SWAMPSCOTT – Keeping his head in the clouds is paying off for Swampscott native Dave Schlafman.Schlafman, 31, is the founder and creative director of Boston-based CloudKid, an animated production company that is gaining international attention.Schlafman, an Emmy-nominated animation producer and award-winning animation director, said he started drawing when he was a student at Stanley Elementary School in Swampscott and he received a lot of support from his teachers.”I was pegged early on as the class artist,” Schlafman said. “I was always doodling and drawing something. My first grade teacher told me she was going to keep a drawing I made because one day I’d be an artist.”Schlafman, a 1998 graduate of Swampscott High School, said he received a scholarship to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he majored in psychology and political science.”I did well academically, but I was a typical ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) student,” Schlafman said. “I would blurt out answers, wander off and get distracted.”Despite his penchant for art, Schlafman said he never planned on studying art.”I was one of the top 10 in my high school graduating class,” Schlafman said. “I thought I did too well in school to go to art school. In some ways I thought I had to do something important with my life. My high school art teacher said I’d end up in art. I think I always knew deep down I wanted to do something creative, but I tried to suppress it.”After one year at UMass Amherst, Schlafman ended up back in Swampscott for a period of time. He worked as a substitute teacher at Swampscott Middle School and in 2000-2001 he coached track and field in town.Schlafman graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2004 and by 2007 he was running a small animation studio out of his home in Watertown.He has worked in children’s media for Penguin Publishing, Hasbro Toys, Parker Brothers, UNICEF, WGBH and American Greetings. He credited his creativity to the maternal side of his family.”My mother is an interior decorator,” he said. “My creative side comes from her side of the family.”In 2008, Al Gore used Schlafman’s award-winning public service announcement “The Sky is Falling” in a global warming presentation. Schlafman was assistant director for the first season of “WordGirl,” an children’s animated television series produced by the animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids.He also directed numerous segments of the Emmy Award-winning PBS show “Between the Lions.”Schlafman said he came up with name CloudKid because he likes the image it conveys.”We wanted a fun name,” he said. “We wanted something kids could relate to.”One of Schlafman’s most recent projects is “Fizzy’s Lunch Lab” – PBS Kids’ first Internet-only series.In 2009, CloudKid produced the series of animated Web episodes. Featuring interactive games and recipes, the Lunch Lab helps families make smarter food choices while having fun. The show was nominated for a 2010 Daytime Emmy in the Children’s New Approaches Category.With a laugh, Schlafman said he was floored when he heard the series was nominated for an Emmy.”It was totally shocking,” he said. “When I told my collaborator (Evan Sussman) we were laughing more than anything. I don’t know why but we just kept laughing about it.”CloudKid now operates out of an office in Brighton, where the Swampscott native has four employees and several interns working for him. Schlafman said the main focus right now is wrapping up the second season of Fizzy’s Lunch Lab.”We’re working on creating some of our own projects and children’s e-books,” he said. “We will continue with new media as opposed to television shows.”