"Early Bloomer" is a comical coming-of-age tale about an awkward, but adorable, tadpole just trying to fit in and keep up with his mischievous and playful friends.

The animated short film was created and directed by Kevin Johnson, who served as lead storyboard artist on "The ChubbChubbs!," the winner of the 2002 Oscar® for best animated short film. "The ChubbChubbs!" is the first Academy Award® for Sony Pictures Imageworks.

"Early Bloomer" began as in-house training exercise at Sony Pictures Imageworks, but its universal theme and wonderfully expressive characters soon made this film less an exercise and more a labor of love for the talented Imageworks team.

CGNetworks speaks to Kevin Johnson, director of "Early Bloomer" about his experiences in the production of the short.

Kevin Johnson
Animation Artist
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Story artist and animator Kevin Johnson has worked in the animation industry for more than thirteen years. He began his career with Don Bluth Studios, where he worked as a clean-up artist, a rough in-betweener and finally an animator.

Kevin joined Sony Pictures Imageworks in 2001 and worked as an animator on "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and on the character design of Margalo in "Stuart Little 2." He was also the storyboard artist on the Academy Award® winning "The ChubbChubbs," Imageworks' first all-

CG animated short. With the inauguration of Sony Pictures Animation, the feature animation division of Sony Pictures, Kevin will be focusing his talents on visual development and story for their upcoming projects.