Becoming a Cartoon Voice Over Artist

Becoming a Cartoon Voice Over Artist

Whenever I tell people I’m a voice over artist, I’m usually presented with the same questions. First, people want to know if they’ve heard me in anything famous, and second, they’ll want to know how I got into voiceover in the first place.

The questions don’t always come in that order, but they are the top two. Granted, it would be quicker and easier for me to print out a handy FAQ and carry it with me on a laminated card, but that would not only be weird, but also not ‘socially distancing friendly’, so I’ll attempt to answer them here.

Origin stories are great – if the subject in question is suitably well known. In this case, they’d be the random musings of a man who hoped of one day being paid to talk for a living and who is now paid to talk for a living. That isn’t false modesty; I just don’t think  the story of how or why I became a voiceover artist is the reason you’re here right now. (Note to self –  write a blog about how and why I became a voice over artist).

So let’s talk about the first question, and whether or not I’ve been in anything famous. Some people phrase it slightly different, asking if they might have heard me anywhere. I try to be as honest and straightforward as I can, explaining that I have voiced everything from company telephone systems in the UK to documentaries broadcast in China, to home shopping infomercials in Europe and TV commercials in the USA. So yes, there’s a very good chance that they will have heard me somewhere, although I would not exactly call it famous.

None the less, people do enjoy a little bit of name dropping, so it’s always wonderful when I get asked to be the voice over of a character in something a little more high profile, such as an AAA video game or a cartoon which is going to be broadcast on TV.

Voicing characters is so much more than simply messing around with silly voices. Naturally, the ability to stretch and mould my voice comes in handy, but a silly voice will really only work up to a point.

Directors are looking at their character in a truly holistic sense. Now whilst it’s true that pre school cartoons are not really looking for all that much depth in their characters, the voice actor still needs to bring a range of emotion to each scene.

I was introduced to a wonderful animation voice over coach a few years back, and whilst it would be unfair of me to share all of the secrets he taught me, there is one with which I still enjoy using to this day.

I PLAY.

I’ll explain. Think back to when you were a child and you pretended to be something. It doesn’t matter what it was – a pirate, a cowboy, whatever. When you finished playing, did you ask the other people around you if you were convincing or believable? Of course not – you let your inhibitions go and you BECAME that other person.

It might seem obvious but there’s really no difference between physical and voice acting in that regard. I’m not Paul who’s pretending to be a wizard – I’m a wizard. I feel what my character feels and I let go and have fun. Like I said, I play – so much so that sometimes I have to remind myself that this is actually work!

But I learned an even more valuable lesson as a voice actor. When my coach believed I was ready to record a demo, he put together a script. This was to be a montage demo where any casting director would hear that I could provide them with lots of different voices, and yet the voice which opened the demo was the one I least expected – my own natural speaking voice.

It was explained to me that if my own voice suited the character, then there would be no need for me to ‘act’ at all, as I’d simply be playing myself, or at least some version of me.

That advice has served me very well, as I have been cast as a father on more than one occasion, and all the directors want me to do is call upon my own life experience. As a father of two children, it’s really not that much of a stretch to me! Usually, when my ‘dad’ character is imparting some wisdom to his children, I picture myself speaking to my own kids, and it brings a sincerity to the read which directors tell me work really well.

Right now, I’m delighted to be the voice of Papa Carson in Go Go Cory Carson, currently available on Netflix. Then again, that all depends on where you’re reading this right now.

Netflix provide numerous viewing options with all of their shows. Most people don’t even know that they’re there, but if you pause anything you’re watching, you’ll find that there is a settings menu for Audio and Subtitles.

A lot of pre school or pre teen animated shows are imported from the USA, but Netflix make a point of localising these shows. The thinking behind this is that young children like to copy what they hear, and therefore, UK children should copy characters with UK accents.

Localising is just another form of dubbing, and in fact, it’s actually a little more tricky. When dubbing a foreign language film into English, the viewer accepts that the lip syncing cannot be exact as they’re speaking a different language. However when you ‘translate’ English into English, that lip syncing needs to be exact.

As a voice actor, that adds a whole other dimension to the acting process, as now, on top of living inside a role, I’ve also got to be technically proficient as well. Granted, the engineers do an incredible job of matching everything up, and I really could not do what I do without their help, but it is a collaborative and sometimes, very slow process.

Dubbing has been my route to voicing cartoon characters and I love it. I’ve had the chance to work on TV series and feature films and have worked alongside some incredible voice over artists and directors – something which I hope will continue for many years to come.