Industry Perspectives: The Importance of Hiring for Diversity with Bhakti Patel
Mack Garrison and Meryn Hayes sat down with Bhakti Patel to speak on her experiences. Bhakti is a talented Art Director and 3D Motion Designer. She has worked with over a dozen studios including Imaginary Forces, Sarofsky, Cause + Effect, Perception NYC, and Current Studios.
Q&A with Bhakti Patel
Read time: 20min
“when you hire somebody and consider their diverse background, you're considering that they can tell stories in a very different way, and that's what we are at the end of the day. storytellers.”
Mack Garrison:
We appreciate you hopping on the call with us. This is Mack Garrison. I'm one of the founders of dash, we've also got Meryn Hayes, one of our producers here as well. First off, do you want to give us a bit of background? How did you discover motion design?
Bhakti Patel:
So, when I was in school, I initially was going the graphic design route. I found it a bit limiting. You can't go beyond a page or a billboard, at least that was my understanding at the time. I started to look into motion design, and a lot of that was discovered through finding a couple of studios like Imaginary Forces, Sarofsky, Elastic, and just looking at their body of work. I thought it was way more interesting. It also included graphic design, so your options become limitless. That's how I started to get interested. So, I ended up studying 3D animation. On the side, I would teach myself Cinema 4D because we were learning 3Ds Max in school.
Mack Garrison:
Oh, cool.
Bhakti Patel:
Yeah. Whatever I learned how to do in 3ds Max in the day, I'd go home and try to do it in C4D. AfterEffects and stuff were already things I'd been playing around with back in high school, but never really went far into. I started to get a little bit more into that, making little projects for myself. By junior year, I landed an internship at Sarofsky for the summer. Sarofsky - which is based in Chicago - had become a big thing because they had just finished the “Captain America: Winter Soldier” titles. Everybody in my class thought I was nuts to turn down an internship at Nickelodeon for a studio they didn't know about. But my biggest thing was that I wanted to work somewhere I would have the opportunity to work on bigger projects early on, in comparison to just a couple of keyframes at a huge studio. Also, Nickelodeon is more story-based, TV-based, while Sarofsky was more motion design-based.
The moment that I realized I was going to go full-on into motion design and away from TV and film, was when I went to SIGGRAPH as a student volunteer. I met a guy who told me a story about how he worked on Lord of the Rings. He was a crowd simulation artist, who had worked on this massive scene. He had worked on the scene for five months which is insane. I was like, "I'm so sorry, but I don't remember the scene," and he was like, "oh, it got cut." And, that was it. I did not want to go into film. The fact that you could work on something for so long and it could get cut. What I wanted to do was work on a lot of things, really quickly. Just constantly be experimenting, trying something new. Motion design was the realm to do that. So that was my big attraction towards the industry.
Mack Garrison:
That's so cool. It's one of the reasons that I got into it as well. I'm so ADD, with graphic design being a little limiting, and how static it is, I felt the same way. I was getting bored of my compositions, so it was like animation, motion, graphics. When we make something, I'll just animate it away. I'll start on something new. I love how quickly we move and hop around.
Do you think that your initial graphic design education helped shape the motion side when you were self-teaching with the Cinema 4D? I know we're in an interesting time right now where there's a lot of online classes. There are more tutorials, it’s more self-taught. Is there validation in getting some prerequisites of design fundamentals before getting into that stuff, or do you think it's easier now more than ever?
Bhakti Patel:
It depends on what you want to do with your career. If you want to grow into a creative director, art director, or motion designer, you need to be all those things. You have to have that fundamental background. If you just want to focus on animating, such as a keyframe movie, or taking somebody else's design and animating that, then I think you can get away with only focusing on that part. It depends on how you want to shape your career, but there's nothing wrong with going either way. It really depends on what you want for yourself.
Meryn Hayes:
Looking at all of the amazing work in your reel and on your website, how do you get connected to get a job, say on Black Panther? Maybe their goal isn't to get on a Marvel movie title, but they have a dream client or project. What's your advice on how to set your goal on something like that?
