#creators first

The reason why I’m posting now is to talk a little more about why I’ve been a bit quiet on my tumblr. I was actually working on a project. A group project. I was asked a few years back to write for an anthology comic book. Discussions came up, contracts were signed and now, after a lot of work and revisions and compiling, it’s nearly complete.

Allow me to introduce you to Dual Animal:

Please check out our Kickstarter for the project! If you can’t support it financially, we understand. Pass the link on and spread it around! And get to know Dual Animal for yourself! Their mission statement is ‘Creators First’ and with all the talks of Ai and the sad lack of support for really amazing artists in all forms, it’s refreshing to see a company that knows where true heart and soul comes from. I know this sounds like a sales pitch (and it is, I kinda have to as a writer for one of their stories! XD) but this has been a really big passion-project for all of us at Dual Animal. It’s not just a comic book. There’s a soundtrack. An animation. Voice acting. So many different forms of art have gone into this and I really want to see Dual Animal thrive in a world that is fighting back against generated art.

Creators first! 

FredFilms Postcard Series 3.4

Great films are always known as a collaboration. But it’s also true that great films, like all wonderful art, start as one person’s vision.*

Sure, we’ve all heard of movies and series where that original spark is then added to with lots of other voices. That’s fine when it works, but it’s not the way I prefer to do things.

I’ve written before about how working with world class jazz musicians helped me forge the path toward becoming a cartoon producer. When I got into animation I think I’d learned that putting the right person in the room –the creator*– was the way I wanted to work for the rest of my life.

First at Hanna-Barbera, then at Frederator, my career has been honored by the presence of amazing creative vision. Creator’s vision. I am lucky.

Now, at FredFilms, nothing’s changed.

Creators first!

* And yes, the “creator” can be partnership of two or three people. In my experience, one or two is works best, but on rare occasions, three can do it.

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From the postcard back:

You are one of 100 people to receive this limited edition FredFilms postcard!

www.fredfilms.com

FredFilms Promises: Creators first.

Pendleton Ward: Adventure Time Kevin Kolde/Eric Homan: Ape Escape Cartoons Natasha Allegri: Bee and PuppyCat Pen Ward/Breehn Burns: Bravest Warriors Kevin Kolde/Warren Ellis: Castlevania Bill Burnett/Larry Huber: ChalkZone Tasha Sounart: Costume Quest John R. Dilworth: Courage the Cowardly Dog David Feiss: Cow and Chicken and I.M. Weasel Genndy Tartakovsky: Dexter’s Laboratory Eric Robles: Fanboy & Chum Chum Butch Hartman: The Fairly OddParents Van Partible: Johnny Bravo Dan Meth: The Meth Minute 39 and Nite Fite Rob Renzetti: My Life as a Teenage Robot Craig McCracken: The Powerpuff Girls James Kochalka: SuperF*ckers Bob Boyle: Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

From running an indie animation studio to front-manning a punk band, Gene does this all and more! In this interview, Gene tells about his animation journey and how he ended up as a Line Producer at Glitch!

Back in my college years, I remember Gene's "Planet Panic" pilot making the rounds in the animation lab. I'm a sucker for the "grumpy mentor / optimistic mentee" duo, and his take on this classic was so uniquely bold and energetic, I was immediately hooked. Fast forward years later, I've had the pleasure to get to know Gene as a friend and colleague, and my admiration for him and his work has only grown. He's just a great guy on so many levels!

Gene shows up time and time again for the art and community of animation — if one door closes, he installs a newer and better one in its place, and always finds a way to make it work. He is making some very exciting moves in the animation space, not only with his own indie studio, Jellybox, but also extending his reach to others at Glitch, and more. He's firing on all cylinders with all burners blazing, and whatever he's cooking up next is bound to blow everyone's socks off.

-Flip

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Why are you a storyteller?

I feel like I've had it in me since I was a little kid. It's just always called to me. Something I've realized as an adult, is that I process a lot of things through my consumption of media. It's rare for me to feel strong emotions in real life, but good media can make me cry. I’m pretty sure I’m on the spectrum, which I think adds to this, but it’s just how I’ve always viewed things!

