The Importance of Self-Branding with Zack Davenport
Read on to gain insight into Zack Davenport’s thoughts about the importance of self-branding. Zack is the Founding Designer at Hellosaurus, an interactive video platform for kids.
In the past, he’s worked in-house at Vimeo, Foursquare, and Vine (RIP), and freelanced for companies like Nickelodeon and HQ Trivia.
Q&A with Zack Davenport
Read time: 10min
“JC’s Pizza Cave,” Created by Zack Davenport.
Mack Garrison:
Let’s start with a little bit about you. Tell us about how you got into the design industry and what led you to Vimeo.
Zack Davenport:
I started design as a hobby back in high school and was interested in t-shirt design. Threadless.com was a big influence on me back then and designing t-shirts and getting feedback from the community was how I learned the basics quickly. I hadn’t considered making design into a career but eventually found myself in the college of design at NC State University studying Graphic Design. I was always in the print lab screen printing and doing letterpress which is where I imagined my career would go. A lot of the designers I looked up to were making a name for themselves up in New York, so I had a lot of aspirations in eventually moving there.
Senior year, I was starting to put my feelers out there, starting to apply for jobs. I ended up getting a job at Foursquare in New York, as a Communications Designer. My job started mostly in Marketing; working on print deliverables, direct mailers, and marketing assets. As I grew there, I started getting more into the visual design of the app itself; the branding, the iconography, doing all the stickers and badges for Foursquare's app. That got me interested in visual design and branding and eventually led to me looking for a new role. At the time, I was talking to one of the co-founders of Vine and he ended up hiring me as a Product and Brand Designer. Vine was an interesting moment for me because I got really into animation, motion design, and understanding how the two can go together. I got an appreciation of motion and how my designs can take a life of their own when animation is added.
When Vine folded, I wanted to continue in a role that was specifically for Brand Design, but I liked working with video and I wanted to find another similar role. When I started talking to Vimeo, the pieces just aligned. Now I've been there for a little over three years. I started as the only Brand Designer on the team, and now it has grown from just me and a copywriter to a team of around 15 people.
“motion is at the forefront of all of our design thinking.”
Mack Garrison:
I can't believe it's been three years. That's wild. I feel like it was just the other day, I remember you started Vimeo. Tell me, what is expected of a brand designer? What is the role of a Brand Designer at Vimeo?
Zack Davenport:
Brand Designers at Vimeo oversee all the design work and all the creative that goes out the door on the marketing and brand side. Any time there's a product launch, maybe there's a marketing campaign geared towards that, that would be the work that I oversee. Also, making sure that that work is up to Vimeo’s high standards.
A campaign or anything like that can touch a lot of different media. Anything you see on vimeo.com, when you're not a logged-in user, are pages that my team and I have designed and support. We design emails and videos. We have an in-house production team that we work very closely with. We have motion designers on that team that we work with as well. Though I'm not necessarily animating anymore at Vimeo, I am art directing those projects; working with motion designers who are much more talented than I am and using them and their abilities to elevate the work that we want to do.
Mack Garrison:
Let me ask you this, Zack. Naturally, within the motion design industry, we can steadily see the progression of our field as we've grown, and how much more complex it can become. As well as the different avenues you can take with it. How have you seen the brand design role shift because of motion?
Created by Zack Davenport.
Zack Davenport:
Yeah, totally. I think motion is at the forefront of all of our design thinking. As a video company, I'm working with developers to make sure that all of our landing pages can support embedded video. We want to use video in a way that gets people excited. We make sure that everything we put out there has a video-first mindset, in a lot of ways.
We just launched a new product called Vimeo Create, it's a way for small businesses to create short videos, more Instagram-style stories, and other social videos. We are working on a campaign for that right now.
Mack Garrison:
Do you have any tips on how freelancers or smaller studios should think about their brands?
Zack Davenport:
I think a lot of studios or individual freelancers don't think about branding at first, which makes sense. You want to focus on the client's work and everything. But branding yourself is a great way of making sure the client understands what they're getting when they work with you.
Mack Garrison:
I think one of the things that we were excited about when we started our branding project for Dash with you was a lot of surprising aspects that I don't think I would've thought of, had we gone at it on our own, versus bringing someone like you in.
Let's say someone out there wants to rebrand themselves. What would you encourage them to do first? What's the first thing you do when you're starting a branding project, whether it's freelance or something at Vimeo?
Zack Davenport:
Yeah, that's a great question. I think a lot of people don't understand the amount of thought that should go into a branding process, on the business owner side. For example, I'll get a lot of people reaching out asking for a rebrand or something like that. The first thing I'll do is send them the questionnaire that they should fill out. It's a lot of questions around: what is the long-term goal of the company? What's the short-term goal? What’s your company’s special sauce that separates you from your competitors?
These are all things that influence the brand. I think a lot of times, people don't quite understand when they reach out to a designer for a rebrand how much thought will have to come from them first, and how many questions internally they'll have to answer. I think it's a great process. Especially when you have business partners, it's kind of an opportunity to take a step back and align together, to make sure that you're both on the same page moving forward.
The biggest challenges with rebranding projects occur when that alignment doesn't happen in the beginning. All the answers to my questions inform the direction that I end up pitching to the client. If there isn’t an alignment at the beginning, then the brief isn't there, it isn't fleshed out. And it doesn't lead to the best results.
Zack Davenport bio picture.
Mack Garrison:
Can you give some more examples of the types of questions you may ask a new client?
Zack Davenport:
Yeah, sure! What are the personality traits that you want your company to embody? When a client is looking at your website, looking at your videos, what is the expected result of that? How do you want them to feel when they've seen it? I think also, having a clear understanding of where your brand lives in the world. If you're a bagel shop, you're going to have a different result in terms of branding process than you would for an agency that makes digital ads. All those areas where your brand lives are extremely important when approaching the design of a logo, of a type hierarchy, of color, and scale.
Mack Garrison:
I'm sure you've seen so many portfolios, either from vendors or people applying to jobs at Vimeo. What are some of the more egregious things that you see that people don't think about, that they should be 100% considering when they're building their website?
Zack Davenport:
To be honest, I think some of the more egregious stuff that I find on portfolio reviews and stuff like that is trying to overdo it. I think a lot of time the best answer for a portfolio is generally the most simple one.
Sometimes, over-designed portfolio websites can overshadow the work itself. I think that's the most important: your portfolio is meant to show off your work. Unless you are a web designer and you're applying for a job as a web designer, I think the web design portion of your portfolio should almost take a back seat, if that makes sense.
“branding yourself is a great way of making sure the client understands what they're getting when they work with you.”
Mack Garrison:
What are your thoughts on platforms like Instagram or social media in general? Do you feel like that's an important presence to have, as any designer, whether it's motion or static? Is there a necessity to have social media in that regard?
Dash mark and a supporting brand system created by Zack Davenport.
Zack Davenport:
I don't think there's anything wrong with having your work in as many places as you can. I still get a lot of client projects through Dribbble, for example. Especially for motion designers, having a portfolio on Vimeo and Instagram just makes sense. You never know who's looking or who could track your work down in various ways.
Mack Garrison:
Do you have any thoughts or ideas on what the future of designing a brand looks like? Any thoughts on things that either companies or freelancers should be cognizant of as we move into the next 10 years?
Zack Davenport:
I think about that question a lot. The tools that we, as designers, use regularly are constantly changing. Even the stuff that we were using five years ago isn't necessarily the stuff we're using today. You can't be attached to anything. One thing I've learned throughout my entire career is you have to be willing to embrace the next big thing or drop what you're doing based on client feedback and try the next thing.
Mack Garrison:
We just got back from a portfolio review down at SCAD. We had a lot of students who were asking about things they should think about when they get out of school. If you could advise yourself 10 years ago, what advice would you give?
“one thing I've learned throughout my entire career, is you have to be willing to embrace the next big thing...”
Zack Davenport:
I personally believe the best asset a designer can bring to a team is being a generalist; someone who has the skills and passion to solve the problem, no matter the medium. Be the person who can jump from branding to product design, from illustration to animation depending on the day. Focus on keeping nimble, keeping fresh, and creating a process that doesn't rely on specific tools. take advantage of the resources that you have available to you and keep challenging yourself to learn something new.
“focus on keeping nimble, keeping fresh, and creating a process that doesn't rely on specific tools.”
Mack Garrison:
Zack, this was great. I don't want to keep you too long. Any teasers for what you might be talking about at the dash bash? Have you given any thought to that yet?
Zack Davenport:
Been thinking a lot about it. I'm not going to tease anything yet. I have too many options.
Mack Garrison:
No, that sounds good, buddy. This was great, man. I appreciate you taking the time to hang out.
Gif created by Zack Davenport.
Ticket Update!
the Dash Bash
raleigh, nc
september 23-24, 2021
early bird tickets on sale may 28th, 10 am est
A limited number of Early Bird tickets will be available the morning of May 28th, priced at $300 plus taxes and fees. Get them while you can - we will have a limited quantity with a possible second wave of sales based on updated state and venue restrictions. Keep an eye out for that update in early June. For now, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Don’t miss out!
Created by Erich Reimers.
COVID Policy:
Dash Bash attendees will be required to follow current mask regulations and social distancing where possible as well as any other guidelines set forth by the state of North Carolina.
FAQ’s:
Check out our FAQ page for any additional questions. Don’t see your answer? Shoot us an email at bash@dashstudio.net. We can’t wait to hang out with our favorite Mograph friends!
Takeover Tuesday with Rachel Reid
Q&A with Rachel Reid: a freelance 2D and 3D character animator, living in Detroit, MI.
Q&A with Rachel Reid
Read time: 10min
Madison Caprara:
What’s up, Rachel?
So, let’s start from the beginning. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your upbringing!
Rachel Reid:
Hello! My name is Rachel Reid and I am a freelance character animator. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, and attended the College for Creative Studies with a BA in Animation.
Growing up, I loved to draw and play video games with my twin brother. Drawing was really the only thing I wanted to do both at school and at home. My father encouraged my brother and me to learn Toon Boom Harmony, Blender, and Maya from a very early age. We spent so much of our time creating our own animations and making fun 8-bit video games. My brother would create a flip-book with stick-figure animations on sticky notes while I’d create my own comic books and watch cartoons. I grew up very fortunate to be surrounded by a loving and supportive family who encouraged me to learn and grow artistically.
Madison Caprara:
So, how exactly did you get into drawing and animation career-wise? When did you know that it was something you wanted to pursue?
“Miles” — Created by Rachel Reid.
Rachel Reid:
I loved watching animated films. Growing up, I was always interested in understanding how they were made. More than the movies themselves, I enjoyed watching the “behind the scenes” footage of some of my favorite Disney or Miyazaki films. Strangely, pursuing animation never felt like something I decided to do. It simply felt like a natural response to my growing need to find my purpose in life!
While the interest was always there, my father especially encouraged me to dive into the medium. His support was crucial in my pursuit as he provided me with a computer and always had the animation software equipped and ready to go. I remember the day he begged me to start exploring Autodesk Maya. I’ve never stopped using Maya since!
Madison Caprara:
That unwavering support is so crucial. Despite that, was there ever any hesitancy or doubt when deciding to pursue this career path?
“it wasn’t until I realized that there weren’t many women and BIPOCs in the industry, that the doubts came rolling in.”
Rachel Reid:
I’m very blessed to have parents who encouraged me to pursue my artistic goals from a young age. I realize not many young artists have parents who support their endeavors, as it seems much more secure to pursue something more practical. Because of the support from my parents, I had no reservations as I began studying and pursuing animation for my career. It wasn’t until I realized that there weren’t many women and BIPOCs in the industry that the doubts came rolling in. However, nothing felt more divine than my pursuit of animation; so my doubts were completely drowned out as I began learning the 12 principles!
Madison Caprara:
So, going from pursuing an education to actually delving into the professional world, how did you end up at Gunner? What was your experience like there?
Rachel Reid:
A month or so after graduating from The College for Creative Studies, I landed an internship at Gunner (which was a start-up studio at the time). I didn’t know much about Gunner or how popular they would become later down the line. I was just happy to have landed a job more than anything.
Gunner turned out to be a great experience though! My skills improved so much during my time there. Because my work was heavily relied on by my peers, I had to shift my focus from nitpicking to just getting the job done. Modifying my thinking in that way helped me focus on making the next project better than the last, and that's when the growth came. The best thing about working for Gunner was collaborating with the freelancers and networking with talented artists throughout the industry. If I had spent less than the five years I did at Gunner, my jump into freelance work would not have been as seamless during the pandemic; I was meeting new people in the industry up until the very last day I was employed at Gunner, and I’m super thankful for that.
Madison Caprara:
Sweet!
So personally, I’m pretty sensitive to the environment I’m in and the things going on around me. How do you allow the going-ons of everyday life to influence your works?
“Knandu Apparatus” — By Rachel Reid.
Rachel Reid:
This is a tricky question for me. I think the biggest challenge I’ve had since working professionally is having a life outside of work so that I can stay motivated and inspired.
It was easy to work on my own projects while in college, but it’s been a long time since I have created, designed, storyboarded, and animated my own ideas. That’s a muscle I have to stretch a little more. When I finally take time off from work, that's when I become more observant and try to stow away the interesting things I see - and experience - into my memory for future projects. I’d like to get back into the habit of carrying a notebook with me so I can write down any ideas that come to me.
Madison Caprara:
Pivoting off of that, what is your favorite subject matter to play off of? Why?
Rachel Reid:
My favorite subject matter is history! When I’m learning about the history of any country or culture, I feel like I’m in a time capsule! It’s interesting to learn how people, societies, cultures, and traditions evolve over time. History is the best explanation as to why things are the way they are today and is a good indicator of how far we’ve come as a society.
Madison Caprara:
Or how far we haven’t come.
Fun speed round! Critique one well-known animation. This can be on any scale. What do you like? Dislike? What would you change?
Rachel Reid:
I really love J’ai Perdu Mon Corps by Jérémy Clapin. I love this film because it's very adult and a much more thought-provoking film than it is action-packed. As far as the style of the film, it doesn’t go out of its way to be too impressive. The heart of the film lies within the narrative, the story is a bit existential with a lot of symbolism. In every scene, I feel close to the characters and the story gives us - the audience - room to sit with them and feel what they feel, in both the silence and the noise.
There’s a sequence about a quarter of the way through the film where the main character and a young woman have a meaningful conversation through an apartment intercom. It’s my favorite scene because you can actually feel the thread connecting these two strangers in an intimate way, even though they can’t see each other. Their personalities are conveyed clearly through their tone of voice, body language, and reactions rather than recited to us by some outside character. If I could be a part of an animated film that is just as thought-provoking and cinematic as J’ai Perdu Mon Corps, then that would be a dream come true.
“history is the best explanation as to why things are the way they are today, and is a good indicator of how far we’ve come as a society.”
“Nike Air” — Animation by Rachel Reid
Madison Caprara:
It sounds beautiful, for sure one I’ll be adding to my list.
How do you see the difference between making 2D animation, 3D animation, and more illustrative projects? Do you have a preference between the three?
Rachel Reid:
I don’t necessarily have a preference between 2D, 3D, and illustrative work. I feel like each requires me to work a different creative muscle. Though I find illustrative projects to be very fun and a little less stressful than animation because they don’t require drawing thousands of frames, 2D and 3D animation are more my forte. It’s easier to lean on the 12 principles of animation and the rules of anatomy and body mechanics than it is to choose from literally thousands of different design decisions.
3D animation takes a little longer for me to execute because I’m dealing with so many controls in order to puppet a character. Also, did I mention that dealing with Z space can be a pain? Nevertheless, I love 3D animated projects because it gives my brain a rest from the tedious process of 2D animation. In my mind, animation is animation regardless of 2D or 3D. I’m still drawing from the same fundamentals and each medium is super fun to work with!
Madison Caprara:
You have some seriously amazing work!
How’s your work/life balance going? How do you find the time to step away and decompress a bit?
Rachel Reid:
Thanks so much for the compliment!
Work/Life balance is something that I’m still trying to figure out! It’s really tough. Usually, I NEVER take any time off, and that has made a huge negative impact on my health. Now that I’m freelance, it’s my primary focus to organize my schedule and take time off. So far, the best way for me to find time is to make sure I don’t overbook myself. When I first went freelance, I didn’t realize how intense each project would be. I would book the next job the very next day after my current project wrapped up. I even did some moonlighting.
Rachel Reid:
It’s tempting to say “yes” to every project, but that only leads to quick burnout and completely depleted motivation. I think taking a couple of days, or even a week, between bookings has really helped me reset my mind and give me the time to focus on other interests such as learning a language or an instrument. I realize without that time to catch up on life and gain new experiences, my enthusiasm for animation becomes non-existent. I say all of this to say, there’s nothing wrong with saying the word, “no”. If you want a life, you’ll have no choice but to say “no”.
Madison Caprara:
I’m sure burnout is an easy slope to go down when you’ve turned your passion into your career.
I am pretty new to the industry, you are one of the few BIPOC animators I have come across. The lack of diversity has surprised me. If you are comfortable, do you have any thoughts or experiences to share on the topic?
Rachel Reid:
Ah yes, BIPOC in animation. Yes, I have a lot to share. First and foremost, it is very disappointing that there aren’t many BIPOC in the animation industry across the board. That includes motion design, feature animation, TV Animation, and games. The very same black artists that inspired me when I first started studying animation 12 years ago are the same people who inspire me now. However, I have not come across many in-between that time.