Bhakti Patel:
My first dream was to get into Imaginary Forces. When I was in college, around senior year, I had landed my job after graduation with Sarofsky as a junior designer for three months. A lot of my peers hadn't, they didn't have the connections. I was part of the animation department representation, so I had connections through the Career Development office. I asked them if I could take 10 students with me to New York for two days during our spring break. We could just go tour around a bunch of studios and make connections that way.
So, I set up one-hour sessions at a few studios; BUCK, Imaginary Forces, Hornet. As I was leaving Imaginary Forces, I asked Avan, "Hey, I love your guys' work. It's a huge inspiration for my thesis film. Do you mind if I send you guys a link once it's completed?" They said yes. From that thesis film, I ended up landing a junior designer position with them for the fall. So, after I'd done Sarofsky in Chicago, I went
Bhakti Patel:
Honestly, it's about the little things. For example, not being so in their face; being kind and respectful of their time. When I got to Imaginary Forces, it was me with a couple of interns, and there were certain things...little tasks that most people just didn’t want to do. I went the extra mile and that was enough to get noticed. Every job that I've had, I haven't applied for, which is crazy. I was always recommended.
When I was at Pepsi, it was a friend of a director at Imaginary Forces that connected me. Perception saw an article from the TV show titles that I worked on for Vinyl. At Facebook, I worked under Audrey Davis, who was this amazing director at The Mill, she was also at Imaginary Forces. We never worked directly together, but she saw the working relationship I had with Alan Williams and decided to take me with her. I've just been lucky that people have been pulling me around in this way. It's all about building really good, strong relationships and you end up getting recommended, or people will pull you along.
Meryn Hayes:
That’s amazing, it points to how the motion community is. It's very large in some ways, but also very small in others. It’s about making valuable connections, to your point, not getting in people's faces, but being genuine. It's also a right place, right time kind of thing. You happen to email somebody who thinks of you for a project.
Mack Garrison:
It just made me think of one interesting tidbit that I took away from that. Bhakti, speaking on that early hustle; reaching out, making connections, there's some hesitation when you're younger. That rejection or thinking you're bothering someone by asking them, "Hey, would you take a look at this," pushes you into not reaching out. I know myself, you, and Meryn too, we were all those young people first coming out, not knowing what we were doing. So, I'm always happy to help and reach out. It sounds like the advice you're saying is, make connections when you're first getting going. You have to be talented to get the work of course, but getting your foot in the door comes with meeting the right people and having people know who you are.
Super Bowl 51 , Halftime Show — Animation by Bhakti Patel.
Bhakti Patel:
Definitely, and honestly I'm a complete introvert. It’s funny how things have worked out. But just putting yourself out there. It never hurts to step out of the box a little.
Mack Garrison:
How did you break that despite feeling uncomfortable? I'm sure there will be a lot of introverts who are reading through this blog post. Were there any steps or processes when you were doing all that stuff early on, coming out of school?
Bhakti Patel:
There was a little bit of extra drive to land somewhere, it was partially the fear of not landing a job. When you're early on, the struggles are tougher. I mean, in my first few years, I was working two to three freelance jobs at a time. You work and try a lot harder because there's that fear of the next one not coming. Everybody always tells you there's going to be a lull, that month that nothing comes. That used to scare the hell out of me. So I'd be like, "Okay, just in case, I'll take two this month." Then somewhere along the line, I realized I had just worked the whole year, two jobs, without ever taking time off. I desperately needed to slow down.
That's why I started going full-time, as an opportunity to force myself to take vacations and breaks. I think our generation has a little bit of that fear that’s built into us, given how we grew up with the economy, with student loans, and everything. It pushes us harder to get out of our comfort zones.
Mack Garrison:
I've been there myself, particularly before we started to dash. I was freelancing some and had that same issue where I was taking on more work. I didn't know where it was going to come from next. The same goes for the studio. When stuff comes in, we try to take on as much as we can.
I'll transition us a little bit back to what you were doing and then where you're going. You've had so much experience working on a variety of projects. I'm looking at your website, everything from Fox IDs, to Black Panther, to Vinyl. I know as you progressed in your career, you've probably been able to be more selective with the work that you take on. Looking back from when you first got into the field, are there certain types of projects that you like to do more than others? Have you found that you've become more niche in what you try to take on? Or, are you still at a point where you like to experiment and try new endeavors given they sound interesting and it's the right group of people to be working with?