When I was six, I moved to America from Ukraine and I was obsessed with Toy Story. I watched that tape to death and I still love that movie! 

I think storytelling is a way for me to understand my own emotions, and a way for me to connect with people. It’s also a way for me to find purpose in life, I believe that’s the biggest thing. I’m really grateful for it too, because I feel like so many people have never quite figured that out for themselves, and yet I've always had it. 

I took it for granted for a long time, but now that I'm older, I think it’s a blessing. Even though it can be hard to live this “gig-to-gig” lifestyle and to be obsessed with the craft, it gives me purpose and I always feel fulfilled. 

You’ve got a lot of projects going on, how do you manage all your different creative pursuits?

You know, it's taken me a long time to get to this point. I think back on the days where I thought I was busy and I laugh to myself. 

Creativity and productivity are muscles.The more you work, the easier it gets. You start to learn really good time management. You learn focus, you learn delegation. Those are skills that I have acquired over the years. 

With all my projects, I basically don't do it if I don't have somebody that I can do it with. Collaboration has become very important for me. All of my most successful projects usually have somebody else that I share the load with. We break it up, we complete each other's flaws and weaknesses, and it turns out better for it. 

So for my band Qbomb, my writing partner, Rem Ropp, and I share the writing. We pass it back and forth and it keeps the momentum going.  He handles more of the music side while I handle the lyrics. I’m also the front man because he’s more shy and I’m the braggadocious one, when I’m in that mode.

For Jellybox, I have Sean Aitchison helping out. He basically runs all the operations and production stuff so I can focus on more of the creative. I get to lead the studio direction and hiring, things that are more fun for me - and that I think I’m stronger at.

For any project, it's just setting up the pieces, knowing people's strengths, knowing how to build out these teams and then at a certain point, just letting them cook. I don't like micromanaging. I try to get out of the way and remove myself from things as fast as I can. Once the toolbox is there and the parameters are set for whatever it is, everyone can get to work on what their part is. 

That's the only way I've been able to do these things. I am very busy, but there's days where I don't have anything to do. I actually have to always convince myself that it's okay that I have nothing to do sometimes.

What inspired you to make your own indie studio?

Necessity, to a degree. In 2023, I got laid off from my last job.

I was already working on NOXP, a series of shorts, because I had time on my hands. I felt the urge to make something, as I often do. Pretty quickly I started getting help from Laura Serrano Miralles - who’s now our animation director for JellyBox. She was actually the first employee that we had.

So yeah, I got laid off and like I said, I don’t like to sit still. I’ve been told that people have different reactions, like fight or freeze or flee - and I think that I fight. I can never just let something happen to me, I have to immediately figure out the solution. So that week I was laid off, I was basically like “Well this sucks and the industry is clearly not moving in a good direction - so what are my options?” I knew I had to start building something because it would take time for it to grow to a point where it could be self-sustaining and actually make me money. 

Everyone says businesses don't start making money for the owner until two years in, so I was like, “I gotta start now”. That same month I registered the business and within that month we had our first client. I was like “Okay, maybe I can actually make something of this.”

Now the projects just keep coming to us! They’re always something that I want to do, which has been really cool. We’ve tried doing direct outreach with clients but it never works. But because we're consistent with our output and we're putting in the effort to make everything the best it can be, we keep getting interesting clients!

We haven't even released some of the crazy stuff that we're cooking up. It's all NDA. But I feel like the future is pretty bright. We had a really good year last year with the AWI shorts that blew up and really put us on the map.

I think that it also helped me find purpose - again. So much of the industry was burning down and still is in a way. Being able to have a little bit of control over something in my career, my projects and my output has been super helpful. I was unemployed for almost two years and it didn’t feel like that. I didn’t wake up stressed, because I was doing something. I was doing as much as I could to get myself out of that. 