While I’ve always wanted to pursue animation, I did feel hesitant at times. I had come to notice that I did not see any BIPOC artists in the “making of” footage of my favorite animated films. Because of this, there was a time when I didn’t understand the point of my pursuit. I truly thought I’d be rejected at first glance. So I made a point to work really hard. I wanted to be so good at animation that they’d have no choice but to hire me. While I’m still working on perfecting my skills, I do believe I’ve made it this far because of the ‘work to the bone’ mentality of my youth. But to be honest, I don’t like being one of the very few BIPOC animators in the industry. I don’t want to feel like that token black woman animator. In fact, a friend of mine referred me to a colleague describing me as a “black woman animator.”Just “animator” would have sufficed.
Rachel Reid:
I prefer a more diverse workplace where artists from all over the world can contribute their experiences and sensibilities to every project. Men are already outnumbering women in creative workplaces but the homogeneousness creates a feeling of all-encompassing isolation to POCs, no matter how fun and outgoing your colleagues are. I believe a diverse industry would create diverse projects that will no doubt be innovative and unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in animation. The biggest honor I could ever have is being an inspiration to a young black artist who’s ready to impact the world with their art.
“…there’s nothing wrong with saying the word, ‘no’. if you want a life, you’ll have no choice but to say, ‘no’.”
Madison Caprara:
Very, VERY well said. It’s sad how this issue transcends every industry I’ve come across.
Moving on to a lighter topic, where do you go for inspiration?
Rachel Reid:
Life gives me inspiration! Spending time with friends and family, listening to music, traveling, immersing myself in culture and history; All make a huge impact on my work as well as my motivation to continue in the animation industry.
Created by Rachel Reid.
“if there is anything that's equally important as staying on top of your craft, it's taking a break and having a life so that you can feed those experiences back into your work.”
Madison Caprara:
Nice! Well, do you have any closing advice or points you would like to share?
Rachel Reid:
For anyone looking for advice in regards to working in animation, I would say to stay passionate, but be realistic.
While it’s not always easy to break into the industry, the grass is not always greener once you’re working full time. Making your life’s passion your job can sometimes bring disappointment. Not every project is going to be fulfilling and finding the time to work on personal projects will be tough. This industry is very demanding. It requires a lot of crunch and over time, so understanding the importance of work/life balance is key if you’re looking to stay for the long haul.
Give yourself some time to work on your own projects. Collaborate with friends and give yourself time to learn new things. I feel very blessed to draw for a living, but that does not mean it’s stress-free. If there is anything that's equally important as staying on top of your craft, it's taking a break and having a life so that you can feed those experiences back into your work.
Takeover Tuesday with Nocky Dinh
Q&A with Nocky Dinh: a freelance motion graphics designer and animator currently living in NYC, but originally from Vietnam.
Q&A with Nocky Dinh
Read time: 10min
“Vase” — Created by Nocky Dinh.
Madison Caprara:
Hey, Nocky! Why don’t you give me a brief introduction to yourself and your work for folks reading at home?
Nocky Dinh:
I’m Nocky Dinh and I’m currently a freelance 2D + 3D motion designer. In the past few years, I have mostly focused on 3D works. I strive to tell compelling stories with a cinematic approach and pleasing composition.
Madison Caprara:
I see you are originally from Vietnam, was there anything cultural-specific you can think of that fueled your passion for motion graphic design and animation?
“Fish Flags” — Created by Nocky Dinh.
Nocky Dinh:
Yes, I went to school for Digital Filmmaking because I was watching some Vietnamese TV shows and realized that I wanted to contribute to my country’s film industry. When I was in film school, I only took one 3D class - in Maya - and two After Effects classes. I wasn’t very good at motion graphics during my school years at all. I graduated without knowing what easy ease is, to be honest. Being an international student, if I wanted to work in the U.S., I needed to score a job that would sponsor me immediately.
At the time, I noticed that there was a demand for motion graphics, so I promoted myself as an “editor with motion graphics skills.” Luckily, I found a full-time gig a few months afterward and learned everything motion graphics-related on the job. Slowly I moved away from doing editing and focused solely on motion graphics at the company. After six years, I decided to freelance to expand my horizons.
Nocky Dinh:
Lately, I’ve been trying to fuse my cultural background into my personal projects. I’ve been chasing the Western aesthetic for so long, as I’m getting older, I realized that my own background is full of inspiration to pull from as well.
“I’ve been chasing the Western aesthetic for so long…I realized that my own background is full of inspiration to pull from...”
Madison Caprara:
Is there anything special you’re working on now that you’d like to share?
Nocky Dinh:
Yes! Aside from client work, I’m currently working on another one for the Kokeshi dolls series. I’ve made one before featuring Frida Kahlo and this new one will be focusing on Van Gogh.
I recently read that in order to know something well enough, you need to explore it more than just one or two ways. Instead of working on just a one-off idea (which I’ve done in the past), now I am exploring the concept in several ways before I make a series out of it. I highly recommend everyone trying this mindset.
Madison Caprara:
That’s an interesting way to go about re-learning the actual learning process!
What are some of the best and worst aspects of working in the motion design and animation field that you’ve experienced?
Nocky Dinh:
Best aspect: you can create anything and not be constrained to real-life physics. Working in animation makes me slow down, observe, and appreciate the small things. For example, how people walk or how cloth flutters in the wind.
Worst aspect: people think it’s easy and often underestimate how long or how difficult it is to make something from nothing. They think in minutes, while I’m thinking in frames. Not to mention the “fix-it-in-post” way of thinking.
“A Moonlit Night” — By Nocky Dinh.
Madison Caprara:
Do you typically work remotely, or have you transitioned due to the pandemic?
Nocky Dinh:
I used to do a mixture of working remotely and being on-site. My dream is to be able to work completely remotely. Commuting is a waste of time and energy. Ever since the pandemic hit and lots of studios opened up to remote working, I have been able to collaborate with people from all over the world. It’s so refreshing because you realize how big the pool of talent is when not being limited within the U.S. or Canadian borders.
Madison Caprara:
How do you stay focused? What do you perceive as your biggest distraction?
Nocky Dinh:
I must always trick myself into working for just 15 minutes. After that initial 15 minutes, then I’m able to get in the zone. Sometimes, I’ll even become so into the work, that I need to schedule an alarm to remind myself to eat lunch. Having a routine has definitely helped me get into focus mode a little easier.
My biggest distraction is social media! I often put my phone faced down during work hours if I can.
Madison Caprara:
What studio, designer, or artist - dead or alive - would you want to have a Zoom meeting with? I’d say dinner, but you know…
“you can create anything and not be constrained to real-life physics.”
“D is for Daggers” — Created by Nocky Dinh.
Nocky Dinh:
Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. I think he needs no introduction.
Madison Caprara:
When you feel stuck, or are in need of some inspiration, what - or where - are your go-to’s?
Nocky Dinh:
I discovered that my brain tends to come up with ideas when it is in a relaxed state. Often time, I have “wow why can’t I think of that before”-solutions when I’m in a shower. However, it’s unrealistic to shower 20 times a day so mind-mapping works wonders when I need to dive deeper than the low-hanging fruit ideas.
I also look into the adjacent fields of motion design - such as photography, sculpture, museum installations, fiber arts - and I subscribed to some curated websites like The Colossal, HypeBeast, AIGA Eye on Design — where they curate all sorts of cool projects in lots of different fields. It’s important to look for inspiration in places outside of the direct connections to your work. You never know what could spark interesting ideas.
Nocky Dinh:
I recently read that Joyce N. Ho went to the library to look for inspiration for the Semi Permanent title sequence and I thought that was a fantastic idea. When things are open again, I can’t wait to venture into random sections of local libraries.
Madison Caprara:
Speaking on inspiration, is there anything particularly interesting you’re reading, watching, or listening to right now?
Nocky Dinh:
I’m re-listening to a podcast called, Hardcore History: Wrath of The Khans, by Dan Carlin. I highly recommend all the podcasts from him. I’m also reading, Thoughts on Design, by Paul Rand. It’s very interesting.
Madison Caprara:
Can you share one of your personal failures and what you learned from it?
“…my brain tends to come up with ideas when it is in a relaxed state…however, it’s unrealistic to shower 20 times a day…mind-mapping works wonders when I need to dive deeper than the low-hanging fruit ideas.”
Nocky Dinh:
My Psychedelic Hot Dog poster was done in 2016 but it was the most memorable failure that I had to date. I was doing an “everyday project” challenge where I worked on one of my 3D personal projects every day (though it’s not necessary to actually finish in a single day.) I was trying to model a hot dog and at the time, I did not know what a proper UV was in 3D for texturing, so I was struggling very hard to texture the buns correctly.
I was cycling through all the projections then it hit me: “hey, if I can’t get it to work properly, why don’t I take advantage of it being NOT correct?” and so this trippy texture came about. With some design in photoshop, I was able to turn it into something really interesting. The lesson I learned here is that sometimes if you cannot get something to work generally, turn it into something that works for you.
Madison Caprara:
What about three general habits to improve workflow? Or some insightful dos and don’ts?
“The Anatomy of a Psychedelic Hot Dog” — Created by Nocky Dinh.
“my entire career was built upon personal projects. they’re not just a calling card but also an exercise to discover who you are and what your voice is.”
Nocky Dinh:
1.) Be super organized with your project files. Label all the layers and objects in your scene.
2.) Take breaks and come back to the projects later. You’ll see things you didn’t see before.
3.) Save your projects in increments! In addition, also store your current working project files on Dropbox. There are times when the ‘delete history’ of Dropbox saves the day!
Madison Caprara:
Perfect! Well, do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to share?
Nocky Dinh:
Personal projects. I cannot stress how important personal projects are for freelancers. My entire career was built upon personal projects. They’re not just a calling card but also an exercise to discover who you are and what your voice is. Don’t chase what’s trendy. Focus on what you like, and you will naturally find yourself different from others.
Also, in terms of work, it’s so important to be somebody who is fun to work with. I’ve seen people getting hired consistently because they are team players and easy to collaborate with, even if their skills are not at the top level. And vice versa, super talented people not getting hired again because they are difficult to work with.
Takeover Tuesday with Millie Woodcock
Q&A with Millie Woodcock: a freelance illustrator and designer who also animates for Lambda Films.
Q&A with Millie Woodcock
Read time: 5min
Madison Caprara:
So, how did you get into the illustration and motion design game? Did choosing it as a career path click immediately or did it take some self-exploration?
Millie Woodcock:
As a kid, I had always loved drawing my favorite cartoon characters. Once I realized that this was an actual job, it stuck with me and I always wanted to go into an animation career. Illustration as a job came a little later after I studied animation, and then motion graphics came even later after I graduated. Motion graphics took a bit more self-exploration, I never really felt like I could fit in with traditional animation techniques and really took to the graphical styles of motion graphics. I had a few intern jobs after graduating, then managed to get a full-time role as a motion graphics animator. I’ve been working as an animator now for seven years and started freelancing three years ago.
Madison Caprara:
What kind of education did it take to get you where you are today? Looking back, are you for or against pursuing a formal education?
“Moth” — Illustrated by Millie Woodcock.
Millie Woodcock:
I did a BA in animation at Norwich University of the Arts. I think formal education is really down to the individual person. I don’t think I would have had the self-motivation at 18 to learn what I needed to learn with online courses. However, there are now so many online options run by industry professionals that it seems much easier to learn online. There weren’t as many of these when I went to University. There isn’t a right or wrong path into the industry.
Madison Caprara:
What are the best and worst aspects of working in the animation field?
“there isn’t a right or wrong path into the industry.”
Millie Woodcock:
The best part of my job is being able to work on many different projects, which means I get to explore different styles and approaches. I tend to get bored on a project if it lasts too long. Working in the commercial field of motion graphics keeps me on my toes as I don’t tend to be on a project that lasts more than a couple of months.
The worst aspect is that sometimes you can get some really tight deadlines where you feel like you don’t have time to think and consider your approach.
Madison Caprara:
Tell us a little more about your aesthetic. It’s so fun and almost...serene?
Millie Woodcock:
Thank you! I feel like my aesthetic is always developing. I do love playing with shapes, specifically in my character designs, I also love to play with proportions and perspectives.
Madison Caprara:
What is the craziest client or project experience you’ve had thus far?
“Attention Everyone” — Designed and Illustrated by Millie Woodcock; With Very True Story.
Millie Woodcock:
I have one that was a crazy project in a good way!
I was approached by the team at Very True Story to storyboard and design an animation that was scripted by 4th Graders. It was so much fun to bring their story to life.
Madison Caprara:
What is your all-time favorite animation or illustration and why?
Millie Woodcock:
It’s hard to pick but one of my all-time favorite animations is, My Moon, directed by Eusong Lee.
The story and design are both amazing, I never get bored of watching it.
Madison Caprara:
Are there any new trends that newbies (or even veterans) should be focusing on, in your opinion?
Millie Woodcock:
I feel like I’m seeing a lot of noisy gradients. I’ve even started to add them to my own work because I like how it looks. But, I don’t think it’s super important to have to focus too much on trends. If you see something you like, take inspiration from it and give it a go.
“I don’t think it’s super important to have to focus too much on trends. if you see something you like, take inspiration from it and give it a go.”
“Opposites” — Illustrated by Millie Woodcock.
Madison Caprara:
How has the pandemic affected your access to work?
Millie Woodcock:
I’ve been lucky to not have a decrease in work. I live in a small town and I think the pandemic opened up more remote freelancing work too.
Madison Caprara:
Do you foresee an increasing or decreasing demand for animators and illustrators now and in the coming years?
Millie Woodcock
At the moment, I feel like there has been an increased demand for animation work. I think where physical filming has been difficult to do during the pandemic, these projects have moved over to animation instead.
Madison Caprara:
Where or who do you turn to for inspiration?
Millie Woodcock:
I get inspiration from many places; being able to travel and socialize helps refresh my brain a lot, so this year I have found it a struggle to get the motivation to create personal work.
I also get inspiration from all of the artists I follow on social media; looking through my Instagram feed can help motivate me to create something. I now have a dog, he has occasionally inspired me to create some illustrations that feature him.
“don’t let imposter syndrome get in the way of putting something out there for people to see.”
Madison Caprara:
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to share?
Millie Woodcock:
I personally struggle to finish personal pieces, so a piece of advice I really need to follow for myself is to finish something and move on. Don’t let imposter syndrome get in the way of putting something out there for people to see.
Things To Do In Raleigh
Attention future dash bash attendees: you’ll have an entire weekend to romp around our city. As the vaccine becomes more widely available, and you feel more comfortable venturing out, experience Raleigh like a true local. Take a look at some of our favorite places to hang and things to do around the City of Oaks!
A list of cool Raleigh to-do’s.
Read time: 10min
(1) Take a load off, grab a cocktail…
Address:
1 Glenwood Ave., Suite 101, Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Dram & Draught planted roots in Raleigh in the Summer of 2016. Though they feature some pretty amazing hand-crafted cocktails, craft beer, and local wines, their claim to fame is the 300+ international whiskeys you can peruse. Let us know your favorites!
Address:
555 Fayetteville St. #155, Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
The Haymaker is a little off the beaten path. When you stumble upon this hidden gem, you will find a perfect combination of downtown frenzy mixed with neighborhood watering hole vibes. Overall, a hip haunt featuring creative cocktails in a cozy ambiance with an offbeat, vintage-style decor.
Address:
310 S. West St., Suite 110, Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Located along Union Station’s tracks, if you’re looking for a bright and welcoming spot with some killer cocktails, look no further. Junction West was opened by a local couple within the Warehouse District. Rob Grantz, one of the bar’s co-owners, is a second-level cicerone, beer sommelier, and a former brewer at Trophy Brewing Co. That being said, their selections are top-notch.
Address:
519 W. North St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Heavy on the speakeasy feel, Clockwork takes you on a trip back to a time when cocktails were fresh and music was timeless. Come for the drinks, stay for the vibes. Pro-tip: check out their outdoor seating area!
Address:
106 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Gallo is a mezcal-focused, come-as-you-are, rock & roll cocktail oasis in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Unfamiliar with mezcal? In short, it’s a smoked agave liquor. Think of it as tequila’s cooler cousin. Need we say more?
2) More of a beer person? We got you…
Address:
218 S. Blount St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
A brewery and dim sum restaurant in the heart of downtown Raleigh. We love a one-stop-shop! This chic hangout showcases a variety of handcrafts, house-made brews, and dim sum. All in a multifunctional space that also houses a book and flower shop.
Address:
3709 Neil St., Raleigh, NC 27607
Details:
Raleigh Brewing’s mission is to embrace the City of Oaks with every beer they brew. From the murals of the capital city on the taproom walls to the actual names of the beers, they thrive for the city!
Address:
202 E. Cedar St., Cary, NC 27511
Details:
Bond Brothers’ recently completed industrial, modern space is quickly becoming a popular epicenter in the downtown community. With over 9,000 square feet of brewery, taproom, and beer garden space to enjoy, they have built a destination that equally matches the quality of their beers.
Address:
500 E. Davie Suite 170 Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Established in 2019, The Exhibit space serves as an alternate realm to Burial Beer’s Asheville and Charlotte locations. It’s a unique exploration of the Burial art world located in Downtown Raleigh's Transfer Co. Food Hall. Here you’ll find a selection of VISUALS wines, cider, vermouth, and over 24 taps.
Address:
518 Pershing Rd., Raleigh, NC 27608
Details:
Neuse is a craft brewery situated between North Raleigh and Downtown. Nestled just outside of the Five Points neighborhood, NRBC is accompanied by five other craft breweries, all within a one-mile radius of each other. Neuse focuses on Belgian ales and IPAs, but also experiments with some more contemporary and experimental styles, ultimately offering a wide selection. Everyone can find something they’ll enjoy.
