Rising Stars: Meet Bona Bones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bona Bones.

Hi Bona, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started animating when I was about 17 years old. I fell in love with it immediately. It became an outlet for me to express a lot of the teenage angst I was feeling at the time. I decided to pursue it in college and majored in experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts.

I started getting jobs straight out of school working on things like Robot Chicken and music videos for bands like Cage the Elephant and Blink 182. Eventually, I decided I wanted to also pursue teaching as a career. I decided to go back to school and get my master’s in animation at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

When I graduated I was invited to be a faculty fellow at Dartmouth College which helped secure my career in academia. Teaching has allowed me the flexibility to pursue a career as a college professor while still having summers free to continue with production work in Los Angeles. It’s truly been a dream.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any artist ever has said., “I’m going into the arts for the secure pay and great schedule.” It’s hard to make a name for yourself in the film industry.

There were many times when I wasn’t sure where my next paycheck was going to come in or where I would be on set for 12+ hours a day working minimum wage. It can be very draining, but it’s also very rewarding.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in stop motion animation and puppet fabrication. I think most people either know me from my work on Robot Chicken or the music videos I have worked on as an animation director.

I am proud of all the work I do but I think I have a real soft spot for a music video for the Marias titled “Over the Moon” which has almost 6 million views on youtube. I worked as the animation director and constructed it all myself and shot it on my kitchen table in my apartment.

To think that people have watched my work 6 million times is incredible. I think stop motion animation is a weird niche. It’s almost like record collecting, even though it’s not the dominant form of media right now there will still always be people really passionate about it and working to preserve the medium.

Any big plans?
I moved to Kansas City right before the pandemic started because I was hired full-time into a tenure track position at the Kansas City Art Institute.

I moved out here from LA right after I had finished working on season 10 of Robot Chicken and I really couldn’t be happier to pursue this new avenue of my career. I hope to be in Kansas City for a long time.

Contact Info:

• Website: bonabones.com
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bona.bones

Image Credits:
Cornelius Terrell, The Marias, Earthgang & Wale