Peer Review: Natalie Labarre

Who are three contemporaries that you admire?

Mary Yanko - Hypnotising on every level. If her approach to darker, unspoken subjects with beauty and visceral sensuality doesn’t hook you, the dissonance she creates by giving her wet sultry paintings three-dimensionality will. She doesn’t let gaps in her knowledge stop her from making - she learns in order to achieve what she’s picturing, and that’s awesome. Also, she’s super generous with sharing what she’s learned. I met her at Annecy festival this year and she offered to share a deck fully outlining her process for her upcoming film Kateryna, which I can’t wait to see. 

Karlotta Freier - Her work is beautiful, personal and sensitive. Animation from an illustrator’s perspective, it's refreshing to see the choices she makes, unaffected by our echo chamber. I also love her relationship with art-making. She’s so prolific yet finds ways to enjoy the process and it shows. I’m trying to have a healthier relationship with making, inspired by this. 

No matter the task, they always maintain a sense of play. It’s the nature of the work, but it’s also deliberate, and the creative is stronger for it.

Above: Work by Camille & Rose Labarre of LABLAB

My sisters - Camille and Rose Labarre make things off-screen, which requires such a different mindset. Camille can be designing puppets and props for broadway or Jimmy Fallon, while Rose is on tour dressing Beyoncé’s back-up dancers. No matter the task, they always maintain a sense of play. It’s the nature of the work, but it’s also deliberate, and the creative is stronger for it. 

I’m inspired by this technique of letting the thing evolve, taking you where it wants to go. 

The way they navigate a project feels like improv. They don’t always have the answer to how they'll make something at the start, but they find out by testing things out and seeing where it goes. I’m inspired by this technique of letting the thing evolve, taking you where it wants to go. 

Above: Still from Mary Yanko's upcoming film Kateryna

Please share 3-4 pieces of work that exemplify great animation direction.

I first saw Genius Loci by Adrien Mérigeau at a time where most animated films were celebrated for a satisfying, linear story. This blew my mind for leaning into a stream of consciousness, and creating a relationship between the character’s mindset and evolving artwork, that makes this story impossible to tell in another medium. I love films that flex those aspects of drawn filmmaking that can push a feeling like nothing else. 

Despite the gorgeous painted look of the film, it feels so punk - she struck such a specific chord that feels both unique and highly relatable.

I think of Sander Joon’s film Sierra so often. The way he plays with surrealism is funny, bad ass and feels like how I experienced the world when I was a kid, where you’re imagination is so distracting that it was sometimes hard to separate from reality. Plus all of that doesn’t deter from feeling a deep connection to what he’s revealing about adapting for your loved ones, for better or worse. Sick film. 

27 by Flora Anna Buda hit me hard, as a woman and an artist. I really admire how vulnerable and cathartic it is to make such autobiographical work, and producing it during hard times is even more so. Despite the gorgeous painted look of the film, it feels so punk - she struck such a specific chord that feels both unique and highly relatable.

The good idea doesn’t start when you read the brief. The brief finds you already equipped with a collection of things that stood out to you in the world going about your life. 

The music video that Roxane Lumeret, Jocelyn Charles and Chloe Farr made for L’Imperatrice’s song Hematome is killer. So unique - again, such a visceral use of surrealism/visual metaphor to gut-punch you in the most entertaining way. Helps that song’s also great.

Horror in animation is so underrepresented. Stephen Vuillemin’s A Kind of Testament gives you the chills, depicting characters being ripped apart in the most stunning, bold artwork. Pre-The Substance, but similar vibes exploring the toxic relationship between women of different ages and success levels. So brilliant.

What do you like most about the work that you do?

Reacting to the brief. It’s the most exciting part for me. You can so clearly see where the idea can go, then it’s a dance based on the brand’s comfort level and experience with animation. I love the puzzle aspect in matching up their needs with what I’d love to explore creatively at that time.

What has your career journey been like so far?

Starting out animating/storyboarding/designing, I was most interested in finding a way to make anything assigned to me 20% better. It sounds so corny, but it’s way more exciting than just doing the thing. How can this feel more specific, what else can I bring to this personally? I feel like that’s especially important in order to make advertising feel like art. For example, I’d remember seeing someone move in a particular way that said something about who they were, and suggest that instead. 

I’m so invested in our collective growth as the group of artists that make up Hornet.

I love working with Hornet because they’re really good at investing that back into someone. The more trust I earned, the more opportunities for creative responsibility they give me. I went from animating to leading teams, to art directing. These days I switch between directing some projects, creative directing others, and have a hand in recruiting and sales. I’m so invested in our collective growth as the group of artists that make up Hornet, which is something that I wouldn’t have predicted back at the start. 

What is one thing every animation director needs?

To trust your curiosity. The good idea doesn’t start when you read the brief. The brief finds you already equipped with a collection of things that stood out to you in the world going about your life. A library of ideas that seem useless at first, but you’re super into it for some reason so maybe you can use it later. 

This way you never feel like you’re starting from zero to come up with something. Unrelated ideas sometimes can merge in successful ways. 

Who was the greatest animation director of all time? Why?

I have a hard time with greatest, there’s room at the top for different flavours, but to name a few, Joanna Quinn, Sylvain Chomet, Jan Švankmajer.

Did you have a mentor? Who was it?

My parents for sure. Crazy combination of creativity and work ethic. The 20% better idea comes from them. Papa taught me drawing and getting lost in imagination and observation while mom taught me painting/ colour / composition and a logical approach to making. Always supportive with no sugar coating if the work was no good - really respected that.  

The good idea doesn’t start when you read the brief. The brief finds you already equipped with a collection of things that stood out to you in the world going about your life.

What’s changing in the industry that all animation directors need to keep up with?

Taste. There's so much noise and copies of copies - having a strong, personal point of view feels more important than ever. That’s what separates us from the machine, right? The individuality of our human experiences? It helps me these days to re-read Rick Rubin, David Lynch, or Brian Eno’s thoughts on process, who all champion personal taste, specificity, and creative weirdness. The idea of going deep on what you love, even if it’s weird or unfashionable. Especially then.

This is of course super tricky in advertising but always stands out.