“if you have the core skills and you know how to adapt to any medium, people pay attention.”
Bhakti Patel:
It's more of the latter. I like to be able to experiment, play around, and try new things. Anything that's piqued my interest will get some attention for sure. I like projects that have something I've never done before. When I was working on the American Horror Story teasers with Kenny Kegley, he asked me, "Have you ever animated a snake before?" I hadn’t but I promised I would figure it out.
If you have the core skills and you know how to adapt to any medium, people pay attention. When I was at Pepsi, I was doing global brand experience; the Super Bowl Halftime shows, social media campaigns, UEFA Champions League Opening Ceremony. Had I done anything even related to brand experience before? No. Not in the slightest, but they took a chance on me simply because the fundamentals were there. If you're honest about it, if you're telling them, "Hey, I know how to learn quickly," they'll give you a better chance than if you were just to walk in and be like, "I know everything, I can solve all your problems."
Mack Garrison:
I think that's so cool. As creators at heart, we always want to try something new and push our boundaries, but there's this fear that you're going to let someone down, or that you don't know fully how to do something. That reservation, unfortunately, will pull some creatives back from trying a project that’s in their wheelhouse. I think it's really good to echo your sentiment. Don't be cocky that you already know it, but be confident in your skillset and what you can learn.
Bhakti Patel:
You don't ever want to be confident in your ability to know everything, but your ability to learn. That's a good way to think about it. One is ego and one is a student mindset.
Black Panther — Design and Animation by Bhakti Patel
Meryn Hayes:
Knowing that you might not know everything when you're going into a job or project, and there may be a tight timeline, how do you practically set yourself up for success so that you don't over-commit and end up needing help? How do you balance not overpromising and under-delivering on something that you've never tried before?
Bhakti Patel:
There are some things I know for sure I can never learn. I won't try that stuff. For example, I can't do the 2D illustrative style. I know my limit, that's not my wheelhouse. But the things I know I could learn, for instance, there was a project that they wanted me to work on in Maya. I'm not a Maya artist, but it was pretty simple. It was being able to have that producer mindset. Thinking about how you're going to structure out, problem-solving, breaking it down into, “okay, I just need to learn how to model and texture.” I will watch one tutorial on modeling and another one on texturing or I will figure out how to model in C4D and bring it into Maya so that I can texture in there the way that they want it, so I can at least deliver the file that way.
It's trying to be more thoughtful in what you do and how you do it, rather than diving straight in. You don’t want to get knee-deep into something, and then you realize, "Oh, wait, wait, wait. I could have made this whole thing a lot more simple for myself." Having that producer mindset makes a huge difference. Another thing, realizing that you do have a motion community available to you. There's a tutorial on everything; GreyScaleGorilla, School of Motion, YouTube. There are a million resources that you can use. Being smart about knowing all these resources available to you early on, makes a big difference.
Mack Garrison:
That's fantastic. You're still bringing value to the table, even if it isn't with you; by your network and people you know. To your point, studios want to work with proactive people. Talking about just how small the industry is, and how important reputation is, it's crazy to me how everyone is connected to someone you know. Everyone is going to know someone. So to your point, work hard on every project, put in your best effort, don't ever throw in the towel on something just because you're not feeling it, because it gets around.
Bhakti Patel:
Definitely, and everyone hits a project or two where their reputation takes a little bit of a hit because either something personal came up or they made a stupid mistake. I know early on I got burnt out and I didn't give a project 100%. At that point, first, know that everybody messes up to some degree. Second, make sure you do something to make it right because it could stick with you. It could be a problem in the future. I learned early on that reputation sticks.
Mack Garrison:
One thing Meryn and I have been talking about is how male-oriented the industry is. It's refreshing to see this resurgence of more prominent female artists, designers, and animators that are pushing their way up to the echelons; to very elite levels, breaking through what traditionally had this glass ceiling. Have you run into any diversity in your career path when trying to grow? Any recommendations for other women and minorities in the industry? What can they do to position themselves in the best way possible as they move into the world?
