Christine Bian

Art Director, Fast & Furious series, DreamWorks Animation Television

Although Christine Bian is only 33, she has already worked on two of the biggest animated TV series of the past few years: She won an Annie as production designer for Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra and was design supervisor on DreamWorks’ Voltron: Legendary Defender. Now, the Foster City, Calif. native is tackling another big franchise: DreamWorks TV’s upcoming animated show based on the Fast & Furious movies, where she is in charge of industrial, mechanical and vehicle designs in the action-heavy project.

“I was fortunate enough to have a lot of helping hands along the way,” says Bian. “But I owe getting my first job to the Concept Design Academy, and in particular the man who runs the school, Kevin Chen. He showed my portfolio to Nickelodeon, and I was hired as prop designer on Korra. I met a group of unfor

gettable people there, and the rest is history!”

Bian says she first became interested in animation when her mom allowed her to watch the series Maya the Bee after school, before her naptime! “I always wished the episodes would last longer, so I didn’t have to take a nap!” she remembers. “My absolute hands-down favorite was Disney’s Bambi. I watched that VHS until the tape broke! My animation idols are Frank and Ollie, Milt Kahl … all those Golden Age animators. They brought my childhood to life!”

The talented artist says she has loved working with her crew on Fast & Furious this past year. “For me, it’s always about the people I get to work with, and they make coming in to work every day fun and exciting.” However, she admits that balancing the needs of the show against the time they are given to make it can sometimes be a challenge. “I think the universal struggle of every professional artist working in the industry is fighting the desire to polish every single thing to perfection.

Knowing to let go is not as easy as it sounds!”

She leaves us with some great tips for surviving in the business: “Be kind. Its an old adage, but our industry is small, and people will remember your attitude towards them long after a project is done. A good crew spends so much time together … more time than we spend with our loved ones, sometimes! so I personally believe that the value of a team player is worth more than just the sum of their skill sets.”