(3) Hungry…?
Address:
1053 E. Whitaker Mill Rd., STE 111, Raleigh, NC 27604
Details:
A New Orleans-inspired kitchen. Along with a killer food selection, Hummingbird offers handcrafted cocktails, wines, and a full coffee bar, all in a relaxed, open setting.
Address:
901 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Winner of OpenTable’s Top 50 Vegetarian-friendly restaurants in the country, Irregardless is a farm-to-table cafe with meals sourced from local farms around the triangle. Come for the delicious food, stay for the live music hosted weekly.
Address:
273 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
James Beard Award–winning chef Ashley Christensen opened this modern fried chicken and waffles spot, which serves the namesake dish as well as modern takes on other Southern classics. Sit at the bar and wash down the restaurant's hearty cuisine with a craft cocktail or glass of champagne. Brunch here is also a BIG hit on the weekends.
Address:
137 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Located in the heart of downtown Raleigh, Sitti offers authentic Lebanese dishes with a modern spin in an airy space featuring a communal table + an art deco bar.
Address:
500 E. Davie St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Transfer is built around food and its power to connect the community. Located in a local historic garage in Downtown Raleigh, it’s THE go-to food hall, market, and gathering place. The hall houses 11 different vendors, meaning everyone can find something they’re craving here!
(4) Get your caffeine fix…
Address:
219 S. West St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Heirloom is a modern cafe featuring espresso-based drinks, loose-leaf teas, and sake cocktails in a bright, sleek venue. Feeling hungry? They also serve Laotian and Taiwanese food that earned them a spot on Bon Appetit's ‘Top 50 restaurants of 2019’ list.
Address:
10 E. Hargett St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Neighbor to The Raleigh Times Bar, Morning Times is a two-story coffeehouse serving light fare in a bohemian, exposed-brick space with an art gallery located upstairs. Evening visitors can enjoy a glass of red with dessert as they check out the works created by the featured artist of the month.
Address:
2100 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, NC 27607
Details:
Located on the first floor of the Aloft Hotel, Jubala is a made-to-order coffee shop, serving single-origin, pour-over, and French press along with the classic espresso drinks. The space features an open kitchen along with the option of outdoor seating. Try one of their breakfast sammies!
Address:
7705 Lead Mine Rd., Raleigh, NC 27615
Details:
Sola is a family-owned neighborhood cafe & espresso bar serving up eats such as pizza and pastries. Pro-tip: stop by on a Friday night to enjoy some live music.
Address:
7 W Hargett St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
For all of our caffeine-sensitive friends, Raleigh Raw is a community-inspired organic juice bar and cafe. Along with their killer juices, they serve a menu of exclusively raw foods, including poke bowls!
(5) For all of our art + cultural lovers…
North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA)
Address:
2110 Blue Ridge Rd., Raleigh, NC 27607
Details:
Located in West Raleigh, the NCMA houses more than 5,000 years of artistic heritage, including one of the nation's largest collections of Jewish ceremonial art. The museum offers daily guided tours of the exhibitions, and on Saturdays at 10:30 AM, you can catch a guided tour of the surrounding park. The 164-acre park features nine monumental works of art, which visitors can peruse on foot or by bike. Iris, the museum's light-filled, in-house restaurant, looks out over gardens. On Friday both the restaurant and museum stay open late and offer live music. Admission is free!
Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) Raleigh
Address:
409 W. Martin St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
CAM Raleigh is a stunning gallery with beautiful vaulted ceilings and plenty of natural lighting. The facility houses a great variety of multimedia, contemporary artworks. Guided tours are offered every Sunday at 2:00 PM. The best part? Admission is free!
Address:
11 W. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Our Museum of Natural Sciences is the oldest established museum in North Carolina and the largest museum of its kind in the Southeastern United States — go us! The museum features dinosaurs, whale skeletons, live animals, walk-through dioramas, special exhibits, hands-on science education, and accessible scientists. You can also view more than a dozen exhibits from coastal to prehistoric North Carolina, see a live sloth in the Living Conservatory, engage in hands-on activities in the Discovery Room, and even experience life as a bug in the Arthropod Zoo. General admission is free!
Address:
1903 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, NC 27607
Details:
The Gregg is located on the North Campus of NC State University. Admission is free, and their permanent collection houses more than 35,000 objects including ceramics, paintings, photography, sculptures, architectural drawings, archaeological artifacts, modern furniture, and so much more!
Address:
1070 Partners Way, Raleigh, NC 27606
Details:
Ever been to a robotic library? Now you can say you have. The Hunt Library is located on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Here’s how it works: book selection is headed by a supercomputer in the bowels of the building. The bookBot barcodes the volumes, sorts them by size, and stores them in more than 18,000 bins. You can watch the bookBot through a glass wall on the first floor of the building as it speeds through huge storage aisles to retrieve books, journals, and other materials.
(6) Support a local business…
Address:
208 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
The ZEN Succulent is a black-owned, neighborhood plant shop full of unique greenery and handcrafted gifts from local makers. ZEN was created by the mother/daughter duo, Margaret and Megan George, and is most known for its modern terrariums, workshops, and DIY terrarium bar. If your space needs a little greenery, this is definitely the place to go.
Address:
319 W. Martin St., #100, Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Raleigh Denim is an industrial-chic shop specializing in high-end, hand-crafted rustic denim jeans & apparel. All apparel is locally designed and manufactured in their downtown workshop. Check them out if you are in need of some new threads!
Address:
3022 W. St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Located in the Warehouse District next to the train station, Father and Son’s has been selling Mid Century Modern home furnishings and vintage clothing since 1997. This store has one of the best vintage clothing selections we’ve seen in a very long time.
Address:
207 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
DECO is a lively, colorful, and unique gift shop located in downtown Raleigh. They feature the work of more than 50 local artisans, including jewelry, prints, pottery, cards, chocolate, and the very best local t-shirt collection. It’s definitely one of our go-to’s for souvenirs.
Address:
215 E. Franklin St, #110, Raleigh, NC 27604
Details:
Located between Two Roosters ice cream and Wine Authorities, Edge of Urge is your one-stop shop for unique local gifts, small-batch cosmetics, handmade jewelry, and women's fashion from emerging designers and independent brands! Jessie Williams had originally founded this quirky boutique in Wilmington, NC back in 2002, and expanded to Raleigh’s Oakwood neighborhood around five years ago. Stop by if you’re in the market for some kitschy gifts.
(7) Experience the great outdoors…
Address:
2105 Umstead Dr., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Raleigh’s largest city park encompasses a whopping 308-acres in the heart of downtown. The site features an off-leash dog area, seasonal sunflower field, and a stunning view of the Raleigh skyline.
Address:
4415 Beryl Rd., Raleigh, NC 27606
Details:
The JC Raulston Arboretum is a 10-acre, nationally acclaimed botanical garden with one of the largest and most diverse collections of landscape plants in the Southeast. This stunning garden displays more than 6,000 different types of plants from around the world. Admission is free!
Address:
200 S. McDowell St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Named after Abner Nash, the second governor of North Carolina. Nash Square Park is the perfect place to picnic while enjoying some city views.
Address:
Multiple access points.
Details:
Along the eastern edge of Raleigh, the Neuse River Trail follows the river for nearly 30 miles from Falls Lake Dam to the Wake/Johnston County line. There are several river crossings along the way, including two on suspension bridges. The scenic, tree-lined trail offers numerous wildlife viewing opportunities. There are three points of access, which we have taken the liberty to list below:
2928 Horseshoe Farm Road (2928 Horseshoe Farm Road)
Buffaloe Road Athletic Park (5812 Buffaloe Road)
Anderson Point Park (20 Anderson Point Drive)
(8) And at the end of the day, rest your head…
Address:
308 S. Boylan Ave., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
Montfort Hall, now known as the Heights House Hotel, is an Italianate-style estate completed in the early 1860s. It sits on the highest point of the Boylan Heights neighborhood in downtown Raleigh and is one of the few remaining pre-Civil War houses in the area. Having undergone restorations to be made into a boutique hotel and event space, the house now has nine large en-suite guest rooms that can sleep up to 20 guests.
Address:
2100 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, NC 27607
Details:
Aloft is a design-forward hotel celebrating local art and unique lifestyles. Set in the heart of downtown Raleigh, it’s directly across from NC State University’s campus and is extremely walkable to Cameron Village’s shopping and dining areas. Even better yet, it’s dog friendly, so bring your furry friend if you so feel inclined!
Address:
300 N. Dawson St., Raleigh, NC 27603
Details:
The Longleaf Hotel is a modernized, mid-century gem located at the northern gateway to downtown Raleigh. In their own words, “Expect an unpretentious atmosphere that is just a little bit swanky, because you should feel both comfortable and special at the same time.”
Address:
420 S. Bloodworth St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
Guest House is an intimate, eight-room boutique inn and cottage in the heart of Downtown Raleigh. It’s walkable to almost everything (including a fair amount of places noted on this list).
Address:
500 Fayetteville St., Raleigh, NC 27601
Details:
The Marriott City Center is located in the middle of Downtown Raleigh. Connected to the Silver-LEED Certified Raleigh Convention Center, this modern hotel is in close proximity to the city’s top entertainment, shopping centers, restaurants, and business district.
We hear the best things come in pairs, so keep an eye out for a part II!
Takeover Tuesday with Zoë Soriano
Q&A with Zoë Soriano: a freelance Motion Designer + Animator currently living in Washington, DC.
Q&A with Zoë Soriano
Read time: 10min
“I put my dreams on the back burner for a while…”
Madison Caprara:
So, what originally led you to pursue a career in motion design and animation?
Zoë Soriano:
Growing up, I absolutely loved animated movies. One of my favorites was Over the Hedge. On a particularly long road trip when I was maybe eight or nine years old, I decided to watch the behind-the-scenes recap on how the movie was made. It was at that point that I realized that making animations was an actual job that people could have. Over the years, it was instilled in me that my career path should be “realistic,” meaning maths or sciences, so when it came time to pick coursework in high school, I decided to go heavy on math and took essentially all AP STEM classes while avoiding art classes like the plague.
I put my dreams on the back burner for a while and even did two years in college of math coursework before I decided to take an art class for credit my sophomore year. In that art class, I fell in love with creating and drawing; things I imagined being manifested on paper. At that point, I knew that art/animation was something I didn’t want to compromise on anymore, so I transferred to an art school and really began learning animation!
Madison Caprara:
Was there ever a point where you doubted that career path?
Zoë Soriano:
Absolutely. There were two major moments that I felt huge amounts of doubt. The first was when I first transferred to MICA — I was surrounded by so many talented folks that I was really overwhelmed. Having only taken one art class prior, I felt behind in comparison to my peers. A majority of them had been drawing since they were young, they’d been honing their skills for way longer than I had. I felt at that moment that I made a huge mistake. That I would never catch up to them.
The second major moment was after I held a couple of jobs in motion graphics, I had been working as a motion designer for about a year professionally. All the while, I felt very dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Art school really sets you up to work on projects from start to finish, to have ownership of the projects you do. I felt like I was a “pixel pusher,” just churning out keyframes like a machine. During this time, I felt I had two real choices: 1.) Go freelance and see if having more control made me feel better, or 2.) Change careers to a job that I lacked a passion for, but would ultimately pay the bills so that I could work on passion projects on the side. It was a really tough decision but I ultimately decided to go freelance and I’m so happy I did.
“Exercise 1x1” by Zoë Soriano.
Madison Caprara:
Is there any specific experience you can recall that has directly contributed to your established style or process?
Zoë Soriano:
I think as a whole, going to art school and being surrounded by so many different types of art was really formative to me. I’ve always been drawn to the motion design and animations that incorporate layering mixed-media textures, 3D elements, and 2D cel animations. I attribute it to being able to experiment with all of those mediums at MICA.
Another HUGE thing for me was working at Franc - my first job out of college. On my first day back in 2018, they asked me to create a “Welcome, Zoë” animation. I made some designs, they looked at them and really critiqued my color palette. At first, I was a bit shocked because I really liked the palette I chose, but they challenged me to pick only three or four colors and experiment with those shades. Ever since then, I’ve formed most of my color palettes around three main colors. Now, I even consider myself “strong” at colors.
“Nike: Self-Care Saturday” by Zoë Soriano.
Madison Caprara:
What has been your absolute favorite project? Tell us a bit about the creative process and subsequent reception by either the client or your personal following.
Zoë Soriano:
Ooo, this is tough because every project is my favorite as soon as I finish it! But I would say my all-time favorite project would be the first freelance piece I did when I went full-time. It was with the Miami Freedom Project - two sisters. The budget was tight, and so was the timeline, but I really put my heart and soul into it. It was the first time that someone asked me to do a project from start to finish; doing the art direction, character, designs, animation, even the sound design.
The project was about getting Latine folks in Miami to vote. MFP wanted to create this story about an Abuela and her grandson. They had a rough idea of what they wanted. The Abuela and Grandson would be going about their day and ultimately at the end, they go and vote together - socially distanced, of course (this was for the November 2020 election).
Zoë Soriano:
They sent me a bunch of photos to help shape this world — photos of their own Abuelas and trinkets to put in the scenes. Using the photos as a reference point, I created a bright and colorful palette around the vibrancy of Latine and Miami culture. Due to the quick time restraints, I opted to do more of a limited animation style and focused on creating textured and vibrant illustrations for the piece.
I look back at what I made a year ago, and while I know it’s not perfect - I can still see imperfections - I look at it quite fondly because it was something I really committed myself fully to. I really wanted to bring these characters to life and tell their story as best as I could. Miami Freedom Project absolutely loved the finished product. They actually told me that it made them really emotional (in a good way!) to see a character design based on their Abuela. Being able to evoke such strong, positive emotions is always a rewarding feeling because as an artist, all I want when someone looks at my work is to feel something.
“being able to evoke such strong, positive emotions is always a rewarding feeling because as an artist, all I want when someone looks at my work is to feel something.”
Madison Caprara:
What do you believe is the key ingredient for a consistent, successful final project?
Zoë Soriano:
Organization and clear communication are the salt and pepper for consistently successful projects! I’ve always been a fairly organized person, but once I went freelance and was in charge of a lot of my own project management, it was really important for me to make sure I had correct deadlines and that I could find all the files I needed.
Madison Caprara:
I see that you have a deep passion for activism, particularly regarding social and environmental issues. How have your personal beliefs affected projects you take on or clients you work with?
Zoë Soriano:
As an activist, it’s super important to me to put work out into the world that I feel makes a difference. When I first started off with freelance, I was very fortunate that my first project was with the Wall Street Journal for their Future of Transportation project. It opened the door for me to then work with GRTMA, the Greater Redmond Transit Management Association, where I worked on an informative project about how GRTMA was fighting for new bike lanes to be built. As someone who is passionate about environmental issues, I was really excited to take this on as I’m a huge supporter of alternative modes of transportation. When I’m really excited about a project, I really put my heart and soul into the designs.
“Miami Freedom Project: Voting Day” by Zoë Soriano.
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?
Zoë Soriano:
Always learning! I’m currently in a busy period, but in December, I had a few weeks of lull and I spent the time researching new plug-ins and testing them out. It’s super important to do work for yourself during these times.
Also, it helps to maintain your routine, at least for two to three days of the week during lull periods. Replace working on client projects with learning a tutorial or doing a personal project. Non-work-related hobbies are something I really enjoy indulging in during my downtime; learning a new language or reading a good book are ways I keep my mind sharp and help me keep creative energy without actually making.
Madison Caprara:
How has the pandemic affected your access to work?
Zoë Soriano:
I went freelance during the pandemic, so far, the flow of work has been fairly steady! In 2019, I did try to do the freelance thing, but I didn’t get past 2 months before panicking that no work was coming in and decided to go back to full-time work. The pandemic has been extremely helpful for me in getting work because a lot of companies are now open to remote work, and are willing to work with folks from other states, so it’s been nice in the way that I’m not limited to my city.
“non-work-related hobbies are something I really enjoy indulging in during my downtime; learning a new language or reading a good book are ways I keep my mind sharp and help me keep creative energy without actually making.”
Madison Caprara:
Where do you go for inspiration?
Zoë Soriano:
Instagram, Behance, and Dribbble are my main sources of direct design/motion inspiration, but I also find a lot of inspiration in everyday life and other forms of art. Whenever I’m working on a personal project, I draw a lot of inspiration from my personal life which is why a lot of the stuff I do tends to be character-based. I also collect “Art of _____” books - I have all the Disney and Pixar books, and am beginning my collection of Studio Ghibli books. The concept art in these books is quite incredible and the color palettes inspire me greatly.
Madison Caprara:
Favorite and least favorite aspect of this industry?
Zoë Soriano:
Favorite: Community - being able to talk with folks about their experiences and their willingness to share.
Least favorite: The hold system and how male-dominated the industry is.
Madison Caprara:
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to share?
Zoë Soriano:
Remember to take time outside of work to cultivate your hobbies and relationships! Having breaks from work is essential for your mental health.
Q&A with Dotti and Sammy of Golden Wolf
We chatted with Dotti Sinnott and Sammy Moore of Golden Wolf: an Emmy-nominated animation studio founded in 2013 with offices in both London and New York.
Q&A with Dotti Sinnott and Sammy Moore
Read time: 15min
[SPEAKER]:
This call is being recorded.
Dotti Sinnot:
Oh.
Mack Garrison:
We’re super fancy.
Mack Garrison:
Haha. Well, Dotti, Sammy thank you both for agreeing to be interviewed for the dash bash. Maybe a good first place to start would be about how you two got involved with Golden Wolf, and a little run down on what led up to the New York office.
