Rutgers-Camden Alum Helps “Horton" Hear a "Who”

CAMDEN - Almost every child, and adult, knows the magic of Dr. Seuss. But not every fan can truly appreciate the author and illustrator’s talents until one embarks on turning one of his children book’s into animated life on the big screen.

Rutgers-Camden 2002 alum Charles Lotierzo, originally from Maple Shade, is an animator with Blue Sky Studios. One of his most recent roles was serving as a character animator for the hit film “Horton Hears a Who,” featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Lotierzo was responsible for bringing the characters to life through believable motion and acting.

Assigned shots throughout the film varying from one to five seconds in length, Lotierzo used his skills to animate every character within that shot. On average he animated about four seconds per week, depending on the complexity of the shot.

“For an animator, it was a very exciting movie to work on. I had to constantly ‘Who-ify’ my animation. In this film we were really able to push the animation into a more cartoony style with a twist of Seuss,” says the successful Rutgers-Camden art graduate.

Lotierzo, who also worked on the film “Ice Age II,” credits Rutgers-Camden for opening up his mind to a career in animation.

“I had grown up watching Disney’s animated classics and knew that I wanted to help create animated films. Professor LiQin Tan at Rutgers-Camden had experience animating with Disney Studios and brought a whole new level of teaching to the program,” says Lotierzo.

While a student at Rutgers-Camden, Lotierzo got involved in animating an art history project with Tan and Roberta Tarbell, an associate professor of fine arts, which allowed him to travel to Los Angeles for a major design convention. The Rutgers-Camden program also encouraged the successful animator to complete his first animated short and a demo reel that he sent to studios.

“Without my experiences at Rutgers and the guidance of Professor Tan I would not be where I am today.”

Currently Lotierzo is a resident of Ossining in Westchester County, New York.

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