"The Dream Is Real"

I’m as dead as Mark is in that video.

Hmm… First of all, thank you for the question- I hope that I can do your query justice! I will answer your question in two parts: highlights in my personal journey to Cali, then a list of advice that may be able help you.

I think I took an atypical route (or maybe not) into animation…

PART I

I did not go to school for animation. I actually went to school for industrial design with a focus in automotive styling. Yes, automotive styling is a thing, a real thing! See my capstone project! We did pitches for cars, but i’ve never done a pitch for a show or anything like that. I’m constantly amazed at what I’ve seen interns do because I never did that stuff.

I went to the University of Cincinnati. You know who else went there who is in animation now? That’s right. NO ONE. Actually, everyone is a little surprised when I tell them that I’m NOT from California, so I don’t know if that tells you something. I will eat my shoe if I ever met someone from in animation who went to the same school as me.

I did not initially PLAN to go into animation. I went to UC because it was close, cheap, and convenient; I didn’t start thinking seriously about animation until I started my internships. Animation was never a dream job for me, since growing up, I didn’t know it was an industry. Looking back to my college days, I was lucky. As aimless as I was somtimes, I was fortunate enough to have landed in a major that allowed me to explore my options.

I had internships in California. However, none of them were in animation (seems to be a recurring theme!). They were all toy design. But wow, it did help that when I got my job at CN, that I wasn’t completely new to the area (CA). It also helped too because my experiences in toy design allowed me to help out with prop design, not just character design.

I posted my work everywhere. And that got me a lot of contacts. Deviantart was my jam!

I was hired during college. I had done some freelance for CN for Ben 10 Omniverse during the beginning of my senior year, which was only a month long gig. As it was approaching graduation time, probably about 3-4 months before, I sent everything I had portfolio wise to the line producer of the show. I also reiterated that I was set to graduate in a few months. About a month or two before graduation, I got an offer for a character design position that would begin a month after I graduated.

I said goodbye to Ohio. I packed up most of my belongings in my hatchback and drove 2000+ miles to start the next chapter in my life. I found my place on Craigslist, a studio apartment that I currently live in. Doing this is a lot easier if you know that you have a job, especially if the area where you’re moving in far away.

Went from CN to Nick in a span of 3 years. Spent almost two years on Ben 10: Omniverse, just celebrated a year at Nick on TMNT. There was a few months between CN and Nick, but I did a few freelance gigs in between. We just got picked up for a fourth season on TMNT, so I estimate that I will be employed until spring or summer of next year. I have only been in-house at two studios, but I’m hoping that with Nick, I can break a two year mark, lol.

PART II

There are a multitude of factors that can determine your trajectory into the animation world, but my basic advice is below:

Drawing is not just a visual game, it’s physical and mental. Physically, you practice those hand movements so that over time, it becomes second nature to draw a face correctly, or understand how to pose a character. Mentally, you have to steel yourself for frustrations within yourself and against other people. You’re probably going to have those periods of when you don’t feel too good about your work, but that’s expected, and that’s just part of the process. You have to practice, and sometimes just by practicing, you can really get into a groove! You can begin to create a workflow.

I honestly don’t think that you need to go to college to become proficient artistically. I went because at the time in my life, it was an expected option that turned out to be a fun and fulfilling experience. But just to let you know, any design work that I post on my blog/dA were done outside of my actual major. So what that means is that on top of my regular classes, I took the time outside to work on those designs, etc; I was very committed and dedicated to getting better. But that’s not to say that college didn’t help me, because that’s not true. It did help me, as I met a lot of interesting people, and through that experience, I was able to network relatively well. Again, having two out of three of my internships in California GREATLY helped.

So breaking it all down, here’s what I can offer you, in no particular order. I’m sure there are others, but these were the ones that popped into my head…

Practice your craft.

Advertise your work. You ain’t gettin’ hired if no one sees your work. Tumblr, Blog, dA, online portfolio, webcomic, business cards, conventions, art shows etc…

Network. Being a designer more than likely involves talking to people. REAL people. If someone who potentially can help you get somewhere e-mails you, you e-mail them back within a day.

Prepare to fail. A lot.

Be decent. Don’t be a butthole, guys, don’t do it!

You’re gonna get criticized. It’s inevitable.

Build a thick skin. Your boss and teachers are not going to like everything that you do. And they’re gonna let you know it. LOL It’s how you respond that might make or break a career.

Take opportunities as they come. Let’s say that you’re in school, and suddenly you are offered the dream job. The job starts NOW; what should you do? My advice to you is to just take it. If you’re not gonna take it, there are hundreds of other people who are waiting in line.

Be truthful to yourself and be better. There are always people who comment that they didn’t have time to do something. The truth behind that is that you didn’t make the time. There are extenuating circumstances of course, but at the end of the day, your potential employer is not interested in what you can’t or didn’t do.

Find enjoyment in what you do. I think this is what really helped me. I love DC comics, and I drew a lot of DC stuff in my younger days. Finding something that I loved and that I loved drawing is very important in building up your style.

