedia Flash.
With over 20 years of experience in feature and television animation, as well as commercial design, Powerhouse offers a range of quality design and animation services. These include traditional and Flash animation, commercial and character design, storyboarding, print advertising, color styling, web design, multimedia presentations and interactive games.
Powerhouse Animation's name is partially inspired by Raymond Scott's song "Powerhouse", which was often placed in scores that Carl Stalling wrote for Warner Bros. shorts, and has been featured in many animated cartoons. Powerhouse’s motto is: “ Animation by American Capitalists.”
In 2002, Powerhouse produced the short “Heroes” which parodied the film Clerks as well as Marvel Comics characters. After seeing the short, Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks, contacted Powerhouse to produce an unfinished commercial from the film Dogma. After producing the short, Smith hired Powerhouse to create an arcade machine that featured a custom video game.[1][2][3] The game was given, as a wrap party present, for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez for their work on the film Jersey Girl. In the game you played as Jennifer Lopez trying to rescue Ben Affleck from an unknown villain and a band of ninjas. The player fights several bosses including a robotic Matt Damon and finally Kevin Smith himself.
In 2003, Powerhouse created a 35mm test for a feature film based on Clerks: The Animated Series for Kevin Smith.[4][5]
Powerhouse animated Clerks: The Lost Scene[1][2] which was park of the Clerks X: 10th Anniversary DVD. As writer-director Kevin Smith explains in the introduction to the scene on the DVD, it had originally been written for the Clerks film, but was not filmed due to budgetary restraints. The short was named the “best bonus feature of 2004” by Rolling Stone Magazine.
In 2004, Powerhouse animated the “Mr. Mom” video for the band Lonestar.
In 2008, Powerhouse worked with Hothead Games to produce mini-games and cinemas for the video game Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness.
In 2010, Powerhouse created in-game animation and cinemas for the game RISK: Factions[3][4] produced by Electronic Arts and Hasbro.
Powerhouse produces animated versions of many syndicated comic strips including Dilbert, Pearls before Swine, Cul de Sac, Pooch Café[5][6], and Over the Hedge produced by RingTales. Powerhouse has animated over 300 Dilbert shorts.
Powerhouse has produced animated advertising content for brands such as Mountain Dew, Ruffles, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Moneygram, Borden’s, and GoDaddy.com. Powerhouse has produced animated content for educational companies including Ignite! Learning, Compass Learning, Sopris West, and Thompson Gale. Powerhouse has also created animated content for museum exhibits including the Getty Museum and The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.
Powerhouse employs about 30 people, including animators, programmers, sound technicians, and office staff.
Many Powerhouse Animation employees were animators at motion picture studios. Powerhouse employees have credits on Anastasia, Titan AE, Prince of Egypt, The King and I, Rock-a-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, Space Jam, Quest for Camelot, John Henry, Lilo and Stitch, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Curious George, and Brother Bear.
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