Dotti Sinnot:
Yeah. Well, I can take this one Sammy, but feel free to jump in.
Sammy and I met at Golden Wolf, I started a month after him. He was a designer in his trial period and I had come on as a freelance producer right after my move to London. I had gone there without a job or anything lined up, just a lot of people to contact. Golden Wolf was one of the first places that I had a meeting at and I wound up never leaving.
Dotti Sinnot:
At the time, the studio was in its early phases. Golden Wolf was first started as the motion arm of the design studio, ILOVEDUST. The core team members have been working together for over a decade, even though Golden Wolf has only been around since 2013. It's an interesting team dynamic in that you have these people who have been with the company for years, even before the company existed. Eventually, the two studios moved in different directions between the animation and design arms. The design studio was based in the south of England, the animation studio was in London. There was this cultural shift between the two cities they were in, and they ultimately decided to start Golden Wolf as its own thing so that we could grow into our personality and develop the studio with the creative vision of Erlingsson.
Dotti Sinnott:
When I started, there were around 15 people. We've slowly been growing since. The studio always had a huge client base in the US, I was regularly working with Nike and Disney on the west coast. We dealt with a lot of challenges with time zones. We knew there would eventually be a need for us to expand to the US, there had been plans thrown around that never stuck until we finally had an American on staff.
Mack Garrison:
There you go.
Dotti Sinnot:
Yeah, had that good passport. I was in London for two years and ultimately decided that I wanted to move back to New York. When I went to the office and told the guys I was moving, Ingy said, “well you don't have to leave the company. Why don't we try and start something in New York?” So, for the first year, Golden Wolf NY was three feet around me at any point in time. That was three years ago. Now we have five people in the New York office and are still expanding. We're still working closely with London. We tend to work as a one studio mentality and put the artists who’re most appropriate for a project on it regardless of location.
Mack Garrison:
That's so cool. That had to be kind of jarring to be like, “all right, I'm quitting my job, and all of a sudden, I'm going to run a studio in New York.”
“Apple Icon” — Created by Golden Wolf.
Dotti Sinnot:
It was not how I expected that conversation to go. I came out of it and I was like, “Did I quit or did I get a promotion? I think both.”
Mack Garrison:
That's great. Sammy, how about you? Were you part of that original crew?
Sammy Moore:
So, I wasn't part of that original inner circle, I'm almost six years in now at Golden Wolf. Before joining, I was in and out of the freelance design and illustration circuit after traveling and graduation. I lived in Australia for a while, and then figured I'd move back to have a go at a proper freelance career. It took me two to three months to realize it wasn't for me. I hated it, I didn't like working by myself. Once I realized that, it was obvious what I needed to do. I don't know how many people actually know this but I didn't know who Golden Wolf was before I applied.
Mack Garrison:
That's great.
“...the one thing that we don't want to change is the quality of work that we're doing...knowing that every piece that we put out the door is the best possible piece that we can do with the time and resources we have.”
Sammy Moore:
Yeah, it's mad. Don't tell Ingi I said that. I told him I was a big fan.
I was browsing Twitter looking for something and stumbled over the design studio that Dotti mentioned. They had retweeted a call for a full-time illustrator and designer at Golden Wolf. I looked them over and instantly fell in love. The work back then was incredible. It's even better now. I headed down for an interview on a Thursday and started on the next Monday. The rest is history, man. I was in the studio for a while as a designer, illustrator. After about a year, I started moving into the art direction, which I've been doing for several years now. Then, as Dotti said, we met on a terrible job. Remember that one, Dotti?
“the good stories come from the shit jobs.”
“Workspace SL20” — Created by Golden Wolf.
Dotti Sinnott:
Yeah.
Sammy Moore:
So bad, but we bonded over that pretty quickly.
Dotti Sinnott:
I think that both of us were pretending we knew what we were doing.
Mack Garrison:
What is it about the trenches that bring people together?
Sammy Moore:
The good stories come from the shit jobs. I knew that Dotti was heading off, then Ingy had a similar conversation with me. He asked if it was a big partaking for her to set things up alone. One thing that we're proud of is the effort and consideration we put into the studio culture. It's all about making sure that there's space for people to feel like they can contribute. For that reason, we wanted to ensure that when we set up in the States, we’d carry over the same ethos we had in the London studio. That’s what makes Golden Wolf so special; the attitude we take towards the work. Our CD was pretty confident that between Dotti and I, we’d be able to do that. We decided that Dotti would handle production and I would handle creative. Now we're here coming up on three years.
Mack Garrison:
That's wild. Having a set culture is important. Having people that you like to hang out with, that you feel close with. If you don't like working with the people you're there with, the work is going to suffer from it. How do y'all go about trying to maintain that same culture that you had in the London office? Do you feel like it is still pretty similar, or are there nuances with each office?
Sammy Moore:
I feel like the last six months have seen a significant shift in the culture. As Dotti said, she was by herself for a while. We brought on two junior designers, one left, and then I came over. It's hard to set up a culture when there are only three of you because we were slammed all the time, running around.
You need to have a few more bodies in the room, just to have a bit more opportunity to bounce off each other and share things. Now we're sitting at five, it feels so different. There are more conversations and ideas. With 4+, you can finally start to enforce culture. Enforce isn't the right word, you can start encouraging the kind of dynamics and attitudes we have in London.
Mack Garrison:
That's a great answer. I remember when we first started dash. It was Cory, myself, and then we had our one illustrator, Meg. Poor Meg. She was the first person to join our team. It was just Cory and I arguing about what we should do and then Meg also trying to figure it out on her own. You don't have any culture when it's new, you know?
Was there ever a directive on what to grow the studio into? Were you all thinking about where you wanted your office to go, to become, the size? Or, was it more natural than that?
Dotti Sinnott:
We've thought a lot about how we want to grow things and what feels right for us. I think the key for us, regardless of what the studio eventually winds up looking for, the one thing that we don't want to change is the quality of work that we're doing. It could look different, it could be in a completely different style, but the thing that we want to hold true is that quality bar; knowing that every piece that we put out the door is the best possible piece that we can do with the time and resources we have.
That's something that can evolve in a lot of different ways. So, I don't think we'll ever get to the point where we're a huge production hub just churning out pieces. We're always going to think carefully about the projects we take on, what they mean for us as a studio, and how they represent our capabilities.
“being in the trenches together is what connects you, and being asked to move out of your comfort zone is when you grow as coworkers and as people who need to rely on each other...those are the chances where it's more powerful for the people working together than just the work itself.”
Dotti Sinnott:
To your earlier question, we understand that, while we're creating a culture that is reflective of what is in London it's never going to be exactly the same. We're different people with different cultural backgrounds. One of the nice things about having come from London is that the studio is multicultural. There are people from all over Europe with many different languages being spoken in that office. In New York, we have the opportunity to have the same; everybody coming on from different places, having different perspectives. That culture of creating quality can hold true despite any of those differences. So, a big piece of it is that we will be different, but we're always going to be Golden Wolf because we're going to do the best that we possibly can.
Sammy Moore:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. That's well said.
Mack Garrison:
I'm sure a lot of other smaller shops feel the same way. I look at what you all are doing with Golden Wolf and I get jealous of the fact that you can be picky about the work that you take on.
Mack Garrison:
How did you guys found yourselves positioning Golden Wolf to get to the point where you could be more selective about the work you're taking on? Was that gradual with time, or can you equate it back to a specific project?
“Good Luck on the 25th” — Created by Golden Wolf.
Dotti Sinnott:
Starting, you're always going to take on jobs just to get one step further. We have done our fair share of projects that weren't what we would choose to do today, but they were the option that we had at the time. A lot of it was luck, we were positioned in a certain space in the industry. We had a point of view that people were interested in learning more about and getting more of. So, there was this great happenstance when we were ready to move forward at a time that the industry was also looking for someone like us. It’s hard to quantify why that happened. It just did, and we feel lucky that we're there now to enjoy that space. For a while, we were able to take on projects that were cool but weren't the biggest budget. Or, they were for a client that we were interested in working with but maybe not exactly the creative that we wanted to do. We’d take them on anyway, just to work with those clients.
Dotti Sinnott:
We’d do a lot of small projects, all at once. I would be producing 10 to 15 jobs at a time while we had another producer and our CD also running projects. Maybe it was the way production ran, the visual style we developed, or the client relationships. We acknowledged these for every job and tried to direct them to new requests coming through; what did we learn from the previous projects? Is this an opportunity to try and do things better than we did last time? We kept building on it.
“animation is not something done in a vacuum. it’s not done by one person. it takes a huge team.”
So they were stepping stones. After doing different types of work, we started seeing what fit and what didn't; what was worth the extra investment. Animation is not something done in a vacuum. It's not done by one person. It takes a huge team, and a big reason why Golden Wolf is so successful is that everyone on that team is willing to put in more than the 9 to 5. We all work extra hours, all of us put in more time and heart than you would at a job with a better work/life balance. But we do it because we care about making something really great, and that’s the piece of culture we think about when hiring; is this person someone who is going to get the work done and leave at the end of the day? Or, are they someone who is going to get the work done and then think about how they can do it better tomorrow? That's the person we want to hire, the team we want to build, and the projects we try to take on.
Mack Garrison:
I'm pumped. I feel like I just got a virtual pep talk. I'm going to hang up the phone to make some animation. Like, “oh, I'm doing it for Dotti. I'm going to kill it for Dotti.”
Sammy Moore:
Yeah, right on.
Dotti Sinnott:
That's what makes my job easy, the people that I work with. Sammy and I were both talking about how, over the weekend, we were thinking about a current project with a few bumps in the road. I fell asleep last night and it popped into my head as I was putting my head onto the pillow. That happens to us all the time. We live and breathe this work.
Mack Garrison:
I like the idea of bringing in people. It's hard these days, everyone gets caught up on social media. They see the best of everyone's lives being put forward. It's easy to get caught up with instant fame or putting your work out. I think there's going to be a lot of students at the dash bash who are looking for a career in motion, so let’s talk a little bit more about what you were just saying.
What do you look for when looking at someone coming out of school? What are you looking for in a portfolio? What advice would you give graduating students to get on Golden Wolf's radar?
Sammy Moore:
We've had a lot of conversations, since Commotion because we saw such great work. Variety is always good, but I think one of the things we’re keen to see is when people want to push the boundaries and try new things. It's a passion thing, for sure. It sounds a bit cliché, but the only way we're able to achieve the level of finish and consistently, to draw clients back, is because the work we do is such high quality and pushes the boundaries in exploration.
In terms of a more specific kind of skill you can see from looking at a portfolio...variety. We have some people come to us with portfolios where it's all very similar. To be honest, when I had my interview with our CD, he genuinely had a concern. My work was good but all very similar. Something we pride ourselves on at Golden Wolf that is super valuable is the ability to work in different styles and adapt to different briefs. You see some students who can get a little bit caught up in trying to establish a style or figure out what their aesthetic is. Honestly, if I look at a portfolio and it's got variety, I'm into it straight away. You see that a person can work in several different ways and they instantly become more valuable.
“sometimes you just need a little bit more time to figure out whether you're the type of person who wants to be a specialist doing the same thing or you want to be a generalist with a little taste of everything. and both opportunities are good.”
Mack Garrison:
That's a really good point. For a while, people have said you need to be a specialist. I know when we're looking for folks to come onboard at dash, particularly because we're a small office, there's a necessity for everyone to do a bit of everything. You might have an animator who is doing some pre-production one day and style frames another day. They may even come up with ideas for a script. It's all over the place. So, when interviewing folks, we look for more of a generalist. If you can be talented in a multitude of different things, it shows me you're willing to explore new stuff. If I want someone to hire us for a particular thing, maybe that's better for freelance potentially, but I don't know if it's best when trying to be full-time within a studio. Would you all agree with that?
Sammy Moore:
Yes.
Dotti Sinnott:
Yeah, especially for a small studio, it's helpful to have people who can do a little bit of everything. Even if they're not great at it all, the fact that they're willing to try says a lot for a team. Being in the trenches together is what connects you, and being asked to move out of your comfort zone is when you grow as coworkers and as people who need to rely on each other. So those times where you need to jump in and do something different are when you’re proving that you're there to help. Even if you can't do it perfectly, it's better than not having anybody to do it.
Those are the chances where it's more powerful for the people working together than just the work itself. Another thing that gets glossed over when you go to school events, sometimes you're not going to get the right job immediately after graduating. It may take a while to figure out what your path is, and that's okay. There are a lot of different ways to get from point A to B, it's not always a straight path. I went to school for English and French. I wound up working at an Apple store and then in HR. Now I'm the executive producer of an animation studio. How did that happen?
Dotti Sinnott:
All of those things building on each other gave me this experience and helped me grow. Even if I wasn't able to do exactly what I wanted right out of school, I used the opportunities to learn as much as I could where I was while trying to work towards the next thing. Sometimes you just need a little bit more time to figure out whether you're the type of person who wants to be a specialist doing the same thing or you want to be a generalist with a little taste of everything. And both opportunities are good.
Mack Garrison:
I love that.
Sammy Moore:
At Commotion, I could see the pressure that a lot of these kids were putting on themselves to launch out of school and get straight into a role to start building experience. When I first graduated, I worked at the Nike store selling basketball shoes for a year before I moved to Golden Wolf. While working at Nike - I'm a real fanboy - I started doing personal projects because I wanted to work with them as a freelancer. Those projects ended up being the stuff that stuck out to Golden Wolf because they were doing so much work with Nike at the time. Now I'm here.
There's no way I could have foreseen that happening. But all that time I spent selling sneakers was worth it, it gave my voice and my story a different trajectory when compared to anybody else's. Stumbling through and getting some experience is a lot more realistic and to be encouraged, rather than putting pressure on yourself to get that job at work or whatever. You've got to get out there and figure out what you want to do. There's no time cap on that. You've got to do it at your own pace.
“What’s Your Style?” — Created by Golden Wolf.
Mack Garrison:
There's so much pressure when you're coming out of school to get in the game quickly. But, taking time off, traveling a little bit, clearing your head, figuring out what you're into; I think that all pays huge dividends. Or in your case, living out in the middle of nowhere in Australia.
Dotti Sinnott:
Just don't ask him about the kangaroos.
Mack Garrison:
Well, I don't want to keep you all too long. I know we covered a lot and I asked all the questions. Aside from coming to hang out with your favorite friends in North Carolina, is there a teaser for what you guys might speak about or anything you're looking forward to touching on?
Dotti Sinnott:
Right now, we’re just making a list of things that we could start talking about, we figured over the summer we'd start to dig into it a little bit more. All that to say, we don't know where we're going to be in a few months.
“Brown Skin” — Created by Golden Wolf.
Mack Garrison:
The best thing about this festival is that it might be the first time anyone is allowed to go hang out with other people, which to me is just amazing that they would choose our conference to come to do that at.
Dotti Sinnott:
I'm excited to see how weird everyone is with other people when we finally get out of this.
Mack Garrison:
Just a bunch of socially-awkward folks. I mean animators and designers are kind of introverts already haha. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you all, assuming everything goes to plan.
Sammy Moore:
Sounds great, man.
Dotti Sinnott:
Yeah, it sounds awesome. Let us know if you need anything else from us.
Mack Garrison:
Absolutely. You know what I need Sammy? Dotti is going to kill me because I know she hasn't gotten any yet, but I still want some of that hot sauce you were promising me about from down in Savannah.
Sammy Moore:
There is a bottle in the fridge with your name on it, man. I promise.
Mack Garrison:
I love it. I'm stoked.
Sammy Moore:
You know what? I'm going to bring you two bottles.
Mack Garrison:
Two bottles? You animal. Cool, well thank you all for hanging. It's good to catch up again.
Sammy Moore:
Yeah, likewise.
Dottie Sinnott:
For sure!
Mack Garrison:
We'll talk soon.
Art by Nick Stoney at Golden Wolf
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.
“it's tempting to try to learn something based on fear…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!”
Celebrating WHM with the Women of Dash
As we wrap up Women’s History Month, we held a special Q&A session with the ladies of dash studio.
Q&A with Erin Bradley, Madison Caprara, Megan DeMarco, Meryn Hayes, Meg Snyder, and Eryn Hsu.
Read time: 20min
The Women of Dash, created by Meg Snyder.
Madison Caprara:
Hey guys!
All right, so I'll start off with the first question and everyone can chime in. How did you all end up at dash? What attracted you to the creative field in general?
Erin Bradley:
I'll go first. I was freelancing for a few years before I started and I was thinking about getting a staff position. I wanted a smaller studio that I felt cared about doing good work and about their employees. dash seemed just that.
Meg Snyder:
For me, I guess it's similar to a lot of other people in the field. I was always super into creative stuff; drawing, painting, and all that. Learning that you could actually make a career out of a passion and finding out all the different avenues and options there are to be in a creative field was really nice.
For me personally, it just felt more like a place where I could actually be myself compared to something like, I guess, a more corporate job. It felt the best fit and the most natural progression.
Madison Caprara:
Were you ever overwhelmed with the number of different routes you could delve into?
Meg Snyder:
I think maybe more so when I first started college because, in high school, I didn't really have a wide understanding of all the options. So I think getting into a space where there were so many all at once, was a bit overwhelming. But in the same way, it was also really fun to dive into each of those and get to explore things to find the right fit. So initially yes, but after getting into it, not really.
Madison Caprara:
Sweet. Yeah, and I don't know if anyone else wants to answer this question or if you'd like me to move on, but the next one pivots off of that. Was there any fear in making the decision to pursue a full-time career within the creative industry?