“don't be cocky that you already know it, but be confident in your skillset and what you can learn.”
Bhakti Patel:
I did this talk on hiring for diversity, it's more so just talking about where you could take it, and what the benefit is of hiring for diversity. Have you guys noticed that everybody's telling the same stories, and all the work is becoming similar?
Everybody follows the same artists. They keep copying the same words; telling the same stories over and over again. The way to fix that is by hiring for diversity. If you have artists, designers, and creators on your team who think differently - they were raised differently, they grew up with a different culture, they have a female perspective instead of a male perspective - it can completely change how you do business. It can change how you create work, the kind of work you create, and could ultimately end up being better for you and the company in the long run. I don't think people realize that diversity is an asset. It's more than just a check box, you know?
Mack Garrison:
Right!
Bhakti Patel:
When you hire somebody and consider their diverse background, you're considering that they can tell stories in a very different way, and that's what we are at the end of the day. Storytellers.
“you don't ever want to be confident in your ability to know everything, but your ability to learn...one is ego and one is a student mindset.”
Mack Garrison:
It's a great conversation to have. I feel very lucky that, at dash, we're still in such a small studio. There's a lot of input from our entire staff. It's not just the executives or the leadership team making decisions on who to hire, it's everyone involved talking through it while being transparent. But you start thinking of bigger studios and agencies, all of a sudden, it's still a very select few that end up making the decisions about who to hire and why they're hiring. Would you give any advice, if there was a hiring director out there, reading this or listening to this? What are some things that people should be doing to be more proactive about diversity so it is not just a checkbox? How can they be proactive when bringing in that other side of design?
Bhakti Patel:
First is understanding what I just mentioned. Why is it important to hire with diversity in mind? The second is proactively reaching out to groups. There is Panimation, which is full of women of diverse backgrounds as well. There's a Facebook group, but they also have a website with a lot of different portfolios. Talk to your existing employees. Ask, "Hey, we would like to bring in more diverse thought into this company, do you have recommendations?" It's not necessarily about giving preference to female artists over male artists or anything of that sort, but leveling the playing field. There are so many extra steps that we have to take to just get a seat at the table, so it's making sure that we at least have a chance to get our foot in the door. That's what hiring for diversity looks like.
Mack Garrison:
That's great, Bhakti. And that's the proactive nature of what you were alluding to as well. Companies have to be active. They can't be passive when it comes to that.
Disneyland Shanghai, Pepsi — Bhakti Patel.
Bhakti Patel:
Also, it’s easy for there to be a bit of a bros club, at certain places. The people that you get along with the most are those you tend to recommend and hire. So if hiring managers get along with a lot of different male artists or male designers, they're more likely to only recommend men. They have something in common with them. Because of that, the entire culture of the motion design industry has become a bit of a bro's club. Instead of saying "Oh, will they fit into our culture," i.e. bro's club, we need more of, "Does our culture need to change, and will this person help round it out?" That's something that doesn't always get asked.
Meryn Hayes:
Yeah, this is a hard question to pose. It’s not just for you to figure out, but what are some practical ways that studios and freelancers - male or female - can take to chip away at that bro culture? As Mack mentioned, it's something that we're aware of. We want to make sure that we’re looking for a diverse group of people when we are hiring and not just, "Oh, we know so and so who might be someone that we know," it might be another white male. What do you think about how we as an industry can start to reshape that culture?
Bhakti Patel:
A lot of women tend to only get hired for junior positions. Then somehow, they disappear when it gets to the director level. They all get stopped somewhere. I know so many more female designers and artists that get to an intern level, and then that’s it for them. But a lot of their male counterparts end up leveling up. Even just thinking about proactively being invested in their careers makes a huge difference. Talk to them about how they can progress to an animator, art director, or creative director. Make sure that there aren't just women in the lower part of your company, but also in the more executive positions as well. That makes a huge difference. Especially if they can see that they can get to a creative director level. The company values; that thought and that leadership, make a huge difference. Making sure that there's some sort of opportunity or possibility for a mentorship.