Funny that you mention graphic design. I actually started out in graphic design myself, but transferred into automotive design during my second year. Our program is 5 years long (1.5 years of internships), but the first year, everyone in the design courses (the “D” part in DAAP) has the same classes. Because I transferred during the later part of freshman year, it didn’t affect my college career.

beingjapanese said: You said that I would have to advertise my work, but what if the people doesn’t see my work? Like on tumblr or on DA I would post but not much views. Are there certain advertising ways that I do not know? Sorry for annoying you with these questions..

Don’t be sorry. There is nothing wrong with wanting more exposure for your work, and there is nothing wrong with asking. Imma break it down into things that I think might help.

Submit to Deviantart Groups. You can search for specific terms like “pokemon“ or “my little pony,“ and there’ll be tons of results that have thousands of followers. Join the club, then submit.

Keep an eye on your tags! If I draw Sardonyx from Steven Universe, here are the tags that I would use. (steven universe, sardonyx, garnet, pearl, gem fusion) You can include a tag that say “omg love this character“ but I guarantee that no one is searching for that term in the search box.

Only the first FIVE tags count in a NEW post. Speaking of “omg love this character,” if you want to put that as a tag, put it in there, AFTER you’ve put in the first five that you want to put in there. DON’T BE LAZY WITH YOUR TAGS. THINK about what tags might reach a bigger audience but that is still relevant. Keep your tags relevant!

Tag your posts with at least five tags. Sorry for the tag spam, but I feel that it’s pretty relevant to your interests. Some people tag their posts with 1-5 tags, but why not use all 5 tags? Let’s say that I draw Steven from Steven Universe. I could tag it (steven universe, dou hong) -OR- I could tag it (steven universe, crystal gems, animation, cartoon network, fanart). All those tags are accurate.

Tumblr and deviantart are not your only options! There are other social media websites such as Blogspot, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc… Tumblr is a nice place to post stuff, but instagram has 3x the number of users. It takes time and effort to maintain all of these things, but it can be well worth your time.

Be consistent with your name! It doesn’t matter if you use your real name or an alias, but it helps if you are consistent. I had several names throughout my earlier life (kanca101, mustardwketchup, mustartwithketchup, farfie-kins) but because there don’t seem to be many dou hongs in the world, I just stuck with that one.

Sign your work. People are lazy; they will not do the google reverse search. Spare yourself and clearly sign your alias /real name/initials/website on your art somewhere. File names get changed all the time if you post them on the internet, so if someone sees your work and likes it, they’ll be able to find you. If you don’t like signatures on your art, save two versions, one with a signature and one without.

Drawing popular things helps. You shouldn’t force yourself to draw fanart if you prefer to do more original work, buuuuuuut drawing popular things does bring more attention to you, especially if you’re pretty active.

LOL! At least you’re a lot closer to Cali than I was. I was 2000+ miles away. Some people whom I work with are also from other countries, so they somehow found their way. I would also caution you to think that California is the only place with animation studios/creative work. While the industry is huge here, it is by no means the only place where you can find work. To give you an example, Calarts is well known as a go to place for animation, but it is certainly not the only school where you can learn your craft.

Besides, you don’t need to be in Cali to find a job. The internet is a must nowadays, and posting your work online is the fastest and most efficient way to reach people.

Doubt can be a drain on creativity. Some people don’t want to post work because they’re afraid that people are going to criticize them. In addition to that way of thinking, some people don’t even draw because they’re afraid to disappoint themselves, and only themselves. Many people constantly compare themselves to people who they want to be like, and that can affect progress. I see this even in people in their 20s. 20s! That’s so young! There’s a lot of years ahead of you guys…

How The Last Mabelcorn Should Have Ended

mabel finally gets a side plot that has nothing to do with a boy

and it was actually really good 

wendy is the true feminist icon

that gnome cop sting scene was actually the goddamn funniest thing i’ve ever seen 

that scene where mabel realizes she’s been played and rips the unicorn off her sweater like damn. the “your heroes aren’t infallible and are actually awful people who sometimes play with your emotions for fun” is unfortunately a very relatable thing for me and a lot of people with abusive parents and i’m really happy to see the lesson that you shouldn’t base your worth on what they think shown to kids because i know it really would’ve meant a lot to me when i was younger

“mabel’s sins”

when mabel clocked a unicorn in the face and came away with blood on her fist

“everyone wants sausage but no one wants to know how its made”   

that side plot was just totally not what i imagined it would be and for that i am glad 

grunkle stan only had 10 seconds of screen time but he used each one wisely

that whole “morality is relative” thing was sort of played for laughs at the end but that is such an important message. everyone has different morals and you’re not a bad person if you violate someone else’s ridiculously high expectations. perfection is unattainable, and you don’t need anyone’s validation. that is just so important to teach to young girls wow 

“if there was an owl in this bag he would be long dead”

finally an answer for why there was so much bill imagery in the shack