Meryn Hayes:
I think a little bit. My background is actually in photography. That's what I went to school for. And towards my, I don't know, junior, senior year, when everyone was trying to figure out their lives, I realized that everyone was going to pick up and move to New York City and become a freelance photographer. I was like, “I don't know about that.”
So, I ended up in this middle ground of, I love to be involved with creative, but I also have more of a type-A personality of scheduling, organization, operations. So I found my way into the advertising and marketing agency world. It's the perfect balance for me because I feel I'm involved in the creative, but I'm not actually producing anything myself. I can put my type-A tendencies to good use.
Madison Caprara:
What about the rest of you guys? Was there ever any fear of backlash from family or friends when it came to deciding to pursue being a creative as a full-time career?
Meg Snyder:
It's funny, yeah, initially. My dad is an architect and for some reason, my parents thought that me going into a creative field would not work out for me, even though it was pretty clear that that's what I wanted to do since the time I was a kid. I think it was also just a matter of not knowing if there was anything in the area.
So going back to dash, when I first got out of school, I had no idea that there was a motion graphics community in the Triangle and I didn't really even know what motion graphics was. Just finding dash by accident through my boss was the way I got into it. But I assumed like Meryn, I was going to have to move across the country, probably to California or New York when I graduated. Luckily I didn't have to do that.
Madison Caprara:
Interesting. Because dash is pretty out there. Right? In terms of location, when it comes to the industry. I'm assuming, just from my research and speaking with you guys, most of the agencies or studios are on one of the coasts.
Created by Megan DeMarco.
Meryn Hayes:
It definitely is when you think of advertising or agencies and studios. You're either thinking of New York City or LA. What I feel has happened in the last ten years, the next level cities like Chicago and some of the smaller hubs, Raleigh and Atlanta, they’re putting out the same quality of work as in LA and New York City. And obviously, we're all here at dash because we believe that too. You don't need to be in one of the two to do good work.
I think that's also shifting the client's mindset. Sometimes clients are really particular about only working with people that are close to them, maybe that's something that will continue to change given the whole remote situation. But clients are realizing that they can work with really quality people and studios in smaller markets, which can sometimes save them on the budget too. It's going to shift and continue to shift in the next few years for sure.
Madison Caprara:
Hopefully, yeah!
So I'm assuming that all of you went to a university to get a more formal, higher-level education. Looking back and seeing how it might have influenced and affected the work that you're getting into now, would you say that you're for or against pursuing that formal education route?
Erin Bradley:
I don't think it's totally necessary. Now, there are more schools that are offering motion graphics. SCAD's a big one that I feel was one of the only schools that really had a motion design program in the beginning.
I didn't go to art school. I studied television, so I didn't learn any of this until after. Everything I learned was online and self-taught. There's definitely a big community to learn. Several people do free tutorials and stuff like that, so I don't think it's necessary, but it also wouldn’t hurt. I still think it's a great option if you're able to and you can afford it, but there are other options.
Madison Caprara:
Do you think that a degree might be a stickler for some people or companies that are hiring?
“one of the great things about what we do is, you're bringing your own personal perspective into the work that you're doing.”
Erin Bradley:
I've met very few people when I freelance that even bothered to ask where I went to school. I don't even know if I sent a resume into dash. People just want to see your reel, they want to know if you can do the work. It's nice if you can say, “Oh yeah. I went to SCAD.”
Around here, I feel a lot of people went to SCAD and I know a ton of people came from LA. There's a great community there. CalArts in LA was the same, but I don't think people for the most part really care. If you can do the work that they're hiring for, you’re good.
Meryn Hayes:
Yes! And I was going to say, I don't know that I would have ended up where I am without going to school and having those experiences. But on the other hand, I could have very well found my way here eventually. What I think is really important - whether it's in school, your first few years out of school, or your first few years in the industry if you're not going to school - is just about applying yourself and working really hard.
With school, or at least my art school, it was pretty rigorous. You learn a lot in terms of how to create, but also some of the interpersonal skills; communication and critiquing. I think that's something that isn't very thought of if you're not going to school. How do you give feedback to someone? How do you take feedback? How do you communicate to a client when it's a delicate situation or you're not sure what they want?
Meryn Hayes:
Those are really important skills. If you don't have an education, they’re really important to learn and not let get lost. If you end up in an online school or watching tutorials, you'll learn how to do things and the applications, but not the interpersonal skills. I think that's just really important. So, if you can't get that through school, really focusing on that in your first few years as you're getting started.
Madison Caprara:
I 100% agree. Conversational skills are everything.
Getting away from the topic of education. How much do you think of your own individual personalities, beliefs, ideologies, interests do you put into your work? Does this differ when it comes to studio work and your personal projects?
Meg Snyder:
I can answer that. From my background, having pretty liberal or leftist political views, sometimes working on corporate projects can be a little bristly. We've had some big banking clients that make you put your guard up if you have certain ideologies that clash with those companies. In the end, you end up just putting that aside to do the work. Because you can make really good projects out of it.
In your personal work, you can definitely go off and do your own thing, but that's been an adjustment for me. I know one client, in particular, a few years ago, when we started with them, it was a little bit, “Oh okay, I'm putting ego and politics aside.”
Madison Caprara:
And have there been any projects or clients in the history of dash that it was just a flat-out ‘no,’ because it clashed too much with the ideologies that we have here.
“you can have an all-white team trying to create a story about characters of color and you're not going to get half of it right…you need creators of color and you need more female and trans-queer producers.”
Meg Snyder:
I remember one.
Meryn Hayes:
Yeah. Yeah. I can think of a few.
Madison Caprara:
How do you usually handle those types of situations?
Meryn Hayes:
Well, I don't know that we would say, ‘we don't want to work with you cause you're a fascist,’ it's about taking each situation as it comes and delicately walking that line. In terms of the projects that maybe you can't feel passionate about working on - a bank or another tech video - I think there has to be some kind of separation from it. So, you don't believe in the subject matter, but what can you do to further a style that you've wanted to work on? So that you can still feel something towards it, some passion because otherwise, that's just a really easy way to get down and burnt out.
Created by Eryn Hsu.
Madison Caprara:
Going from the projects that you're not so excited about, what projects stick with you that were some of the best? Some of the ones that you were most proud of?
Erin Bradley:
Well, I know I haven't obviously been here as long but one that sticks out to me was around when I started last year. It was a piece we did for Pride. I liked it a lot because we all contributed to that in some way. It was a big collaborative effort. I know I did some designing and that's not my background and I got a lot of input from Megan for stuff.
By collaborating like that, we're able to learn from each other while working on things together. And it was more of a personal project for us if I remember correctly. Stuff like that's really cool when we have time to work on them.
Meryn Hayes Portrait by Meg Snyder
Meg Snyder:
Yeah. A lot of local projects feel better. So the one early on was for a design festival and all of the scenes involved downtown Raleigh. So you definitely feel a stronger connection to it versus something that's corporate and across the country.
Meryn Hayes:
I would say some of my favorite projects have come from the collaboration Erin was saying. Getting everybody in the studio on one project is a rarity and so really leaning into those opportunities when we have them. But then secondly, some of my favorites have been when we've been able to try a new style or something we've wanted to do for a long time. A few years ago we did this fully illustrated piece and that was one of the first times that we'd done something like that.
Also, we recently just completed a 3D character animation and that was the first time that we've been able to do something like that. It's pushing ourselves to try something we have never done before, but it's also getting wins with clients when we're able to push them outside of their own comfort zones into a style that they didn't realize they wanted or liked. I think those are some of my favorites.
Madison Caprara:
So you would say that the projects you work on are a constant kind of learning experience?
Meryn Hayes:
Well, I think it’s easy for studios, agencies, and freelancers to get into the groove of doing what they make best. That's great and really solid, but you can start to feel backed into a corner. When dash started, we were really good at making those vector, icon, MoGraph-y looking pieces. Especially in the tech field. That's a really easy go-to, and we realized that's all clients were coming to us for because that's what was on our website. How do we grow?
We had to take opportunities with pro bono pieces where the budget wasn't where we wanted it to be in order to put something out there that we were really, really proud of. Stuff that pushed us and our style. That'll help us get more work later down the line. So, it's a win-win because it pushed us outside of our creative confines, but it also helped us land more work in the long run.
Madison Caprara:
For sure.
I've been hearing a lot - not only on the MoGraph Lunch chats that Mack and Jay are starting but also just in general - the debate on generalism versus specialism; the pros and cons of each. Do you guys have any thoughts on that?
“if you hire the people you know and the people you know are only white men, then that's what you do…I’d rather take the time and look through ten extra reels to find someone who would be a good fit that also takes a little tap at that glass ceiling.”
Erin Bradley:
Like everything, there are pros and cons to anything. I think being a generalist these days is more attractive to clients because they want someone who can design AND animate. If you know a little bit of a lot of stuff, that's good, but at the same time, I'm thinking about Jess Herrera.
We needed someone who was, specifically, really good at texturing. So if you’re good at one specific thing, you'll usually get on some cool projects. I don't know if that really answered your question.
Madison Caprara:
No, that was great. I just like to get people's insight. Do you think it can be limiting to be a specialist?
Erin Bradley:
Yeah, totally. Especially if there's something you're good at that's going out of style, or people decide they really want to do 2D hand-drawn stuff and you're very motion graphics specter heavy or something. Then you are going to have to adjust as the industry changes.
Meryn Hayes:
In the past few years, I mean 3D has always been cool, but I just think in the past few years everything's turned to 3D. And so a lot of people are pivoting to that. It was kind of a rarity before, but if you pivot to working on 3D and something else comes along the lines, because it eventually will, and you're stuck in what you've gone all-in on, how do you survive that? It's always going to be about looking ahead and pivoting as things change because inevitably they will.
Also, I do think it depends on where you want to be. We talked about this a little bit on the MoGraph chat; if you want to be at a studio or a big production company, feature films, you're probably going to be brought in for one specific thing. But for us at dash, it's a lot more valuable to have someone who can do a lot because we're so small. We can have different projects come in every day that would pivot what people are working on or what could be good for them to work on, so having a team that can react to that is really important for us.
Meg Snyder:
Yes. Also, if you're someone who is more focused on the concept and preliminary art within a project, you can find yourself completely losing - not control over it - but your hand in it is has ended before you’ve really even started animating.
So if you're someone like me in my position, being more illustration-heavy or character concept-heavy, you don't end up working on things at the finished product. It's nice to become more generalized so you can actually do a little bit of animating, and maybe that involves becoming a Cel animator versus someone more motion graphics-heavy. It’s about being consistently involved in the process.
Madison Caprara:
That’s an interesting take. At some point, it’s almost like you lose ownership of your creations.
Let's see. I want to go into some of the Women's History Month-focused topics. So I'm steadily learning that women are a minority in this industry - much like almost every other industry. Was there a specific experience or point in time when you realized that cis- and trans- women were a minority within the field?
Created by Megan DeMarco.
Erin Bradley:
As I said, I sort of self-taught online. I didn't actually know anybody in the field. One of the first resources I discovered was called Brograph. I think it was a YouTube channel or a blog or something. And I was like, “Oh, so that's what this is.” Besides that, the majority of the freelance work I did, I was the only woman motion designer. Sometimes even the only woman in the building or in the studio. So yeah. It became clear pretty quickly.
Meg Snyder:
I was the only woman at dash for about a year. I was the first hire, but also working with three other guys. So yeah.
Madison Caprara:
Wow.
Do you believe that the lack of women in the field has affected how female characters are portrayed? Anywhere from smaller productions à la dash, to larger productions on the Pixar and Disney front?
Created by Meg Snyder.
Meryn Hayes:
Oh yeah, for sure. I think one of the great things about what we do is, you're bringing your own personal perspective into the work that you're doing. So if you get a bunch of people that have the same perspective and the same point of view, you're going to get relatively the same output.
I definitely think that that's shifting and changing though. Not as quickly as we would all like, but there's been a larger push to make sure that there is diversity within large-scale productions and then smaller works too. So I think clients are more aware of that than they used to be. It's good for them to push that and for us to push it. So that everyone's thinking of it top of mind.
Madison Caprara:
How do you believe the industry can change for the better? Whether that be diversifying on the gender front, the racial front, or any other flaw that you perceive?
Megan DeMarco:
I think like all of those things that we had talked about previously, but something else would be more diversity in the storytelling. The kinds of stories that are being told. Specifically looking at movies, I feel there have been a lot of remakes. A lot of the same stories being told over and over. When you allow different stories and different perspectives, it's just a lot more interesting and easier to connect to.
A specific example of that would be City of Ghosts, which is a Netflix show that just came out. It's all about exploring the history of Los Angeles, but it's through the perspective of a group of kids. A totally different viewpoint. They go over a lot of topics that I don't really think would, not that they wouldn't be addressed, but I just haven't seen them presented that way before. So it was just really refreshing and interesting to see a different perspective like that.
Madison Caprara:
Yeah. I mean, I never really thought about it, but remakes are pretty en vogue right now. Think of all of the new live-action Disney movies that have come out recently.
Meg Snyder:
Piggybacking off of that, the types of creators too, and storytellers, because you can have an all-white team trying to create a story about characters of color and you're not going to get half of it right. So if you have a show like Craig of the Creek, which has a predominantly black main creative team telling this story of a middle-class black family, you're going to get very specific perspectives because the creators are represented in the work.
And I think that going forward, that's going to be a lot more important than an all-white team trying to populate as many people of color in a project as possible. That's not enough. You need creators of color and you need more female and trans-queer producers.
Erin Bradley:
Yeah. I totally agree with that. Go ahead Meryn.
Meryn Hayes:
I was just going to say another thing that I think is going to shift the industry is getting more women in leadership roles and minorities in leadership roles. We can push all we want and say we want equal pay, but that's not going to shift if those different representations aren’t in leadership and decision-making roles throughout the industry. I mean, that's one of the reasons why I ended up at dash. I wanted to be on the ground floor of a small studio. To be able to start making those decisions and pushing for change. So I think it's just getting those people into those positions, and that takes time.
There's the phrase, “you can't see yourself in a role if you don't see someone else there.” So if you don't have people in those roles to bring people up and mentor them, that becomes stagnant. That'll take time, but I hope that people are conscious of it. It's not just about hiring women, it's getting them embedded in the community so that they can start becoming decision-makers and leaders.
Created by Erin Bradley.
Erin Bradley:
I totally agree. That's what I was going to bring up as well. Especially in the early phases, I know Meg for example does a lot of the conceptual stuff and she's very good at being aware of diversifying things. So I think just making sure that's a key in the beginning and that happens more from producers or creative directors in the fields.
I know from my experience, the majority of the time someone like a producer would reach out to me, it was a woman producer and it was because they were specifically going on a woman directory of animation, just to make sure that more women were involved in their projects. And I feel that's just something that men, even though they might not know they're doing it, they're not actively looking for women. They're just going to hire some dude that they already know.
Meryn Hayes:
Yeah. There's definitely a ton of, whether it's purposeful or unbiased, conscious decision-making if you hire the people you know and the people you know are only white men, then that's what you do. It's the status quo. So maybe it would take longer to find a female artist but it’s important to do so. I'd rather take the time and look through ten extra reels to find someone who would be a good fit that also takes a little tap at that glass ceiling too.
Madison Caprara:
It's so crazy to me how these issues transcend every type of industry. I remember at one of my previous workplaces, most of the decision-makers were white, straight men. The few women were also straight and white. It could take an entire year to get a full-scale project together, and most of them revolved around topics discussing the LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC communities.
Despite all of that time, nobody within the early conceptual stages would be a member of the community being spoken on. And then, a month before the project was supposed to go live, they’d come to us and be like, “Hey, take a quick, look over this.” I’m assuming to ensure nothing was going to insult anyone or be perceived in a negative light. But the point is, we should have been involved within the early and mid-stages. Not just as a checkmark of approval once you're done.
Meryn Hayes:
No, it's not just a checkbox, it's more than that. Just because you have someone involved in the community or in a project, that's not going to cut it. So getting people embedded into teams where they have decision-making power is just, I think, so huge. It's not just for show, it will change the way that we work if it's done correctly.
Madison Caprara:
I 100% agree.
Let's see. Going into more a positive sphere of conversation, what would you - whether in your personal or professional lives - what do you want to accomplish in the next five years?
Megan DeMarco:
For me personally, I feel I'm at the beginning of my whole career because I've only been with dash for a year, almost two years now I guess. But I feel like a little baby. So ultimately, just trying to learn more, become more well-rounded, and becoming a little less afraid to try different things and take risks. For me, that's a little bit of a barrier right now. So I guess ultimately just trying to learn as much as I can while being open to things.
Meryn Hayes:
I just think that it's the stars aligning, what we were talking about earlier with the smaller regions getting more attention, it really sets Dash up to be successful. I just think that we've pushed ourselves, especially with trying new stuff the past few years, and seeing all of that come together. I would hope in the next five years that we have become one in the Southeast, if you think of motion in the Southeast, you would think of dash. Just becoming more predominant in the industry and having things like the Dash Bash. Just centering the conversation of community and thinking of dash when you think of the motion community.
Created by Eryn Hsu.
Meg Snyder:
Yeah. I think also, in terms of dash's work itself, I'd like to see us be able to do more purely creative projects that aren't really client specific. I know Cory's mentioned the possibility of doing animated shorts, reoccurring segments.
And personally, I think I would really to become a creative director. Not just scrapping responsibilities as an illustrator, continuing to do that, and getting better with cel animation. But also getting into creative direction. I think it's fun.
Madison Caprara:
Nice! I can see it.