Honestly, having Jellybox is what led me to getting the job as Line Producer at Glitch.  Kevin Lerdwichagul saw what I was doing and was like, “Hey, we need somebody who's doing basically what you're doing, for this new team here.”  That has happened so many times in my life that I've learned that I got to just follow my gut. Start the next thing, do another project, and I know I’ll land on my feet by the end of it.

Has being an artist helped you as a producer?

I've kind of realized that I've always been more of a producer than an artist. I’m very Type-A and I think things through very logically. I like efficiency, and so I’ve always leaned in that direction. 

I actually had a conversation with Eric Robles years ago, when I was a little adrift. My show Planet Panic had just been passed on by Nickelodeon and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself. The whole pitching thing seemed a little exhausting to continue down. He told me “You should start thinking of yourself as a producer. That’s what you are and you should follow that path. You’re good at getting things done and that’s what a producer does.”

It took me a while to understand what he meant. I didn’t know what a producer was - like what does that mean? Then I watched The Offer, which is about the making of The Godfather, and it was all about the producer of that movie. That show was really eye opening to me because I was like “Oh, he’s just the guy who goes around and tells people to keep doing their jobs. He solves problems and makes it happen. He leaves room for everyone that’s involved to do their jobs, but he has to make it happen - that is his job. Sometimes that means making hard choices or compromises. It means you have to be really confident, almost arrogant at times, to convince people that what you’re doing is worth doing.”

I realized that I have been doing that with all my projects and it has led me down this path. I think it's a strength that I’ve done the creative work, because I understand how the other side things. I know how to work with artists and not against them. Whereas a lot of people who work in production, if they haven't done any kind of creative work, they just see people as resources sometimes. They just see deadlines and dates and forget that people, especially artists, are not factories.

That has always been something that has been helpful for me and I always keep that previous creative life in the back of my mind. I have to make sure that people have the time they need. I don’t always get it right but people always say you figure out how to make a thing right as you're finishing it. It’s been like that for basically all our projects but things are going well. I contribute that to the combination that I’ve had of knowing what good creative looks like, but also what an efficient production looks like.

Where do you see the future of animation going? 

I actually made a whole video about it. I think that it's inevitable that indie is going to start to dominate the mainstream animation scene. The larger studios have collapsed under their own weight and you get places like Titmouse that used to be smaller and are now feeling like the big studio - which is crazy. They're actually still making things there. They're still growing. They had their 25th anniversary party recently and I saw so many people that I've known over the years coalesce in this one location. Multiple people I had conversations with were all like ‘we haven’t had a party like this in a long time’ and that was kind of sad. But it's great to see Titmouse is holding that flag still. 

Then you get the Glitches and the Flying Barks and all these studios that are still making stuff in both 2D and 3D animation. I think that this younger generation of business owners and creators are going to lead the charge and cut out the middleman quite a bit. I think the larger studios are bloated with overhead and shareholders and whatever. But there is still a hungry audience that wants content. It’s just figuring out what they want, how to monetize it and how to make it a sustainable business for everybody.

It's exciting to be at the forefront of it. I genuinely feel like I am right at the front lines of this movement between Jellybox and working as a line producer for Glitch. I think it will be exciting for everybody once the dust starts to settle too.

How has your experience been working as a Line Producer at Glitch?

I’ll share what I can. I’m the Line Producer of the GO Plus Team (GO is Glitch Online). We are the team that handles a lot of the promotional materials. We work on the small projects that are attached to the big productions, but aren’t the actual production of the show. Things like trailers, music videos, anything like that. 

We help with overflow too. If an episode gets too long, we jump in to help out on those sequences. I have a small team in the Western Hemisphere, some in America, some in Canada, one guy is in Brazil - all a really talented group. It's been nice to build the thing from scratch and know that it’s only going to grow bigger. It’s guaranteed to get bigger because Glitch is getting bigger. 

I’m one of three producers, there is a 2D LP, a 3D LP, and me. It all feels like the logical next step for me and where everything I’ve been doing is coalescing. Kevin and I have joked that it’s like my team is an indie studio inside of an indie studio. And I think he hired me for that. 

