Meet the SciAni team – Dora Graur

Get to know Dora Graur, one of our senior animators here at SciAni.

How did you get into animation? 

I was interested in drawing and arts in general from when I was a child. I used to draw cartoon characters from different animations. Once I finished high school it was clear that I will be continuing with drawing in some kind of way. After some deliberation, I chose to go to university and study animation since it seemed to fit me and my personality the best.

What style of animation do you most enjoy working on? 

I work on 2D animations as I feel most comfortable and am more experienced with them. I always like a challenge when it comes to styles within 2D. I love animations that use the parallax effect, I feel like that gives the movement so much detail. Besides that, I always enjoy when the usual 2D space is used in more unconventional ways. I love dynamic animations and motion graphics, where the scenes transition into each other in creative ways, like when an object morphs into another one that will be used in the coming scene. I feel like such small details can make huge differences in an animation. Other than that, I also like more artistic styles, for example watercolour or textured looking animations. Again, textures might seem like small details, but they can create an entirely new look, and once they are animated, they are a very big addition to any scene.

What’s something a lot of people don’t know about animation?  

I feel like a lot of people that don’t work in animation or a similar field, don’t really know how much work goes into a minute of animation. Sometimes it looks like a short clip that can be easily made, but the truth is that it needs a lot of work and also a lot of patience. Beside this, with animation you can basically create anything. Of course, 2D and 3D animations have their technical limitations, but there’s always a way to show an emotion, an action, a way of being, or even just something that doesn’t really exist as long as you can just imagine it. I would really like to mention that a lot of people don’t get to experience the feeling of an animation coming to life, the moment when you finished keyframing and putting the artwork next to each other and just hit the play button. The moment you see all details move and work together so well, it really feels like success and makes it worth your patience.

5 second Studio/Shutterstock.com

What are your hobbies or interests outside of work? 

I love to bake, make cakes, cookies, cupcakes etc. and decorate them. I’m always looking forward to someone’s birthday or any occasion really, so I can bake them a cake. Baking can really get me out of my daily routine and make me forget my worries, besides that, I have a very sweet-tooth, so it’s a win-win situation. Other than baking, I love hanging out with my dog and traveling.