What's a piece of advice that you have received that you've maybe labeled as the most helpful, or even the most heinous if you can think of anything in particular? And then pivoting off of that, is there any advice you would give to women just starting out in the industry?
Meg Snyder:
Right off-hand, as far as bad advice goes, I think anyone who encourages unpaid internships, they're definitely not looking out for your best interests. I know that advice usually comes from people who've been in the industry since the eighties. Maybe they came up in the seventies when things were very affordable on unemployment. That doesn't work now, so I think staying away from any sort of exposure-based rewards is just kind of nonsense.
Madison Caprara:
I had six internships throughout my college career and not one of them was paid. I was told that I was fussy because I made a big deal that I wasn't getting compensated for the work that I was doing. That it’s the sacrifice you have to make when you’re starting at the bottom. So yeah, that's great to hear.
Meryn Hayes:
Good for you. You be fussy!
I would say a piece of advice I have, and it sort of goes back to some of the conversations we were talking about earlier, but I don't feel we find mentors anymore. Something that was really helpful early on in my career, when I was at a previous agency, was finding a more senior account manager. She took me under her wing and I've learned a lot from her. I think that's something that, whether or not it's explicitly a mentor-mentee relationship or just someone that you look up to, having an outlet and being able to look up to somebody who's in a position that you want to be in and can help you work through how you want to get there. That's something that's really valuable that we lose these days.
Madison Caprara:
Yeah. We're at the end. Do you guys have any parting comments, statements, any shoutouts you want to end on? Anything that you want to get out there before we close this out?
Erin Bradley:
Something that really helped me was finding communities, whether it's in your area or online. Panamation is a big one. Just groups where you can find people, especially when you're first starting out. You're at a studio and there's not another woman there and you need people to talk to about that. It's really great for that and just networking in general.
Madison Caprara:
Cool. Good advice, Erin!
Anything else guys? All right. I think we're done. Thanks so much for the conversation!
Created by Megan DeMarco.
Takeover Tuesday with Bárbara Nozari
Wrapping up our Women’s History Month's, Takeover Tuesday’s is Bárbara Nozari! Bárbara is a motion designer and character animator based in Brazil.
Q&A with Bárbara Nozari
Read time: 5min
Animation by Bárbara Nozari.
Why did you choose your profession?
I don't have a specific answer to that. Motion design was something that piqued my interest, I soon realized I didn't want to do anything else.
How did you go about starting out?
I had studied advertising in college, I thought I would work as an art director in some advertising agency. At some point, I started as an intern at a web tv company. I did everything; graphic design, short scripts, filming, editing. After that internship, I got a job in broadcast television as a film editor while making some broadcast identity and animation packages on the side. My interest in animation grew and I started to study more (I was always a self-learner). From there, I started to nail some animation jobs and never stopped.
“(women’s history month) represents a month to remember that we women are very strong. that we’ve gotten more rights and equality through struggle. that this fight must not stop.”
What does Women’s History Month mean to you?
To me, it represents a month to remember that we women are very strong. That we’ve gotten more rights and equality through struggle. That this fight must not stop.
Why is it significant in 2021, particularly?
Even in the 21st century we still see a lot of gender inequality, violence against women, and cultural rights that benefit only men while punishing women.
What do you love most about what you do?
I love creating things. Being able to experiment with shapes, styles, colors, and ideas; to look at all that and smile is what makes me happy.
What would you change?
The industries of illustration, animation, and cinema have always been very masculine. I never knew the reason, but fortunately, this has begun to change. Today we can see a greater diversity of gender and ethnicity. If I could, I would change the fact that a creative’s sex, gender, ethnicity, etc. doesn't matter when landing a job, but the quality of work alone.
Tell me about a woman you look up to and why.
I admire my mother. She is a very wise, strong woman. As a child, she was poor but always struggled to work hard. She taught me right from wrong.
“I love creating things. being able to experiment with shapes, styles, colors, and ideas; to look at all that and smile is what makes me happy.”
What’s the best career (or life) advice you have received?
I never received any advice, but I always tell my eldest daughter that she should choose a profession or job that will make her happy. This is the most important thing for me.
Do you have any advice for young women first starting out in this industry?
For the girls who are just starting out, I tell them not to be afraid to hear “no” or to hear heavy criticism. Use this to better your work and always study, because nobody but yourself will teach you how to do things.
Do you currently prioritize your work-life balance? If so, how?
I try to prioritize having a balance. This makes me both work harder on the job and acknowledge happy moments when I'm with my family or doing a hobby.
I like to organize my schedules to always keep my commitments and activities at consistently set times. And when I have to work late, I always talk to my children so that they understand.
Animation and Script by Bárbara Nozari.
What barriers are women still facing in the industry? How do you think they can go about breaking them down?
We still see more men than women in animation studios and in advertising agencies. In order to change this scenario, we as women have to show ourselves more, publicize our work, expand our network, and refer other women whenever we can.
“…not to be afraid to hear ‘no’ or to hear heavy criticism. use this to better your work and always study, because nobody but yourself will teach you how to do things.”
Where do you go for inspiration?
Sometimes the inspiration comes from my children's games, or maybe from a landscape I saw. Mostly, it comes from normal things seen throughout my day.
Any closing points, advice, or statement you would like to share?
Don't be ashamed of who you are, where you come from, and what makes you happy.
“we still see more men than women in animation studios and in advertising agencies…we as women have to show ourselves more, publicize our work, expand our network, and refer other women whenever we can.”
Animation by Bárbara Nozari.
Takeover Tuesday with Caroline Le
Introducing this week’s Takeover Tuesday guest, Caroline Le. Caroline is a motion designer based in the greater NYC area with a passion for storytelling, problem-solving, and entertainment.
Q&A with Caroline Le
Read time: 5 min
3D illustration by Caroline Le
Why did you choose your profession? How did you go about starting out?
I've wanted to be an animator ever since I was a little girl, I loved to draw growing up. Disney movies and the Sunday comics were always big sources of inspiration. Although, It wasn’t until I saw a visual effects breakdown from one of the Star Wars movies that I really got hooked. It was so cool and I knew from that moment on that I wanted to do something with animation and CGI.
What does Women’s History Month mean to you? Why is it personally significant in 2021, particularly?
Women’s History Month for me is a time for reflecting on how women have contributed to society both directly and indirectly over the years, and how they continue to do so today. Reflecting on the enormous amount that women have contributed encourages the confidence necessary to fuel continued change in our society. That in and of itself is really empowering. We’re witnessing some real change in 2021, and with more people aware, it’s an opportunity to put our strengths on display and to show the world what we’re capable of as women.
What do you love most about what you do? What would you change?
It may sound cliche, but I really do love the storytelling aspect of animation and motion graphics the most because it has the ability to ignite an emotional connection between the audience, the art, and the message itself. When you can make someone really feel something-excitement, nostalgia, happiness, hope–that’s when the true magic happens. Every project that I’ve been given the opportunity to be a part of has allowed me to create, dream, and problem-solve. Because of that, I honestly wouldn’t change a thing about what I do. It’s the perfect mixture of right-brain and left-brain thinking, and I enjoy it a lot.
“reflecting on the enormous amount that women have contributed encourages the confidence necessary to fuel continued change in our society. That in and of itself is really empowering.”
Tell me about a woman you look up to and why.
There are several women that I really admire, but the most inspirational woman in my life is definitely my mom. I’ve always admired her confidence and drive in her career, her compassion and loyalty when it comes to her relationships, and her generosity and optimistic attitude when it comes to her demeanor. She’s taught me to be a good listener, to always be kind, to be patient, and the importance of one’s relationships. I believe these life lessons have shaped who I am today. She’s also been a cheerleader in every endeavor that I’ve ever pursued, including wanting to be an animator, and I am forever grateful for that.
Created by Caroline Le
What’s the best career (or life) advice you have ever received?
The best piece of career advice I ever received was “don’t be afraid to ask questions” and it’s been useful in every aspect of my life.
Do you have any advice for young women first starting out in this industry?
Nurture your professional relationships. Get to know your teammates and managers, really pay attention in meetings with your team or with your clients. Step away from the computer and grab coffee or lunch with a coworker. Help out wherever you can. Hold on to anyone that you consider to be a mentor, and most importantly don’t be afraid to be yourself.
Do you currently prioritize your work-life balance? If so, how?
Absolutely! Especially working from home due to COVID. I do my best to not bring work outside of my office space, stick to solid business hours, and allow my mind to unwind at the end of the workday. This usually includes watching TV with my husband, playing the piano, or reading a book. I don’t typically work on the weekends, but if an emergency arises with a client project or if I have a passion project that has been sitting on the back burner for a while, I’ll put some time in so that everything stays on track. I also plan the week ahead for an hour or two on Sunday mornings so that I am aware of my biggest priorities to tackle Monday through Friday.
“continuing to show up, doing good work, and supporting one another are great ways to advocate for ourselves.”
What barriers are women still facing in the industry? How do you think they can go about breaking them down?
My observation would be that women may still not be taken as seriously as men in the industry, but continuing to show up, doing good work, and supporting one another are great ways to advocate for ourselves.
“I really do love the storytelling aspect of animation and motion graphics the most because it has the ability to ignite an emotional connection between the audience, the art, and the message itself.”
Created by Caroline Le
Where do you go for inspiration?
I typically go to sites like Vimeo, Pinterest, and Behance for inspiration. Lately, however, I’ve been pulling a lot from books that I’m currently reading or have read, and even personal experiences of my own. It’s a nice change of scenery.
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to make?
There are so many talented and genuinely wonderful people in the animation and motion graphics industry. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know members of the community over the past few years and I look forward to connecting with and meeting even more amazing people in the months and years to come!
Takeover Tuesday with Jessica Herrera
This week for our Takeover Tuesday, we sat down with Jessica Herrera; a freelance 3D character artist based in Australia who swears that a Herrerasaurus is a real dinosaur.
Q&A with Jessica Herrera
Read time: 5 min
Illustration by Jessica Herrera
Why did you choose your profession? How did you go about starting out?
Well, to be honest, when I was younger I planned on being in the science field. I hated computers as I never understood them well, but I always loved drawing and the arts. With support from my family and teachers, I decided to try out digital technology. It was only in my second year at university that a friend recommended I enroll in a 3D class. I hated it. Barely scraped a passing grade. It was the first time I had done so badly in a course. That led me to learn on my own time using tutorials I could find online. This was great for me as I could do it all at my own pace. Though my 3D career started with passion projects, I slowly got recognized for my work professionally!
What do you love most about what you do? What would you change?
I love freelancing! I have had a lot more exciting challenges that I usually never would have gotten the chance to do when I was full-time. It’s empowering to be able to pick and choose what I work on. Basically, I’m doing my hobby as a career.
“I’m doing my hobby as a career.”
Tell me about a woman you look up to and why.
Is it corny to say, my mum? There are so many amazing women in the creative industry, but she’s the most influential woman to me. Though she may not have a creative career, my mum definitely has an eye for design. When they say your mum knows best, she really does! I can’t say she has directly influenced my creativity, but she has guided me to be a strong, independent woman who has worked hard to get where I am now!
Illustration by Jessica Herrera
What’s the best career (or life) advice you have ever received?
Don't compare yourself to everyone else. It's bad for your mental health and can sometimes hinder you from finding your own path in life. I know social media can make you feel as if you have to consistently post or make art a certain way, as it seems everyone prefers that. The algorithms definitely favor those who post more often, so just make what you like to make and not what you think everyone else likes to see. Not to discredit the amazing work people with large followings have made on socials. Just pointing out the algorithms nowadays are very cutthroat.
Do you have any advice for young women first starting out in this industry?
When I first started, I found it uncomfortable to voice my ideas or concerns in a project. I still can get a little shy, but over the years I have had more confidence. I think that can go for anyone who is inexperienced. With time, things get less daunting. It’s only human to sometimes be afraid to voice opinions to other people, but don't let anyone walk over you if you can't find the words in a workplace.
Do you currently prioritize your work-life balance? If so, how?
I do tend to spend a little TOO much time on my PC. On some jobs, when I am having fun, I can work overtime because time fly's by so fast. Despite that, I have a lot of hobbies outside of my PC, so they do a good job of keeping me away from the screen. Being freelance, I can have some time between jobs to do whatever it is I like.
“don't compare yourself to everyone else. It's bad for your mental health and can sometimes hinder you from finding your own path in life.”
What barriers are women still facing in the industry? How do you think they can go about breaking them down?
These barriers can vary from person to person. I know some that have had no troubles in their motion graphics career. On the other hand, I know others that get underpaid or walked over in the workplace. I myself have had some ups and downs. Some instances I fought against, some I didn't have the energy to do so. Some of these people don't realize what they have said or done as being sexist until you tell them. It’s a hard thing to bring up in the workplace. It also sucks that as a woman, we’re usually the ones who have to bring it up. If you are a man and see a woman feeling uncomfortable, please help them. Sometimes when being the victim, it can be hard to speak out.
The biggest barrier I personally have faced has been not getting paid the same as other men in the workplace. Knowing a male counterpart was being paid 20% more than I when doing the exact same job was heartbreaking. In this case, I was very vocal to my HR manager in the performance review process. It felt petty fighting to have the same pay as others, trying to prove my worth when they had given no negative feedback about my performance. Only then to be knocked back and punished for knowing what my coworker was being paid. My choice was to leave after failing to prove my worth, funnily enough, when I went to leave they gave me the raise I had asked for. Since going freelance, I have not had any problems. I state my rate and most studios and clients understand.
“knowing a male counterpart was being paid 20% more than I when doing the exact same job was heartbreaking.”
Illustration by Jessica Herrera
Where do you go for inspiration?
Everything can spark inspiration; whether it is an animation I watch, to the way my fish swims in the tank. Also, I am very active on social media platforms so I see a lot of the amazing art and designs my friends in the industry are posting. I like to have a good chat with people online, I am sure people can relate to that working from home these days.
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to make?
Have fun in what you do, if your day job isn't what you love, make what you love in your own time and maybe someone will see that and hire you for it. It seemed to work for me! But, everyone's story is different.
Takeover Tuesday with Lana Simanenkova
Another Takeover Tuesday for your viewing pleasure. This week we have chat with Lana Simanenkova, a freelance animator and illustrator. Originally from Estonia, she is currently based in London, UK.
Q&A with Lana Simanenkova
Read time: 5 min
Animation by Lana Simanenkova
Why did you choose your profession? How did you go about starting out?
I had not done very well in school, so I thought that getting a degree in media would be a good idea. I applied to various courses and got accepted into an animation program. Lucky for me, I ended up loving animation and motion graphics. I have been doing it professionally for over seven years now. I started out as an intern making animated ads full-time, then grew that role into a senior creative position which I stayed in for over five years. About a year and a half ago, I left to pursue a freelance career.
What does Women’s History Month mean to you? Why is it personally significant in 2021, particularly?
It's a great way to highlight the amazing talent that often goes underappreciated. It’s also an opportunity to not let anyone forget that there is still much work to be done in terms of gender equality, in the workplace especially.
What do you love most about what you do? What would you change?
I love all the gears the creative process turns in my head. There's a certain trance you fall into when you do something you love and the time flies. That's the most enjoyable feeling for me. As for what I would change, I always try new animation tools with the hope that one day there will be a viable alternative to some of the Adobe products to create more options in the 2D vector field.
“none of my mentors were women, so I had to navigate the male-heavy animation industry by trial and error.”
Tell me about a woman you look up to and why.
I'm a proper big fan of Joanna Quinn. I discovered her work through a film festival in London and even met her once. She’s as badass as her work is; so cheeky and full of life. The linework and the dynamic movement are something I've not seen anywhere else, so I got completely bewitched. She's amazing and I always look forward to her new works.
Dropbox animation by Lana Simanenkova
What’s the best career (or life) advice you have ever received?
Never assume the client knows something already. Especially if they are new to animation. In that case, the more hand-holding and explaining you do, the better the whole process can be. That way you both know what you’re getting from each other.
Do you have any advice for young women first starting out in this industry?
Try and connect with other women in the industry or potentially seek out a mentorship with one. None of my mentors were women, so I had to navigate the male-heavy animation industry by trial and error; when it comes to meetings, asserting my opinion, noticing subtle sexism, etc. I think finding a role model you can reach out to makes a huge difference.
Do you currently prioritize your work-life balance? If so, how?
I've actually gone freelance a bit more than a year ago exactly for this reason. The commute to London, stagnant wages, and some company re-structuring didn’t mesh with what I wanted for my career at that time. Since going freelance I am more in control of the jobs I take on and the image I want to project to potential clients.
“I love all the gears the creative process turns in my head. There's a certain trance you fall into when you do something you love and the time flies.”
What barriers are women still facing in the industry? How do you think they can go about breaking them down?
I think I struggle being taken seriously in meetings. Some studios are mostly still very male-heavy when it comes to animation. Getting my ideas and feedback adequately heard can be a struggle, and I'm sure other women would have had a similar feeling or experience. This kind of thing needs to be changed by hiring more women in leadership positions along with current studio owners taking the time to speak with their staff about topics such as these while making it a safe place to do so.
“never assume the client knows something already. Especially if they are new to animation. In that case, the more hand-holding and explaining you do, the better the whole process can be. That way you both know what you’re getting from each other.”
Illustration by Lana Simanenkova
Where do you go for inspiration?
I check the website, Short of the Week (https://www.shortoftheweek.com/), almost daily as it's a great collection of short films. Both animation and live-action. The site really gets my storytelling juices flowing.