When we were first talking, he mentioned that he sees what I’m doing at Jellybox and needed someone who can be flexible and quick at figuring things out in creative ways. We still use a lot of the resources that the other teams have because our team is just animation and lighting generalists for 3D. I have to be really good at using minimal resources to create something that is larger than the sum of its parts, which is all I’ve ever done. 

It makes sense for my career right now and it feels good.

What advice would you give to young creatives right now?

The same advice I’ve been giving for many years, you’ve just got to make things. And you’ve got to make a lot of things. 

I recently spoke to a college class of animation students and it bummed me out a little bit to see how little work they had to show in their portfolios. This is something that I would see even when I was in college myself. A lot of students don't realize how competitive and brutal this industry is. Everyone has a different degree to which they're willing to commit themselves and  how much they're willing to sacrifice and that’s up to them. I am not going to judge that, but if you want to work in any position, you need to put in the work and have a big portfolio. 

I have seen a lot of portfolios that are just the work they did for class, or it doesn’t feel like their best - and you just can’t do that. I’ve been  that person, so I get it, but you also don’t realize how much free time you have when you have it. I know that the people who put in the most hours are the ones to get noticed. They stay up late working on personal projects, or webcomics or shorts, and those are the ones who make a career out of it. The ones who phone it in, or do the minimum amount of work, they might get a lucky break but they won’t be able to sustain themselves for long. They are going to miss out on opportunities. 

People notice the artists that are always creating because it’s hard to ignore. 

At FredFilms our motto is Creators First, Original Always - is there a creator or original you’ve been into recently? 

I recently replayed Outer Wilds, which is a phenomenal game but really it’s just a work of art. Essentially it’s an archeology simulator in space. Without spoiling anything, the game is just about uncovering this secret tiny solar system and there is no combat. 

There is some action but you’re not out to hurt anything. You are there to learn and explore. Technically you can beat the game at any time, you just don’t know how - you have to learn how. The ending is heart wrenching but in a good way. When I first played it, it genuinely changed me a little bit. I replayed it with someone and they were crying at the end, it's just amazing. 

I think that games get a bad rap a lot of the time, which always annoys me because there hasn't been a mainstream breakthrough like there is with Ghibli where they are like “oh yeah this is art.” And I hope that happens. There are so many examples of games that are life changing for people that aren’t just shooters. Yet there are so many people who think of it that way, which bums me out. Anyways, that studio is Mobius Digital and I’m really excited for what they do next because that game rules. 

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Find Gene's work HERE

Izzi Lee shares about her time as a popular autobio comic artist, her recent move to Amsterdam and how she incorporates 'wonder' in her work in this cozy interview!

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I met Izzi just a few months before she set off for the Netherlands, and in that little amount of time she made a huge impression on me. She has boundless positive energy and a welcoming presence. The honesty in her work captures a simultaneously universal and individual experience of having a sensitive heart.

Since her move we have had wonderful conversations about what is means to be an artist, the personal relationship to ones work, and how following your joys can take you to wonderful places.

And you will get a taste of these musings from this interview, enjoy!

-Flip

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What is your artist's journey?

I am mostly known as a cartoonist – however, that's maybe the smallest part of my artist journey. 

I started in fine arts and I moved to Los Angeles at the age of 16. I’m actually a high school dropout. I was supposed to go to art school, but I went to work on film sets first instead. 

I thought, “Well, I'm going to school to get a job, but if I just get the job at the film sets, that works.” I was continuing my painting and photography practice while working on film sets and videography. 

Later, I worked as a graphic designer for entertainment companies on movies and billboards. That kind of studio life gets really hectic, so I put my personal artistry to the side. For my own art,  my interests have always been scattered. I practiced in many mediums, and prioritized the medium that made sense for each story. I remember feeling  extremely self-conscious about the fact that I didn’t have a thing. 

In retrospect, I'm really glad I did that – but in the moment I had a lot of shame about it. Turns out, it is a common experience to have that ‘niche mentality’. 

