Takeover Tuesday with Juan Jose Diaz

An interview with Juan Jose Diaz: a Colombian Visual Artist that loves to give life to things with animation.

Q&A with Juan Jose Diaz.

Read time: 5min

 

 

Bella Alfonsi:

Hey, JJ! Thanks for taking over a Tuesday with us. Tell us who you are and what you create!

JJ:

Hey Dash Team; thank you so much for having me at Takeover Tuesday. I am Juan Jose Diaz or JJ! I am a Colombian Visual Artist that loves to give life to things with animation; I love to draw and experiment with timing, creating compelling visuals that communicate ideas.

Bella Alfonsi:

What made you make the move from Colombia to the US?

JJ:

I got pretty lucky because my uncle applied for a visa for my family. It took 14 years, but we finally made it, hehe, and the first time I traveled outside Colombia was to migrate to the US.

 

Transistor Studios - Valentine’s Day Post

 

Bella Alfonsi:

How has growing up in Colombia influenced you and your work?

JJ:

Oh, it has given me a lot of curiosity and allowed me to learn from artistic referents that use art to talk about serious social issues and reflect on different aspects of being human.

So I always look forward to applying that "idea first over the technique" approach.

 

Loop referencing the iconic comic "Akira,"

 

Bella Alfonsi:

Do you have any formal training or are you completely self taught?

JJ:

Yes, in 3D, I studied a 2-year program in 3D animation at night while I was studying Visual arts in college, a 5-year program that I did not finish because we had to migrate. But! of course, I have taken a bunch of online classes and read a bunch of books to improve my practice.

But at a distance, I go back to just wanting to draw, in whatever form that takes.

Bella Alfonsi:

Looking at your portfolio, it appears you are a cel animation wizard. Is this your favorite method of animation?

JJ:

Yes, after a couple of years dealing with the crashing of 3D software, I started to find it easier at the beginning to translate my ideas with drawings without having to be a generalist expert in 3D to model, texture, rig, render, etc.

 

Vegan World.

 

Bella Alfonsi:

What’s your workflow like when cel animating?

JJ:

First, thumbnails, where all the crazy ideas appear, tiny drawings trying out different compositions, thinking a lot on the negative space. Then translate that into some rough keyframes, and to find out the right timing, I do a bunch of tests just moving balls around (Everything is on the 12 principles); once that is done: time to do more rough frames, then the tie-down and finally the long process of cleaning so I get comfortable with a nice podcast or music and just work. I feel this is the time when animation gets closer to meditation.

Bella Alfonsi:

You’ve worked on a bunch of fun projects over the years, do you have a favorite?

JJ:

For a client, it will be the project for Baqsimi that I did with Ataboy Studios. I got to animate a dynamic scene and used my 3D background to block out the camera and reference the movement to translate that into drawings.

And a personal one will be the appropriation that I did of one of the Akira pages when in 2020, with all the racial issues going on in the US, I contributed with a loop reinterpreting Akira and the fight for human rights.

 

Project for Baqsimi which helps patients with diabetes.

 

Bella Alfonsi:

Who are some artists that you look up to and/or inspire you to create what you do?

JJ:

Sebacuri because his career amazed me, he has been able to develop a bunch of new skills seeing him going from being another motion designer to an illustrator with his own voice and making a living from that. And jonathan_djob_nkondo, because he is a master of timing, the way he works, those keyframes are definitely an artistic statement.

Bella Alfonsi:

What are you most proud of in your career thus far?

Rohan McDonald:

Being in a place I never imagined, not even two years ago, having met incredible people along the way, and having a career that supports my hobbies between extreme sports and travel.

 

Short animated piece for the LA Galaxy soccer team.

 

Bella Alfonsi:

Any advice/final takeaways?

Rohan McDonald:

Life is an incredible ride full of surprises. You will never know where you will be in 10 years, so keep learning about everything, not just art; keep making mistakes and make sure you take care of YOURSELF!

 
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