Meryn Hayes:
Mentorship is huge. You don't know what's attainable in your career until you see someone else doing it. Being paired with one or trying to find someone that would be in a role that you would want, trying to learn from them and feed off of what they've done, that's so important. Our community is so welcoming and inviting, I know so many people who would be happy to reach out, give advice, and share their experiences just to help set the groundwork for other people; other minorities, or for women.
Mack Garrison:
It's systematic too. If you have these bro cultures, you foster this industry that's filled with white males. Then, all the bonds that form and mentorships created are catered for white men. The folks that get left behind are the women or minorities who are trying to move up to those leadership positions. They don't have the same opportunities that their peers do, and that’s another unfortunate layer of separation in the industry. It goes back to what you talked about earlier, Bhakti, about reaching out and being more proactive in trying to foster some connection with folks in the industry. Maybe even starting earlier on, and connecting with leadership positions who resemble where you want to be and what you want to do so you can have those mentorships.
Bhakti Patel:
For sure. Having more women involved helps change that culture as well. There's a company that I was at, it was all white men. They would always talk about sports, and I just didn't know enough about that, so I could never have any conversation with them that wasn’t design-related. It made it almost impossible, being the only person coming from a different background. So, there was nothing that I could bring to the conversation in any way. During lunch, they only talked about these two or three things, it was impossible to break into it.
“everyone is going to know someone…work hard on every project, put in your best effort, don't ever throw in the towel on something just because you're not feeling it because it gets around.”
Mack Garrison:
Absolutely, and was that a freelance position or full-time position that you were doing there? Did you stick around a long time or a short time because of it?
Bhakti Patel:
It was freelance. I didn't choose to stick around because of that reason. I left because I got a better opportunity somewhere else that paid more, along with other things. They also negotiated my rate down, I wish I stuck with my guns on that one, but I didn't. I was just two years out of school so I compromised, but I feel they never negotiated down for anybody else. They pushed and pushed down, and then added two more hours into the day as well.
Mack Garrison:
Wow, yeah. That's pretty negative. On a positive note, with the Me Too movement and other recent events, I see a progression. People are more cognizant of it than they have been over the last 10 years. I think back to when I first got into the industry, even compared to where we are now, it feels like we're making steps forward. I would be concerned if it was still the status quo. So, in the light of looking forward and thinking about where this industry is heading, where do you see motion design going?
Bhakti Patel:
There is a lot of potential in how bigger companies are approaching motion design in a branding form; thinking about motion design systems. Google has one, IBM has one, Facebook has developed one as well. There's a lot of potential with systemic thinking when designing for motion, and that's a huge conversation with so much potential. But, I don't know where all the motion designers are on this one, so we need you.
The second thing is regarding the AR and VR realms, mixed reality as well. There's potential there. The problem that you run into right now is more so that you have 3D artists with a lot of skill, but not enough design chops. Sometimes you'll have a lot of graphic designers or artists who have these amazing ideas and can design them well, but they don't have the skills to bring them into reality. Motion designers stand in the middle because they can do both. They have the design skills and the motion skills. They can bring these from 3D into AR and VR, so they have this unique opportunity that I don't know if everyone realizes that they can push into this realm. And, there's a lot of money to be made there.
Bhakti Patel:
In terms of advertising, it's interesting. I haven't done too much lately, but I think the projects have dried up a bit. It’s not because motion design is getting smaller by any means. If anything, it's expanding. Expanding beyond the 55 inch TV. If you think about it, AR/VR advertising happens a lot. When it comes to global brand experience as well. That's something that I noticed that Pepsi has done a lot of. They're more focused on building an entire experience around their brand, so instead of doing an ad during the Super Bowl, they'll have the entire Super Bowl Halftime Show to put their logo all over, in motion. Things like that are huge, and I think it's just breaking away from what we understand motion design to be, its application, and thinking about where else it could be applied.
Mack Garrison:
That's great. It's one of the things that is so nice about our industry. You talked about the background and how people get into motion design. You can have a graphic designer with motion skills that come into play. You could have a more traditional animator. Someone who knows code can come into it. You have this melting pot of different characters, personality traits, and skillsets. That creates a lot of opportunities. There are so many different avenues that people can place themselves in, which is really inspiring and very optimistic for folks who are in this industry.
