Why Animation, Clear Thinking, Visual Feasts + more

Hey Past-Me 👋

I get a little nostalgic in this letter, going back to my "why".

"Why" the hell you do what you do, day after day.

Do you know what's driving you to become an artist right now?

I think I knew deep down, but lost it along the way. I'm trying to remind myself more often these days...

Let's see how we match up.

TODAY, REAL QUICK:

QUESTION I'M PONDERING:

Why did I choose a life of making cartoons?

I DIDN'T. CARTOONS CHOSE ME! 😤

(is what I'd say if I were cooler. Or 'the chosen one'. But...here's what I'm thinking:)

I'm 12 years now into an art career.

2nd year as Co-Art Director on this rad show about ​robot aliens and their newfound blended families​.

And I didn't think this is where I'd end up.

But why not?

I originally thought--f*ck it, Astronaut! (GO TO SPACE, MAKE FRIENDS WITH ALIENS)

Then Science Teacher was a well-considered thought. (Do egg drop contests and field trips year round)

Maybe something in computers? Web? Graphic Design? Those were careers right? They make good money, right?

I HAVE TO CHOOSE MY FUTURE!!! WHAT AM I GOOD AT??? I DON'T KNOW!!! I LIKE DRAWING I GUESS?!

Eventually I'd borrow around $60k to go to art school.

I graduated thinking Animation was a far off dream. Pixar...someday I thought. But local industry was mostly web or graphic design, or mobile games, so I figured I'll put my effort somewhere more 'realistic'.

Luckily I landed an internship at one of those mobile game startups and cut my teeth into a little bit of everything:

Vis Dev, Storyboarding, UI/UX Design, Asset Creation, whatever they asked, for the promise of getting paid some day.

A few months later I'd hear from another mobile game company who saw my art test for my prior internship and asked if I'd like to help with some concept art.

This time cash was on the table.

WHOA. Getting paid to make ART. Okay...cool. This is a thing...

A few months would pass, no sign of a full-time gig, mostly freelance, but money's on the table now. I just gotta find that gig.

I'd hear word of another internship, unpaid, class credit only.

Nickelodeon Animation was coming to campus, grads still encouraged to apply.

WHOA WAIT WHAT?

Like Rugrats-Hey-Arnold-Double-Dare-Avatar-Are-You-Afraid-of-ALL-THAT-Nickelodeon?

I LOVED Nickelodeon.

I was a 90s kid growing up with green slime in my veins.

Around the time I caught wind of the internship, Nickelodeon had just announced that they were developing a new TMNT series.

TMNT? I LOVE THAT SH*T. VHS TAPES ON REPLAY DAILY, SECRET OF THE OOZE, KANO WAS THE ONLY DUDE THAT LOOK LIKE ME AND HE KICKED BUTT ALONGSIDE THOSE TURTLES!

I HAVE TO GET ON THAT SHOW, I thought.

Okay, this is my chance.

I hustled and put together new pieces for my portfolio and tried to catch their attention with some fan-art puff pieces.

A few months later, I land THREE interviews, and I'm accepted as a Production Intern on pre-school sensation Dora the Explorer.

F*CK YA! Made it. Not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but close enough!

$1500 in my back pocket and I drive down a thousand miles from Tacoma, WA to Burbank, CA for an unpaid summer internship at Nickelodeon Animation Studios. (I'm a little ahead of schedule I thought. Animation this soon?)

I had to nail that internship for a shot at a job. I'll work my way up bit by bit, I don't care how long.

I didn't know what to do or how this all worked, but I was a SPONGE(bob).

I quickly learned what art school didn't prepare me for, but I'd do my best to prove that I belonged. And at the end of that year, an incredibly kind art director would give me a shot. 

12 years later, the tables have turned and I'm part of the team that makes those decisions. It was a long road to get here and there's even further road ahead.

Looking back, I didn't plan for this, but it made sense.

Cartoons helped me grow up and Nickelodeon was a big part of that.

Tommy taught me to be brave and look out for your friends.

Arnold showed me kindness in a chaotic world.

And even though it wasn't Nickelodeon's before, I'll never forget Splinter reminding his turtle-sons to "never forget who you are".

Stories help us understand the world and the stories I grew up with were about growing up in the Philippines from my parents and the adventures of animated characters navigating their fictional, but ever-lifelike childhoods.

So now looking back, my "why" focuses into frame a bit more.

I help make cartoons to tell the stories I needed to hear when I was younger.

Growing up 1st Generation Filipino-American, my parents came to the US and worked hard to provide for me and my little brother. I didn't have much toys, but that didn't bother me apparently. I'd take a blanket and swirl it around, turning it into a mountainside. I'd place a box under it to create a secret lair. I'd bust out borrowed legos and fast food figurines and create epic stories of lone hero types named "Jet" or something.

Playing make believe was my favorite game.

30 years later, still playing. 🙃

STUDY I'M DOING:

​Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Trailer​

The first film is hands down one of my top favs across the board. Story, design, sound, music, casting, etc.

With the sequel approaching, I was curious how the Spider-Crew was going to spin this one.

• What new techniques will they try?

• How will they further celebrate comic books and translate it into an animated medium?

• How will they support the story through their design decisions?

Here were a few frames that stuck out:

BOOK I'M (RE)READING:

​How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens​

Since 2018 I've been making a conscious effort to take smarter notes that can help prepare future-me for anything.

Writing is thinking.

And if done well, writing is CLEAR thinking.

People often take scratch notes that they discard after its use. The knowledge disappears, never to be used again.

Instead, create permanent or "evergreen" notes that you nurture, grow and tend to like a garden.

For instance, I have a short note I keep giving a brief overview of my creative process. It looks like this:

My creative process

This is a quick overview of how I reliably make sh*t on a daily basis.

1. Capture inspiration and ideas

2. Create Concepts from those ideas

3. Design a plan

4. Execute the plan

5. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t

6. Revise what didn’t work

7. Share the creation and let it live

Why important?

• I’ve found a simple formula that most prolific and successful creators use

• It’s important to nurture your creative process and fine-tune it to your needs

What connections can you make?

• How to take smart notes (another note in my system)

  • Taking smart notes helps facilitate the creative process, working from a place of abundance vs scarcity.

  • Never have to work from a blank page. Notes can provide a scaffolding to ideas.

I usually keep them in a digital notebook like Notion or whatever comes with your phone. Bonus points if you write them down on index cards and keep em in a box!

One note a day is enough to see how quickly your knowledge compounds and how useful it is to save your best thinking for later.

TWEET I BOOKMARKED:

I've been enjoying Season 3 of Ted Lasso these last few weeks!

They pitched it as their Return of the Jedi, so I've been paying attention to how they display that in all their choices from costume to set design to plot escalations, etc.

That brought me back to this tweet I saved discussing structure of introducing Ted, telling you everything you need to know about him in only 157 seconds.

ARTICLE I'M READING:

​The 8 rules of movie animation, according to Guillermo del Toro​

"Animation is cinema."

GDT's been shouting it for us for a while now, reminding the big wigs that foot the bill that Animation ain't just for kids, it's a medium. It's a tool for pure imagination.

All the real ones know this is true, we're just waiting for everyone else to catch up.

So here's a quick article I came across outlining some knowledge at work in his and Mark Gustafson's rendition of Pinocchio.

That's it this week, hope it sparked some ideas for ya.

I hadn't thought of my "why" in a while. But reminding myself is energizing. It propels me forward when the days are long.

Next week I'll be talking about what discovering what a Production-Ready Artist is and how you could start learning ASAP.

See ya 👋

-Future-You