There’s a peculiar rhythm to life when storytelling becomes your compass, and few embody that dance quite like Jason Love. On today’s episode, we welcome a creator who has dipped his hands into nearly every corner of the craft—animator, magician, comic artist, educator, and even late-night TV performer. His journey is not one of following the rules but of bending them, shaping a path through sheer experimentation, and proving that filmmaking at its heart is about resourcefulness and play.
Jason’s first taste of animation came not through polished studios but through flip books and clunky VHS camcorders. In college, he began experimenting with Windows Movie Maker, breaking down drawings into tiny increments of movement. “It wasn’t scientific, but it was magical,” he recalled. That sense of magic carried him forward, showing him that filmmaking was less about having perfect tools and more about having the willingness to try. While film school often bound students to expensive stock and battered cameras, Jason found freedom in the growing accessibility of digital tools.
What followed was an unconventional route through the filmmaking world. When the weight of traditional film education slowed him down, Jason pivoted to teaching himself and later teaching others. Libraries became his classrooms, where kids and teens learned that movies could be born from simple experiments at home. His workshop, once humorously called “Cheap Animator,” was proof that compelling stories don’t require expensive cameras or Hollywood backlots. They require imagination and the courage to press record.
Jason also branched into making short films, often as learning experiments for new tools or formats. One early project, “Hillary’s Adventures in Politics,” became both a crash course in Flash animation and a test of his persistence. Though the project dragged far longer than planned, it taught him the rhythm of production, the weight of editing, and the satisfaction of seeing an idea evolve into a finished short. Later, while creating his comic “Madman of Magic,” he pushed further into motion comics, combining illustration with filmmaking technique. These hybrid experiments revealed how fluid the borders of film can be when curiosity takes the lead.
And then there were his performances. Jason once landed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, performing a stunt where he laid on a bed of nails while a partner balanced on a unicycle above him. “I just figured—what’s the worst that could happen?” he laughed. The same daring spirit that led him to late-night television is what has fueled his filmmaking: a willingness to take a chance, submit a demo, or start a project without knowing where it might lead.
Perhaps most telling is Jason’s foray into crowdfunding. With his online animation course, he chose to open the door wide—offering the handbook for only a dollar on Kickstarter. His goal was never about profit; it was about reach. Hundreds of people responded, some diving deeper, others simply curious enough to try. In the process, Jason revealed one of the most important truths about filmmaking in the digital age: accessibility is everything. The fewer the barriers to entry, the more voices get to share their stories.
What Jason reminds us is that filmmaking doesn’t have to be monumental to matter. He tells his students to think in seconds—three or four seconds of animation can hold more value than chasing a perfect feature-length dream. It is in the short, simple acts of creation that filmmakers build their foundation. From motion comics to library workshops, from clunky camcorders to YouTube uploads, Jason’s journey is proof that the heart of filmmaking isn’t in the equipment or the budget. It’s in the play, the persistence, and the willingness to keep experimenting.
