Debra Isaac, founder of Houdini.School, is an artist, educator and entrepreneur based out of Los Angeles – and she was a fantastic introductory guest for our first class. Hearing about her how she’s navigated changing industry landscapes in both corporate and academic settings was inspiring. Seeing how she’s paved her own path following her interests and passions gave me a lot of hope given the current state of the animation industry which, for all sakes and purposes, is depressing. 

I was especially moved by her visualizing motion capture of dancers. It was a striking combination of 3D animation, color and design, East Asian zither music, and dance athleticism. Prior to seeing this short, I didn’t have much interest in learning Houdini or motion capture, and I had to restrain myself from signing up for more classes because I need to balance school with work and life. 

I was also fascinated by Debra’s experience at Mattel, and how Greta Gertwig’s “Barbie” (2023) was much more accurate about how corporate Mattel operates than I imagined. (Side note: I will not imagine every Mattel CEO as some version of Will Ferrell.) I found her thoughts on working with STEM experts helpful in terms of balancing creative vision with scientific accuracy, especially since it depends on who you are working with (e.g. a smaller STEM company versus NASA). 

Lastly, because I still have the sensibilities of a 5 year old, Debra’s poop game demonstration made me laugh. The world can be sh*itty, so why not lean into it?