Also, there are some very well curated blogs on Vimeo such as Eye Explosions (https://vimeo.com/channels/eyeexplosions) that are dedicated to motion design. Here, I try to keep my eye on the latest and hottest ads/short films. I also keep a Pinterest page where I have a collection of inspirational images; from interior design all the way to 3D character designs and such. It’s a great place to get lost for a couple of hours, great for references.
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to make?
I'd like to highlight some of the women and non-binary-focused groups that are doing a great job at building a community that helps people in the design and motion graphic fields. There are some amazing places to talk about art, work, the business of it all, and much more. Panimation and SheDrewThat both have a Facebook and Slack group that are free to join, I can't recommend them enough.
Panimation - https://www.instagram.com/panimation.tv/?hl=en
SheDrewThat - https://www.instagram.com/shedrewthat/?hl=en
Takeover Tuesday with Hannah Churn
Introducing our new series…Takeover Tuesday; an opportunity to speak with outside creatives to gain their unique insight on industry going-ons, current events, and their own personal experiences. We’re kicking off with Hannah Churn! Hannah is an art director and animator for Duke & The Duck.
Q&A with Hannah Churn
Read time: 5 min
Animation by Hannah Churn
Why did you choose your profession? How did you go about starting out?
My mom had access to Flash (then Macromedia!) at her job when I was a kid, she told me you could make cartoons with it and it blew my ten-year-old brain. I started off in the industry doing 3D character animation. I wanted to do 2D, but my drawing skills at the time weren’t that great and the motion graphics that we know today hadn’t really taken off. With practice over time, my drawing skills improved, and I soon found myself tooling around in After Effects.
What does Women’s History Month mean to you? Why is it personally significant in 2021, particularly?
Women’s History Month, to me, means giving the space and creating platforms for women to share their stories; making them more accessible, and having their voices heard. When I transitioned from 3D character animation to motion graphics, my first task was watching all the AE tutorials I could find. The more I watched, the more I realized there were zero women making them. It was so hard - then - to find other women who were in the motion graphics field. I ended up finding a few from a motion graphics blog that highlighted ten women in the field at the time, giving them a platform to amplify their voices.
What do you love most about what you do? What would you change?
I love evoking emotion from the animations I work on. If I can get someone to laugh out loud or feel the feels, it means I’ve been able to visually communicate a story well.
Honestly, I’m not sure if there are any big things I would change, I really enjoy what I do. If Adobe could update their icons of the main apps I use to another color than purple, that’d be swell...
“I love evoking emotion from the animations I work on. If I can get someone to laugh out loud or feel the feels, it means I’ve been able to visually communicate a story well.”
Tell me about a woman you look up to and why.
I’m not sure if I have just one woman I look up to, but more of a collective from over the years. They’ve helped me find my voice, to advocate for myself, and inspire me to be a better person. I was quite the quiet wall-flower at the beginning of my career, and because of them, I feel so much more comfortable stepping up to speak my mind.
U ST FOODIE illustration by Hannah Churn.
What’s the best career (or life) advice you have ever received?
Don’t value your work just by the hour, but by all of the time that you’ve put into it. I went to an event once where a guy talked about how working for an hourly rate was not great. He said, “Why should we get paid less for something, just because someone else could do it faster?” I don’t know why I never thought of it that way until that moment, but it’s always stuck.
Do you have any advice for young women first starting out in this industry?
Find groups that will help support you in your journey. They’re full of resources, tips, and job postings! Panimation is an excellent one for the motion graphics community.
Do you currently prioritize your work-life balance? If so, how?
Yes! I’m very thankful to be at a studio that values it as well. They’re really good about scheduling projects and adjusting if there are any changes, so projects don’t become a crunch time-thing. Even if it’s switching my work screen for Netflix, taking breaks, and prioritizing time for myself - it’s so important. I also have limited notifications on my devices so I’m not constantly distracted.
“watching content that is different from the motion world helps to open up new perspectives and inspire.”
What barriers are women still facing in the industry? How do you think they can go about breaking them down?
Leading creative decisions. While there are more women than before at the creative director and art director level, there are not as many as their male counterparts. Leading a project can also involve staffing the project, not having diverse creative leads can lead to the less likeness of hiring additional diverse creative staff. Studios need to break away from hiring the people they know for creative leadership positions and make sure that their applicant roster is diverse (not only in gender). Male creative leads need to also make sure their roster of freelance talent is diverse and just not solely a collection of other male friends.
Where do you go for inspiration?
I love checking Goodmoves.tv for a dose of daily awesome motion. Lately, I’ve been enjoying watching live-action short films. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re shorter formats, but I feel like the stories are more unique and interesting - or maybe I just have a short attention span. Watching content that is different from the motion world helps to open up new perspectives and inspire.
Do you have any closing advice, points, or statements you would like to make?
I’m so excited and thankful to have moments like this, where women’s voices are highlighted. Thank you, Dash Studio, for creating this space for women to share their stories and advice.
Creative investment with Wilson Brown
Before Covid19 relegated us all to our homes, I chatted with Wilson Brown, composer, entrepreneur and founding partner of Antfood Music & Sound Design to talk shop and the importance of investing in creativity.
Q&A with Wilson Brown
Read time: 15min
Mack Garrison:
Hey! What's up, Wilson?
Wilson Brown:
Hi! Great. How are you guys doing in Raleigh?
Mack Garrison:
Dude, crazy times. We're going fully remote next week, so today is going to be our last day in the office for a while. I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but we're starting to feel the ripple effects; projects that were supposed to go live are now getting delayed and a lot of event stuff is being pushed back. Crazy times. Are y’all running into the same thing?
Wilson Brown:
Yeah, definitely, it's a weird time.
We've made a contingency plan on how to work, but the weirdest thing about it all is that it feels like we're planning for the apocalypse, but also there are all of these jobs and bids coming in. There are a handful of things that get postponed or canceled, but then there are other things that people want to just power through.
Mack Garrison:
How long has Antfood been around now?
Wilson Brown:
12 years. 13 years, I think.
Mack Garrison:
Wow, okay. Have you guys ever run into any situation where, I mean, I know this is so unprecedented, but has there ever been any sort of turmoil that you guys have run into during that time? Anything that’s made you restructure the company or approach?
Wilson Brown:
No, no. But I've been thinking a lot about that, and maybe the way that our economy and business is structured is going to shift after this. We used to be a country that was based on midsize businesses, and now we really live in this world where you’re either a giant or small scrappy startup that’s trying to get their way up to that big company.
Mack Garrison:
Right.
Wilson Brown:
Maybe that's a little theoretical, but to bring it back to what we do, we are a larger music and sound company in our niche field, but we're still a small company. I don't know if it's necessarily gotten harder to survive in that climate, but it's become rarer. As such, I think we need to be a bit more creative. I don't know your financials or the details of your guys' business, but I imagine it's somewhat similar that we have this sales cycle that's really short. You mentioned six weeks. I'd say that's about ours.
We've built some financial tools so we can start to have a really, really big estimate of what the next three months would look like. That's what I've just opened up now, and it looks like even without this COVID-19, it looks incredibly rocky and bumpy. But it sort of always looks like that. We don't know exactly what the next thing that will come up will be or the next 20 or 30 things that will come up that are going to help us hit our overhead three months out, but we generally have faith that they will come. We take proactive measures to try to ensure that they happen. And we built these tools to measure it. I'm getting into boring financial calculations of a creative studio.
Mack Garrison:
Haha not at all, I’m interested.
Wilson (top left) with some of Antfood's team.
Wilson Brown:
We built these tools to give us some red flags that okay, this is looking a little scary. Let's figure out if we can build up some business in this area or maybe in this area.
We opened our doors in the depths of the global financial crisis of 2007, '08, '09. We started from there. A lot of other contemporaries who started at that same time I've spoken to recently, and it is a different thing because we have a lot more staff. We have a lot more debt. We just have a cash flow and a payroll that is just very different and is a bit more delicate than when we were 25, didn't know what we were doing. We didn't make any money. We didn't have any needs or any bank loans or whatever. I guess it's on a different scale, but I'd like to believe that we can navigate with the same approach that we always have.
Mack Garrison:
Yeah, it's interesting to think about what you talked about at the beginning of Antfood and where it is now. It's like things haven't changed, but they have in a way. I think about when Cory and I started dash, and it was like, "Well, I hope this works out, but if not, it's just us. If it goes under, we'll be all right. We'll find another job somewhere."
But when you start taking on responsibility and a bigger staff with families and they're investing their careers into your career and what you shape and pull together, it's a requirement that you have a plan and are being more thoughtful, as you alluded to, on trying to identify those red flags so you are planning ahead.
Mack Garrison:
A lot of people at the Dash Bash are going to be freelancers who are thinking about starting their own studio or even new studio owners themselves, and since we’ve been talking business, what advice would you give on how to plan ahead for those finances?
Wilson Brown:
I get what you're asking, but I think the more important focus is the opposite. It's to not be driven by money and finances and understand or at least make an effort to figure out what your goals and ethics and the value that you can create as creative individuals or a team or a studio. In my experience and with Antfood, I think the types of projects that we do, the amount of projects, the scale of the projects, the types of clients, has always morphed and changed with the time or the industry's need or our own personal interests as creative people and as a team.
“the most important thing about Antfood is just staying true to what we're good at, what we care about.”
I would look back and say the most important thing about Antfood and how we get through the next months and years is just staying true to what we're good at, what we care about. There's enough work and there's enough need out in the world that if you believe in yourself and can convince other people to believe in you that we'll be able to find a way. We've invested a lot and are just really passionate about what audio can be in the experiential space.
Wilson Brown:
We just redid the whole Empire State Building's tourist experience. It's 30,000 square feet of installation. We just finished the case study on it and we're definitely planning and hoping to use that as a sales tool to get more work like that. But that, as you mentioned, there's going to be a moratorium on that kind of big public work for a while. It doesn't mean that it won't ever come back and it doesn't mean that the skills and the techniques or process that we used in that is not valuable for other applications.
But what's important for me as someone who's running the studio and anyone starting out or wherever they are in their career is that vertical or that type of big spatial, experiential job isn't the crux of what we do. It's the content and the creative and the concepts behind that that hopefully we can apply to a bunch of other things. If people recognize what they can be great at and can stick to it as financial pressures and stresses and HR and payroll and bank debt and all of that stuff starts to pile up as you grow up, I think it's easier to navigate, at least for me, through that lens.
Shot of the seventy screen gallery space at the Empire State Building’s tourist experience.
Mack Garrison:
That's really good to know. We started dash because we believe in the power of creativity, so everything we do is reinvesting in the work and trying to make it the best it can be. It’s great to see your success carrying that similar mindset on the creative and trying to push the limits of what's possible. In that same light when you started the studio.... When you started Antfood... Actually, let me ask you this. How do you like to refer to Antfood? Is it a music house? Is it a studio? Is it a music shop? What would be the terminology you'd use to refer to Antfood?
Wilson Brown:
Yeah. It's a good question. I mean we've struggled with really how to exactly brand and position ourselves because I think we want to convey a very simple idea, but we do work in a bunch of different areas for different types of clients. We most often refer to ourselves as a creative audio studio, which we, to be totally transparent, we're not really in love with. I'd say every six months we undertake this exercise to figure out a better way, like a better anthem or tagline, to describe what we do because it feels somewhat broad and somewhat elusive. I think the word “audio” is less powerful or sexy than music and sound. “Studio” is a bit limited and has some type of connotation, but we certainly like studio more than music house or production facility or production company or something because it implies that we have a discipline and a guiding principle and we work as a team under one roof. We're a collective of talented people, but unlike a lot of other music companies in our space who are really producers brokering a lot of freelance talent, we have everybody under the same roof, or three roofs in New York, Amsterdam and São Paulo.
Mack Garrison:
Did you always know you wanted to start your own thing?
Wilson Brown:
Yeah. I think I had a pretty clear vision from the beginning in that at least I wanted to control my own destiny as a creative person. I definitely didn't have this idea that I would start this business from day one. In some ways it's sort of evolved into that somewhat organically and somewhat by necessity. But yeah, I always wanted to have at least my own leeway to pick and choose projects and find things that were interesting. I studied music and moved to Brazil right after I graduated and I was looking for a job either in video production, motion graphics, or music composition. I got a job helping as assistant to the assistant to the assistant on this Seu Jorge and Ana Carolina live recording record. The guy who was producing it ran a music house that made music for ads [It was called Ludwig Van at the time. Run by Apollo9 who is fantastic as composer who built a beautiful studio in São Paulo]. I met up with him and showed him my work, and he hired me. I worked there for a while. I worked in another place for a while and then a third place while I was living in Brazil. Then when I moved back to New York, I guess it was the end of 2006.
“I wanted to control my own destiny as a creative person. I always wanted to have my own leeway to pick and choose projects and find things that were interesting.”
It was just the time where laptops and audio interfaces had become ubiquitous and affordable. The story I always tell is that you could take $10,000 and set up a little home studio that you could produce somewhat professional sounding stuff. Whereas 10, 20 years before that, you needed to have two million dollars to get that same kind of fidelity and quality. That combined with the RIAA versus Napster ruling, which was in 1999, and sort of pulled the bottom out of the music industry, the recording industry, had created a confluence of events where all of the traditional old school music houses that had 20 staff composers had just recently let everybody go and began moving to more of this freelance model.
Because if you think about what we do with music and sound production, everybody needs their own room. Everybody needs their own relatively expensive equipment. It's not like motion graphics, for example, where you can line up a bunch of people on a long desk with a bunch of iMacs. To go back to the old school model and build a real studio with real gear and real people in it was a novel idea for that time. I moved to New York and my friend, Polly Hall, who I started Antfood with, she was in New York doing kind of the same thing. Then we teamed up and we realized that as two people together we could do more or better work than two people apart. We started doing that. We won this really big Nike campaign when we were just starting out, and that sort of opened our eyes that oh, we can actually do this. I wanted to build a place on our own terms, and I wouldn't say that everything is perfect. I mean we obviously do all kinds of work and we have the pressures of clients. It's not like everything is the beautiful creative projects that you guys probably see when we talk at conferences and our websites or our socials and stuff. To a large degree, I'm really grateful that we were able to be this successful and really set up the place to work on what we want to work on.
“a team of talented people is always going to be able to do more amazing things more quickly, more scalable, than an individual equally talented or even more talented person.”
Mack Garrison:
Well, it's interesting listening to what you were talking about with how the music houses were big, but then the price of the equipment and what you could pull together on your own significantly dropped and shifted the industry. Some of those houses closed. More people were doing it on their own. They had the freelance model. I think it's relatable to what motion designers and editors were dealing with. You used to have these big systems that you had to work on, but then Adobe comes around. You get a subscription service, and all of a sudden anyone can start learning this stuff. It kind of leveled out the playing field a little bit or kind of reset it, maybe. When you went back to developing this model of actually having folks in house, why do you think that was so successful after it got depleted initially? Why do you think everything pivoted to this freelance model and then all of a sudden you guys had so much success rebuilding sort of a studio atmosphere?
Wilson Brown:
Yeah. As best as I can understand it, we say a team of talented people is always going to be able to do more amazing things more quickly, more scalable than an individual equally talented or even more talented person. I think we've been interested in finding the jobs where we can really add value to a client, and that could be in terms of quality or creativity, putting in a bunch of different minds together and trying to really sculpt an idea or a concept that is larger than the proverbial singular strike of genius, though certainly that still happens. Hopefully, the way we're set up we're capable of having more of those.
But I think we're always at sort of this balance of cost versus quality or cost versus team or cost versus scale. We deal with that in a lot of ways. I mean there are a lot of little jobs. There are a lot of creative studio projects that we do that we come in and we have bigger, grander, large-scale client work. We've set up a business model where we want both of those and we use the bigger budgets to help fund some of the creative R&D work. We use the outcome of that creative and R&D work to offer better services or quality or ideas to our clients.
Style frame from David Blaine’s — Spectacle of the Real project.
Wilson Brown:
I can tell a story that's a more concrete example of what I'm talking about. We did this kind of fun, creative, popup project that was on Broadway and, I think, Prince or Broome in SoHo, Manhattan. It was a slime popup store experience.
Mack Garrison:
Sounds awesome!
Wilson Brown:
It was these two women who rented out two adjacent full street-level stores on Broadway, SoHo, and set up this thing called the Sloomoo Institute. There was a 150 foot make your own slime bar. There was a big sort of a Nickelodeon style run across the oobleck kind of galley and a bunch of other sort of installations that were all slime focused. We did some audio work with this big 10 minute, fully immersive, spatial experience. There were 12 speakers and two 40-foot-long walls with projection on either side. It was 10 minutes that had really 10 different movements. The Mill did all the visuals, but really imagine 10 different vignettes over 10 minutes mixed in 12 channel spatial sound that's our own custom system. There are no plugins or pre-built tools to do that.
Mack Garrison:
Wild!
Wilson Brown:
We were at the opening party of it and someone who I guess was a friend of one of our composers, Bennett, and he came up to Bennett and was like, "Oh my god, how long have you guys been working on this? How long did this take to do?" It was implied that he thought we had been working on it for six or eight months or something of production. Bennett was like, "I don't know, like three days."
I mean there was obviously some buildup to that, but that was one of my proudest moments of the last year is that when it came down to it, we had built this custom system to work in fully spatial sound. And we literally threw six composers and two producers on it for two and a half, three days. We made this incredible amount of quantity and depth and richness of music and sound design. Yeah, I mean, I don't know who's going to see that. I doubt it's going to travel around to other cities at this point. We'll eventually make a little case study, but those are the type of examples that I'm proud of that we built this thing that can achieve great creative and technical results in a timeframe.