After the extremely chaotic work environment I experienced in graphic design, I decided to start pouring back into my art. That’s when I landed on cartooning, because at the time I thought the best way to reach people would be through social media. In a landscape like that, and cartoons being digestible art and story, I thought it was the most efficient medium, so that was where I landed.

I went balls-to-the-wall with that (professional term) – and the cartoon actually worked! It happened really fast, but like all things that happen fast, it was the many years leading up to it that let it happen fast. I was putting out work for seven or eight years before, and then I started putting out my cartoons with ClownLifeIzzi in October or November of 2023. It got traction over the winter, and I did that for about a year. Then, I hit a point where the stories I wanted to share required a medium which allowed for more depth and nuance. I decided to put a hiatus on my cartoons, and over the next year, wrote my novel Apple, Dirt, xs Miniskirt. I am about to start revisions this summer. During this time, I’ve found new levels of meaning in my practice by falling in love with painting all over again as well.  

So the short answer is that I’m known as a cartoonist, but have always done what makes sense for the story.

I just care about the story.

Do you remember a moment in your life when you felt “I must be an artist”

You know what? I remember so many moments where I was fighting it. I was like, I can't be an artist. Please. I don't want to do it. It’s not that I don’t want to do it - it's that I know what it means to have an artist’s life. And I have so much respect for art itself.

Caveat to that, art means something different to everyone – and I think that's the beauty and the freedom in it. But for me, art is tied to respecting craft and story. I knew that meant a very unconventional life.

I was born and raised in Korea, and growing up in Korea, you are expected to have a conservative, traditional life path. You know your life won’t be smooth if you stray from rigid normality and expectations. There came a moment when fighting it becomes harder than doing it. 

I think that the tipping point was when I transitioned out of my graphic designer work into my own work. I was working in the arts as a graphic designer for a very well-known studio and it's maybe the coolest job that I've ever had. But it wasn't my art. So finally I was like I need to do my work with my life and my time. And I that was the transition when I started ClownLifeIzzi.

What's your relationship to your art making practice and how has it evolved as you’ve grown?

It's evolved so much, especially after my experience with my cartoons. The comics were a very specific experience that extended out to so many people. During that experience, there was a method to my madness but it's not something I can list coherently. All I can describe is that I was extremely persistent. 

I'm a very devoted person to what I'm doing. It was a lot of time and work and energy. The point that changed was when I realized that the numbers of social media had started to seep into the most private parts of my creating process. I became trained in analyzing which pieces will perform well, and when that data started to trickle into how I decided which stories to tell - I didn’t like that.  

So I stopped making my comics and experimented following wherever my interests took me. , I felt there was more to learn elsewhere.  The experience from my comics was really important, but I knew I needed my world to be a bit smaller so I could dig deeper. 

How did it feel to be vulnerable online with your autobio comics? 

 I think there are a few other autobio comic artists online that I would have a great connection with, haha! It’s a very specific experience where, in the beginning, I genuinely didn’t think about anyone seeing it. I just blocked it out. It was the only way I could be vulnerable. 

After a while though, the blockage of acknowledging was  also blocking the most wonderful parts of it. When I reflect now, I say I started sharing my comics as a cry into the dark, hoping someone might hear it. There was this yearning for connection, and blocking out the response as a whole, was not allowing that gift to come through.

There was this one experience when I went to Cavaliers bookshop, and met a reader in person at the register. I could see they were really excited to meet me and that they were a bit nervous. And I said “Is it okay if I give you a hug?” And there was a kind of pure joy on their face that came from that.  Afterwards, I was driving away and I remember being in my car thinking, “that’s real!” 

After that encounter, , I realized it was actually a disservice and not earnest to deny the highs and lows within the responses to my work. My relationship to sharing work online has changed a lot. Eventually, I realized I did not want to continue autobio work  because I was living my life with a spectator’s eye. It was damaging to my own self image and sense of self - and I don’t think that’s good for the work.

