Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘cartoon voices’

Sure it’s a cartoon, but most kids would never get all the grown-up humor and inuendo written into the story lines.  And how hard must it be to continue keeping the energy going for a cartoon character for 10 years?!!

For answers, insights, and a pretty good article on Tom Kenny – who has always voiced the character of the sqare-panted-one — click HERE.

CourVO

The opportunities for voice-actors seeking work in animation, cartoons, and video games seems to be increasing.  Part of that, I think, is that producers of those media are finally starting to understand that they can’t just "… grab Connie from down in the shipping department to come in here and do this line…"

They’re starting to see the value of paying decent money for professional voice-actors.

I ran across the following exchange, and reference to other sites in the DC Animation Forum (as in DC Comics). 

First, the original question as stated by a forum subscriber:

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How does one market oneself as a voice actor? How does one get their
name on an audition list for the likes of Andrea Romano or Bruce Timm?
Should she get an agent? Should she try to contact (for example) WB
animation itself, or should she try to contact the voice-casting
director, how does a person even start? Do they have to live in or be
ale to travel to California to even have a chance? Should she make an
audio tape and send it around? and if so, to whom?

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Now, the answer that person rec’d from a surprisingly knowledgeable person also on the board:

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1) Establish yourself as an actor first, then focus on voice acting later. Voice acting is a competitive market, and people who limit themselves to just one type of acting will take forever to build up an impressive resume. Drama clubs, dinner theaters, acting classes and amateur productions can help you hone your craft and build up a list of credits.
2) Do not limit yourself to just cartoons. A credit is a credit, whether it’s for a commercial, an audiobook, a radio skit, whatever. Turning down work will hamper you more than taking a job that isn’t your "dream" assignment.
3) Be versitile. Not just in tone and pitch, but with inflection and characterization. If you don’t know how to vary those four elements, you’re not ready yet. Most animation houses aren’t looking for Sean Penn-caliber acting chops, but having one actor who can play four different characters without them all sounding the same is a treasure.
4) Go where the work is. For cartoon voicework, that means Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, or Vancouver.
5) Be patient. Very patient. Overnight successes are one in a million. Voice actors who earn a comfortable living doing nothing but cartoons are one in thousand. You may find yourself spending a lot of time waiting tables and selling insurance while waiting for your "real job" to bear fruit. Don’t get discouraged.
6) Learn the ins and outs of the live audition process. A good impromtu performance, and the ability to deliver what a director wants live will serve you much better than the best pre-recorded "audition tape" in the world.
7) Understand the realities of the market. Most voice acting doesn’t pay a lot of money, unless you happen to be a "name" actor to begin with, and even then, it’s no goldmine. Ron Perlman probably made more money in the first Hellboy movie than he made in five years of playing Slade Wilson on Teen Titans.

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Pretty astute, eh?

Also included in one of the forum responses are links to two other articles which also have decent articles on the realities of approaching the field of professional voice-acting:

http://www.povonline.com/Voicework.htm
http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL101.htm

CourVO