One thing that I was interested in was your comment on systems. You talked about where the future's heading. Animation motion graphics is a great conduit for organizing information and distilling complex materials into something easily digestible. So, I think the systems side of it is really interesting. I was curious if you could talk about your thoughts towards the systems or when you say system design and what that means when it comes to motion.
Game of Thrones, Teaser - 2D Animation by Bhakti Patel.
Bhakti Patel:
When we talk about branding, we talk about logo design, we talk about color palettes, and things like that. How a brand moves is something that people don't fully get into, but it's just as important as what colors you choose. For instance, Google gets away with doing these very bouncy movements, and that's because their brand allows for it. It's more playful in that way. But when you talk about something that's more business-oriented, something that's a little bit more serious as a brand, how does that move differently than how Google might move? These are things that are more interesting to think about, and they’re more like problem-solving, brand directives kind of thinking. There's a lot of potential in that realm. Companies are starting to realize that the way they apply motion to aspects of their brand makes as much of a difference as what colors they use, what types they use, what layouts they use.
This is a huge area that we can get into. And the thing is, this is the one area I haven't seen outdated tutorials on. But in terms of an actual full brand, talking everything from advertising, all the way down to button clicks, that's the entire system. So thinking about how people see it on TV, all the way down to how they experience it.
Mack Garrison:
Especially if that ecosystem evolves and becomes more complex, has more deliverables. There are all these different channels, you have to think about that, right? How are people going to be interacting with your brand as motion becomes more popular, as far as the content that people digest? You need to think about, to your point, UX, button clicks, how is the interactive experience going to affect their brand? How is the video someone watches, Instagram fascinating?
Well, awesome! Bhakti, this was great. I know you've got to run so I'll let you go, but thank you so much for chatting with Meryn and I. I think this was incredibly informative.
Bhakti Patel:
Sounds great. All right, have a good one, guys.
Mack Garrison:
Thanks, Bhakti, talk to you soon.
Meryn Hayes:
Thanks, stay safe.
Takeover Tuesday with Joey Judkins
Q&A with Joey Judkins: an animator and art director from Columbus, Ohio.
Q&A with Joey Judkins
Read time: 5min
Created by Joey Judkins.
Madison Caprara:
So, how did you get into your medium? Did it immediately click or take some exploration?
Joey Judkins:
It's hard to answer this only because it's hard to say what my "medium" is! I started drawing at a very early age, now I'm working in 2D and 3D on all kinds of projects. I'd say 3D definitely took some exploration and practice to learn, but after doing so much 2D character animation, I was happy to find that 3D character animation came relatively naturally to me once I knew the tools in C4D and Maya.
Madison Caprara:
Was there ever a point where you doubted your career path?
Joey Judkins:
All the time! When I was an illustration student in college, I wondered if it was a good idea to pursue illustration as a career. When I was a full-time caricature artist at a theme park, I wondered if it was a good idea to continue doing that, so I applied for a job as a video specialist which was a mix of motion design and videography at a church. After that, I doubted if being on a church staff forever was a good career move, so I took a staff job at a motion design studio.
I didn't really have a plan to leave any of those jobs until I had a healthy dose of doubt about them. Finally, after going freelance, I can say I've had less and less doubt about my career path. But the occasional fear that "this might not last forever" and "one day I won't have any work" still springs up. So I try to get through those fears by working on personal projects that excite me and challenge me creatively.
“the occasional fear that ‘this might not last forever’ and ‘one day I won't have any work’ still springs up. so I try to get through those fears by working on personal projects that excite me and challenge me creatively.”
Madison Caprara:
I see that you teach on the side, is that something you recommend doing for all creatives? What have been the most difficult and most rewarding aspects of teaching?
Joey Judkins:
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for all creatives, I think there's something inside people who want to teach that compels them to do so. It's extremely rewarding when you know you've helped someone learn something, so that's the driving force behind wanting to teach. It's not a bad way to earn side income either, but it definitely takes a lot of work organizing your thoughts, feeling comfortable filming yourself and your process while, and then editing it down to something digestible for people to watch. Anyone who has tried to record themselves making tutorials understands that struggle.