“I really believe the way that we get better or at least feel better about ourselves is by embracing the unknown.”
Mack Garrison:
Well, especially so quickly too. I look back and, I don't even want to put this out in the world for people to know this, but some of my favorite projects are ones that almost move so fast where it's like you just have to make decisions on stuff and just jump in and just put a team together and lean on your process. One of our favorite pieces we’ve made was for Riot Games. We basically had three weeks to turn the whole thing around. It was a little bit out of our wheelhouse, but we jumped in and it ended up being one of the best things we’ve ever made . I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about those projects that are last minute that seem out of your wheelhouse or seem kind of scary, just to trust your process and trust your creative and just jump in it.
Wilson Brown:
Absolutely. I love those projects. I really believe the way that we get better or at least feel better about ourselves is by embracing the unknown. We have decks and presentations that say that. I think that that's very much part of our DNA and, I think, what is important. I love hearing that story for you guys, and we're always looking for those things that we don't know exactly how to do; how do we not just learn it, but how do we master it and then apply that to the next thing. I love that and I like to believe that the people that end up here and work here for a really, really long time look for that as well. I think some of those initial decisions, they can pay off over time, but that you know that first one and maybe that second one and maybe that 10th one you're going to lose some money on until you really figure it out.
Mack Garrison:
It's just refreshing to hear that y'all have done that and that's paid off. Do you have another project like that you could share? Maybe something where you really pushed the creative?
Wilson Brown:
This piece with Foam for Maxon is a good example.
Mack Garrison:
Oh, yeah?
Wilson Brown:
Pedro, the creative director and partner in Amsterdam, and me here in New York and Yuta, who is one of my amazing composers here in New York who I hope will come down to North Carolina with us too, had this pretty clear idea from the beginning. We were given carte blanche. They wanted to show off what they can do with 3-D in that zeitgeist. We wanted to really push our idea of sound design forward, and there were a number of different techniques and aesthetics that we had been experimenting with or maybe had heard and aggregated from other sources. Our goal was look, we want to push sound design forward and think about a new way of using our tools and techniques to create this new aesthetic. I mean obviously it is specific. It's very much like a studio piece.
I remember Yuta, he's the most organized and regimented person. He's in at 10:00 on the dot every single day and he's out the door at 6:00. This is an anomaly, but there was a night we were both here at 9:30, 10:00, and we were wrapping up the mix. We'd been tweaking and just really thinking about how we're going to do it. Amsterdam is delivering. Anyway, we were going to send it to them. They were going to get it over to the client first thing in the morning. Around 9:30 to 10:00, we looked at each other and we were just like, "Well, I guess people are going to like it or they're not going to like it." It was like, "What else can we do?"
Style frame from the Maxon piece.
Wilson Brown:
Then that piece, it did really well in the sound design award show circuit and got the greatest accolades in that, but more importantly than awards, what's been really great is we have these cool jobs that are coming to us now from some of the biggest companies in the world that are referencing that piece!
We're not getting a billion Maxon related briefs in, but ultimately that's one of the best things about what we do is when we go out on a limb. We have some conviction that this is going to be interesting, and then there's some sense of recognition or appreciation that we were onto something. Because I think that minute that we sent it out the door, we were like, "Man, did we just really kill ourselves over this weird, esoteric take on sound design that no one's going to care about or see?"
Mack Garrison:
Well, it's just so great and it's rewarding and it's validating, right, when you take those risks. You're trying something new. You're trying something unexpected, and you don't know how it's going to be received. And then it's received so well, it's that extra encouragement and it's a reminder why you take those chances. How closely did you all work with Foam as far as creating that stuff jointly, how much of it are you guys coming in at the beginning versus how much are you guys coming in towards the tail end of things?
Wilson Brown:
Oh, yeah. I mean for any project like that to work out, we've got to be together from the day one. I think there's that piece. There are a couple pieces that we've done with Buck over the years like the David Blaine thing and the Good Books a long time ago that in my mind at least sort of occupy this really unique marriage of animation and motion and sound.
Style Frame from Good Books - Metamorphosis/.
I think that in all of those projects that turn out well and it feels like there is just this inherent tightness and language and communication between visuals and sound, we're always talking about concepts before there are even boards or style frames. And then we're working on a textural and aesthetic approach while the visual company's working on mocking up whatever the process is, if it's boards or vignettes or motion tests. Then there's always some back and forth and rough renders or animatic that we're filling in. I think 2-D and 3-D work a little bit differently in that phase of the process, and I'd say Foam, they shifted more to us with editorial than necessarily rendering. But we were laying out the whole basics of the structure. And we very much have an analogous process too that we're laying down the most rudimentary stuff and then we're adding objects and texture and whatever the equivalent of lighting is as we work toward a final product.
Wilson Brown:
There always has to be this push and pull that every new edit or render or stringout of visual influences the next round of audio. And then that next round of audio is sent back and that influences the next round of editorial or motion or whatever. We're just sort of iteratively doing that up until we're getting something that feels polished.
Mack Garrison:
Oh, that's fantastic and it shows on the pieces that are so connected.
Wilson Brown:
I think with Maxon, we often do a quick track for 2-D and for stop motion. I think for Maxon we actually had something that it wasn't a straight quick track, but it was actually a set of chords that I think Dalton and Bennett had done. It's like this vocoded piano thing. I think we show a little bit about it in that case study that we made, but we really had sort of like a harmonic outline pretty much from the beginning. Then that sort of provided this temporal framework that everything else, both visual and the richer, deeper audio stuff. But yeah, definitely we often will put a quick track in and even just settle on a tempo before there's any animation. It makes everything, especially little motion gestures, feel much tighter.
Mack Garrison:
Well, dude, I appreciate you taking the time. I know I only booked us for 30 minutes and we ended up talking for an hour, but it was a good conversation and I know the community is going to get a lot from this convo.
Wilson Brown:
For sure. All right, man. Stay safe!
Sarah Beth Morgan on the Freelance Experience
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Sarah Beth Morgan, an art director, illustrator, and most importantly, a dog mom, to learn more about her favorite types of work, what keeps her sane during stressful projects and her advice when going full time freelance.
Q&A with Sarah Beth Morgan
Read time: 10min
Meryn Hayes:
So let’s jump into it! I know a lot of people are going to know you and your work, but can you talk about your background and how you got into illustration?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
Honestly, I took a standard track to get into the motion and illustration world; or at least to get to motion graphics. As a kid, I was always into art, and it's just always been a part of my life. College was when it all started coming together for me, and I started getting a clearer picture of what I was actually going to do. I went to art school at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). I actually started as a graphic design student, and I didn't even know that you could make graphic design move. I had never even thought of that as a route for myself. When I got there, I was informed about all of the different majors -- and motion graphics was super appealing to me. I think it felt less limiting than static design; I could use mixed media, I could use stop motion, I could use sound effects which adds a lot to things. That really appealed to me - having the versatility and range made it so that I could experiment forever.
Animated snippet from Andrew Vucko’s short film “From Nothing to Something.” Artwork by Sarah Beth Morgan; animation by Henrique Barone.
Meryn Hayes:
What would you say is the most surprising thing about what you do? And maybe that can be about what you do currently as a freelancer or in your career as of now.
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I mean, there's a lot that surprises me just because this industry is always progressing and there are all these crazy, new technical things you can do - stuff like VR I never thought I would be a part of. But I think what surprises me the most is probably the friendliness and welcoming-ness of the people in this industry. Everyone's so kind and willing to work with you and your style. Or they're really open to having you on their project - or just even meeting people in person at festivals like the dash bash. It's eye-opening how kind this industry is compared to others. For example, I'm currently working on a big passion project, and I've asked quite a few people to dedicate their time to it. I'm extremely surprised that people are willing to go out of their way and spend time on the weekend to work on something that's important to ME.
“…my whole life had been leading up to graduating from college and starting my career. I never really thought about what would happen after that. “
Meryn Hayes:
That’s awesome! Now this is a hard question, but what advice would you give your younger self? Whether it's about going to SCAD or art school, or if it's just generally in your career.
Sarah Beth Morgan:
Yeah, that is a hard question! I've thought about this a lot because I'm such an anxious person, and I wish I could just tell my past self to be patient, be less anxious. I don't know if that would have been actually possible, but I wish I had been able to do that. When I graduated from college, I thought my whole life had been leading up to graduating from college and starting my career. I never really thought about what would happen after that. So when I graduated I was like, "Oh, I did it, I'm accomplished." I kind of thought of the end of college as being the end game. I didn't even realize how much I'd improve afterwards! Or how I could easily make changes later. For example, moving from animating at work to only illustrating full-time, then finally becoming a freelance illustrator. I just had no concept of that even potentially happening. So I guess my advice to someone younger would be: be patient and be ready for surprises because once you're done with school (or even once you're done with your first job), the world is your oyster. You can keep moving around and doing different things.
Meryn Hayes:
Yeah. Yeah. That's good! I feel like I was the same way. You said that you really hadn't even discovered motion graphics until you got to SCAD. Did you know the possibilities after you graduated that you could go right into freelancing, work at a studio, or in-house at a company?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I don't think I did. I think I knew the word “freelancer,” and I knew that people did it and I knew that it was a possibility. But I didn't really grasp what that would look like. Each new step of my career aided in creating a picture of that because when I arrived at Gentleman Scholar [now Scholar] right out of school - that was what my goal was all through college - “get a job at a cool studio and then you're set.” I didn't even realize that there were freelancers jumping around from studio to studio and taking long vacations until I was at GS. Then, when I got to Oddfellows, I expanded my knowledge of the term “freelancer” and realized: "Oh, there are freelancers in completely different sides of the world and they’re working remotely. And that's something I could do too." So just being in the industry has taught me a lot. I honestly don't think I could have learned all of that in school. The knowledge came from experience. Someone could have told me that, but I wouldn't have grasped it as clearly as I do now.
“…my advice to someone younger: be patient and be ready for surprises because once you're done with school the world is your oyster. “
Meryn Hayes:
What was your motivation from going from a studio environment to freelance, and making that distinction of pivoting just towards illustration? They’re both big decisions. What kind of gave you that inspiration to go freelance? And what advice would you have for people who are kind of debating that same thing?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
There are a lot of reasons that I wanted to go freelance. Most of them were personal. I think I felt that I had enough experience at that point in my career. I had been wanting to go freelance for maybe two years, but I felt it was a little early just because I still wanted to learn more in a studio environment. I got the chance to art direct a few things - and I do love art directing and I'm still doing some of that as a freelancer. But after four years as staff, I think I finally realized that the upward trajectory of moving at a company, getting promoted, wasn't really what I was interested in. It was more about creating something that was “mine” that felt important to me. Having the time to do passion projects was a big motivator.
A frame from Oddfellow's Capital One animation that was art directed by Sarah Beth.
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I also don’t mind the logistical aspects of being freelance. A lot of people don't love the business side of it. It definitely does take up a lot of time, but I wasn't really scared that I would be unorganized or anything. I already had some of those skills and I enjoy writing emails and stuff like that. I gained a lot of that experience at Gentleman Scholar and Oddfellows which was invaluable.
So, it's different for everyone, but I don't know. I guess my advice would be if you're going to do it - just try to prepare beforehand and surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. For example: I hired an accountant because I definitely couldn't try to do taxes / bookkeeping on my own. So my accountant taught me how to use QuickBooks, and I set myself up as a company right after I went freelance. That way - all of my finances were going through my business bank account instead of my personal. I tried to figure out a lot of that logistical stuff before diving into the art side. That helped me a lot too.
Meryn Hayes:
That's great! Pivoting a little bit, what would you say is either your favorite project or the type of work that you like to do the most?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
Honestly this is a really hard question to answer because it really depends on the situation more than the “look and feel” of a project, for me at least. For client work, my favorite projects are all about who I'm communicating with and clients that maybe are open to stranger and riskier concepts. Even the fact that I'm working with someone that trusts my sensibilities and is excited to collaborate. That’s more important to me sometimes than, "Oh this is a really cool project, but I don’t love the communication… and I have to finish it in three days."
But for my own personal work, I think my favorite type of work to do is when I get the chance to explore new styles. When I’m trying new things (even if it looks bad), I know I'm acquiring new skills that will help me in future projects.
Meryn Hayes:
What's the hardest part about what you do?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I’d say dealing with living up to my own high standards. If I'm on a client project, I work really well off of the validation of the clients. I appreciate feedback like: "Oh, this looks great," or, "Can you fix this one thing?” That’s really helpful for me because I can gauge, "Oh, I'm doing a good job” or “this is what I need to do next.” It feels like the equivalent of grades in school. I'm like, "Cool, A plus!"
But with my own work, especially my passion projects (or maybe if I'm hired for a project that's supposed to be completely in my style) - I think I'm way harder on myself than anyone else will ever be. I'm constantly giving myself panic attacks because I overthink everything. So that's definitely one thing, and then on that same note: I think it's really hard for me to say “no” to projects. I'm such a people-pleaser and I tend to overbook myself. I end up getting burned out. So - I’d say the hardest part about my job is my own emotional connection to my work.
“I’d say the hardest part about my job is my own emotional connection to my work. ”
Meryn Hayes:
How do you choose what clients/projects to take on?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I think I first value what I said earlier, communication. If the client is responding quickly or if it's someone I really want to work with. I gauge all of that more up-front, rather than the illustration style. I think secondary would come questions like: “does this project look like something I want to put in my portfolio? My website? And can I post it? Is it under a strict NDA?” I think a lot of that really plays into whether I'll take on a project or not.
Style frame from a project with Wonderlust.
Meryn Hayes:
I forget where I saw it, but it was analyzing mental health, specifically in the animation and design industry, and just realizing that there's a lot of high stress and anxiety. How do you deal with moments of that? How do you work through that?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
The best thing for me is to plan a week or two off after and have something to look forward to. That helps a lot. I can do that as a freelancer. If you're on staff, maybe something like treating yourself to a weekend trip could help. Having a light at the end of the tunnel is super helpful for me because I can give myself permission to feel like I'm suffering a little bit in the moment - and know that I won't be later. So I don't know. That's not always the best solution. There's always self-care, taking breaks, making sure you're sleeping.. but planning time off is a big one for me.
I try really hard not to overwork myself, but sometimes that results in me trying to squish everything into the day and being really stressed during the day. Then coming home and just still feeling tense. Sometimes I tell myself: "If I just need to stay 30, 40 extra minutes today, it's going to pay off and it'll make me feel better later." I don't do it that often but, yeah.
Meryn Hayes:
No, that's a good point. Setting up boundaries are good, but if the boundaries themselves are making you feel worse, then they're not doing what they should be doing. How do you feel like you’ve broken into an industry that’s predominantly male? Do you have any advice for women or those who are just starting out?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
My advice would be to build a supportive community around yourself and not being afraid to ask other women for advice. And not being too prideful about reaching out if you’re at a low point. I think that's something I really struggled with when I first started. Not just because I was a woman necessarily, but that I didn't feel very confident. I felt meek and I didn't know when to voice my opinions at work or how to build my leadership skills.
I started reading about - I can't remember what the term was for it - but there's this article I found that was about using language to your advantage as a woman. I tend to say “sorry” and second guess myself a lot. I did a lot of research on exuding confidence through your language and listening to podcasts from women who were prominent in my industry or other industries. Surrounding yourself with advice from other women was really helpful for me.
“My advice would be to build a supportive community around yourself and not be afraid to ask other women for advice.”
Meryn Hayes:
How important it is to surround yourself, and maybe it's not as formal as finding a true mentor, but just finding people that you feel you can aspire to be like and learn from is something that is so important.
Sarah Beth Morgan:
I definitely think having more women visible in those leadership roles - or even just speaking at conferences - is really wonderful and helpful. I think that’s something that really encouraged me when I first started. I went to all three BlendFests, and when Bee Grandinetti was speaking...just seeing how down to earth she was on stage. I felt like I could approach her afterwards and ask her questions. That was super encouraging for me. It gave me a role model to look up to and be like, "I want to be approachable like that. I want to connect with other women in the industry." Visibility is extremely important.
Meryn Hayes:
Great, then the last question, very important and controversial here in the office. Is a hot dog a sandwich?
Sarah Beth Morgan:
The age old question, right? I guess I would say no. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Is a taco a sandwich? Is a hamburger a ground beef sandwich?
Why the dash bash?
When we started dash, we had more questions than answers. Our creative wonderlust made us jump in, but we still had a lot to learn at this whole running-a-studio-game.
For us, festivals like F5, Style Frames, and BlendFest were huge. They gave us an opportunity to talk to our mograph heroes and the inspiring studios they work for. The motion community was incredibly receptive and offered a supportive space for questions and vulnerability. It was void of judgment and full of advice. Having a place that welcomes tough conversations was crucial for our growth. We discussed mistakes. We learned from one another. We took all that information and applied it to projects for real world results. Dash began to win more work and we began to grow; a direct result of our increased industry knowledge and the helpful platform freelancers, studios, and agencies have built before us.
So as we approach our five year anniversary this October, we want to celebrate the industry that celebrated us. The community of thinkers, makers, and creatives who support one another and push our industry forward. We want to foster open conversations, build friendships that last a lifetime, and connect industry vets with the next class of up-and-coming stars. The dash bash is our way of giving back to the family that helped us when we needed it. So For three days this October 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, we’re turning Raleigh, NC into the motion design capital. We’ll have one day of workshops, two days of speakers, and an incredible afterparty to hang with our heroes, meet new friends, and create a lifetime of memories. Connect with us on social and tell us what you’re looking forward to most; why do you want to attend the dash bash? We can’t wait to meet you!