Given the number of people who say they never intended to get where they’ve got in the animation business, it’s a wonder there are so many craftspeople skilled in their trades.

Hana Kukal is a case in point. She never meant to become ‘an old hand’ as an animator and character designer: she studied science, not art, at Carleton University in Ottawa and emerged with a geology degree. But by the time she graduated, ‘I realized I couldn’t do a Master’s (degree). I wasn’t interested enough.’

What to do? ‘I thought I’d draw because I always did cartooning. I did some for The Geolog, the newsletter for the Canadian Geological Association.’ So it was back to school, a night course at Algonquin College.

Her instructor had a day job at Ottawa’s legendary Crawley Films (the company which won an Oscar for The Man Who Skied Down Everest). Tapping into a government wage subsidy, Crawley hired Kukal as an assistant animator in 1985.

‘I was weaned on The Raccoons,’ Kukal says. Weaned and raised, since there were some 60 episodes about the masked adventurers and Kukal worked on numbers five through 49. ‘By the end of it I started believing that if I walked down the hall I might meet Burt Raccoon. It’s not funny when you really believe it!’

If Kukal were assembling a highlight reel, at least one of her projects with Crawley would make the final cut, a half-hour Christmas special for tv called Babar and Father Christmas. She worked on it during her initiation in the business as an assistant animator, in 1985 and ’86.

By the time Lacewood Productions was set up in 1987, Kukal was versed as a layout artist. Before long, she was working as head of animation layout and as an animator. She also began character design work; one of her first credits was The Nutcracker Prince, a Lacewood feature.

Like many creative types in animation, Kukal prefers the rare feature work to series projects, although she lists many tv shows among her career highlights. She says features produce higher quality animation and are done at a slower pace.

Which brings up the issue of training. Kukal says the often breakneck pace of tv production means senior artists have very little time to train juniors in their craft. As a result, she says the marketplace is full of work for the likes of Kukal, but ‘right now it’s very hard for students. They get thrown into things that should go to a more experienced person. There’s a great need to train people.’

It’s frustrating, having to work with rough-cut rookie talents when there’s little time to sand and polish. Still, the veterans rue the exodus of hot young Canadian grads beating a path to Fox, Warner Bros. and other u.s. studios.

Animation has long been a cyclical business and artists do tend to travel to projects, but Kukal finds they are much more loyal ‘if you train themÉ.People we took a little care with on (the Universal Cartoon Studios’ series) Problem Child have come back.’

What keeps Canadian animators at home? Kukal is ambivalent. Admittedly, u.s. studios do most of the big-budget features. Their recruitment ads are omnipresent, the prospect of working for them stirs her creative temperament. But she likes Canada. She’s worked steadily, picked up a fair bit of feature work too and suffered no shortage of variety.

There was animation on Bill Kroyer’s ecological film, FernGully, The Last Rainforest (through Karen Johnson Productions, now Phoenix), animation on Hanna-Barbera’s Once Upon a Forest (also through Karen Johnson) and, of course, The Nutcracker Prince. She has played a role in some memorable specials such as Lacewood’s The Woman Who Raised a Bear as Her Son and The Teddy Bear’s Picnic. And she has worked for companies in Montreal and Toronto as well as Ottawa.

Of course, any artist working for a client has to wonder, at times, whether his or her style will still be recognizable after all concerned have had their say. Kukal says it’s even harder for character designers and others to preserve their style on service work, but she succeeds better on proprietary projects. She felt her character designs made a difference, for instance, in the first season of Lacewood’s Katie and Orbie series.

Looking ahead, Kukal says the North American market is currently desperate for seasoned talent – storyboard artists, sheet directors, designers, everything. ‘There’s a huge demand for it. Seasonal of course, a bit slow in the winter, so I don’t find it hard. If there’s something happening, I can find a job.’

Right now, she’s directing Katie and Orbie II. It’s a young series yet, though, and she’s making no mention of meeting either lead character cruising the corridors.