Madison Caprara:
What have YOU learned about animation and what lessons have you incorporated into your work/life from teaching and working alongside your students?
Joey Judkins:
One thing I've learned from teaching is that everyone learns differently. Also, just because someone else may have a course similar to yours, that doesn't mean you shouldn't put your own voice out there and allow someone to learn from your unique style and approach. You always learn a little while you're teaching; it's almost like extra practice.
Madison Caprara:
Advice for those just beginning their journey: for or against the formal education route?
Joey Judkins:
This one is tough - I cannot say that someone wouldn’t benefit from a formal education in art or animation, because I'm speaking from the experience of someone who went to art school. I can say that in today's world, however, there are so many more avenues for learning online than there were when I went to school and that formal education has only gotten more and more expensive (but not necessarily better). Let's put it this way: If and when my daughter decides she wants to be an animator, I'm not going to let her go into massive debt to do it - I'll do my best to help her find an online solution. And when all is said and done, the best artists out there (whether self-taught, formally educated, or online) are going to succeed by putting in the work and being diligent.
Madison Caprara:
In the freelance game, there can be extended periods of downtime. What do you recommend doing to keep your skills sharp during these times?
Joey Judkins:
I always recommend having a running list of downtime projects; stuff you've wanted to learn, shots you want to work on to stretch your skills in one direction or another. One thing I'll say is that it's tempting to try to learn something based on fear (someone might not hire me if I don't learn X or Y), but I recommend learning something that aligns with your actual interests and what kind of work you want to do. Chase your desires, not your fears!
Created by Joey Judkins.
Madison Caprara:
What has been your favorite project, whether personal or paid? What about it really stuck with you?
Joey Judkins:
Another REALLY hard one! I'm going to say my Ultraboy animation (circa 2016) is one of my favorites because it represents so much about my artistic journey. When I first started, I knew no 3D whatsoever, but I had ideas for little stories and even video games. I came up with the character Ultraboy as a kind of homage to Megaman.
For a time, he existed only as a character design sketch in my sketchbook. I had ideas for ways he could use light and powers, and storyboards for fun little sequences to animate. The only problem is I had no idea how to actually do any of that. Over time, I learned 3D modeling, rigging, lighting, animation, and Octane rendering. The idea for Ultraboy came back to my mind, so I took a crack at it. Finally, what was in my head for so long was achievable thanks to new skills.
Madison Caprara:
Where do you go for inspiration?
Joey Judkins:
Honestly, I find a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, Behance, and (gasp) Dribbble! I remember people kind of flocking away from Dribbble a while ago, but it's still good for a quick idea or two.
“it's extremely rewarding when you know you've helped someone learn something, so that's the driving force behind wanting to teach.”
Madison Caprara:
How are you doing in this post-covid world? What are you doing now to achieve that necessary balance between work and sustainability in your life? How would you recommend fellow creatives go about prioritizing the work-life balance?
Created by Joey Judkins. Flames, skeleton, and textures by Zak Tietjen.
“the best artists out there…are going to succeed by putting in the work and being diligent.”
Joey Judkins:
I wouldn't necessarily call the world "post-Covid" yet, but I'm doing ok! I'm actually thankful I'm in a field where there is a large amount of flexibility on time and work situations. I can feel free to make my own schedule, pick up my kids from school, hang out at the house or at my own office when I need to. My wonderful wife does most of the work in order to allow me to have this kind of job though - she's a ninja without whom none of this would be possible.
If you're another creative and you are interested in having a family with kids, the biggest thing is figuring out a system and solid communication to divide and conquer work and life. If you don't have kids yet, you have the high ground in this industry, don't forget that. So it's up to you what you want to focus your life and attention on. It's hard to navigate how much "extra" time I should be putting into work - to learn, teach, make more money, whatever - while my children are here in my house, because eventually they will be grown, and I do not want to feel like I missed my chance to be a good dad to them.
Madison Caprara:
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to share?
Joey Judkins:
If you're a freelancer, the best piece of advice I can give is to be a good communicator and always be reliable. Always do what you say you are going to do - it keeps your clients happy and keeps them coming back to you over and above your other skills.