I think it is so admirable when people can find ways to balance that for themselves. Different artists have different lives. I’m a very sensitive person too, which is why it works but for my own health it’s not something I could sustain. 

What are some themes you always come back to in your work?

I have recently declared that my largest value is wonder.

There is something larger than just the parts of reality. All of the frameworks we have been given: language, frame of thought, logic, social systems-all these things we have been taught as normal… I doubt it! Allowing myself to explore this sense of wonder though my art has always been my space of freedom, especially when I was a young girl in a very conservative environment.

There are some experiences where I meet someone, and our exchange wasn’t very long and our exchange wasn’t something you could note down as being or meaningful, however the impact of that is extraordinarily heavy. My human brain is like “That doesn’t make sense, you shouldn’t be feeling that way”. But I do feel that way, so there must be something more to the world then. 

This  could be a sensitive topic, especially as someone who is a big mental health advocate, but I often think about how spirituality has a large place in many of our difficult experiences.  Coming from an eastern culture where these ideas  aren't so rigid, spirituality is woven into the rhythm of everyday life.   Elements of Buddhist beliefs,  like reincarnation,are embedded  into our culture and language. So I don't view spirituality as a big hoax or a separate entity that could be compartmentalized outside of our metaphysical experiences of life. 

Because of that, that is where I draw into the parts of the world that we as humans can’t understand but still experience - that is wonder to me.

It could be a person, or moment, or even just a leaf you saw.

How has moving to Amsterdam influenced your work?

It really has changed a lot. First let’s start off with that I absolutely love Los Angeles and it has been everything to me to experience my life in Los Angeles. But after I moved, I’ve been able to dial back a lot more of the urgency for “the next big thing” because I’m able to slow down my life a bit more here in Amsterdam.

I’ve been able to  carve out that space of blank.  Boredom and peace has allowed me to have more moments of wonder. I’ve been taking some trips here and there and getting to see a lot of old artwork. Being able to tie that with my learning of art history and  fascination with diverging culture has been a big impact on my work lately.

Here at FredFilms our motto is Creators First, Originals Always who are some creators you’ve been into recently? 

I recently was recommended It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth by Zoe Thorogood at a comic shop here in Amsterdam, called Lambiek.She is a British autobio comics artist, we’re the same age.  Her work is vulnerable, honest, and something you hold in your hand yet can’t believe it exists.  It kind of scared me when I read it, that chilling feeling when you sense someone can see right through you. Call your bluff. I admire her a lot.

Any Closing Thoughts?

Don’t doubt your desire to create! Make it, just so that it exists.

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Find Izzi’s work:

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/clownlifeizzi/

PAINTINGS: https://www.clownlifeizzilee.com/paintings

VIDEO: https://www.clownlifeizzilee.com/videos 

NOVEL (stay tuned): https://www.instagram.com/adxm_izzilee/

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Peter doesn’t just tell stories – they build entire worlds. Whether it be behind decks at a rave, scripting a graphic novel, or creating a truly unique card game their work is rooted deep, raw emotions thank make you clutch your chest and want even more!

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Peter is the embodiment of cool. They have great fashion sense, have a huge creative library and have traveled the world. The coolest part about Peter though is that despite all this they are a grounded, playful and deeply kind person.

Working with Peter has opened me up to storytelling with unapologetic heart. The passion and hard work they bring to everything they work on is nothing short of inspiring. I leave every meeting we have bursting with excitement for what Peter will make next.

I can’t wait for you to get to know them more in this week’s Creators First Spotlight!

-Flip Sarta

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What's your story?

Starting off with the biggest question. So my artist journey it's definitely been pretty multifaceted and broad. I would say I feel like I spend a lot of time in many varieties of art forms and finding interest in different pockets of making stuff. You know, from music to illustration and writing and performance and game design and all kinds of stuff, directing.

But, the pretty clear through line when I look back at all those things from when I was like a kid till now, is definitely storytelling. And whether I was working in a medium that is very obviously storytelling, like writing, or something that's less so obvious, like DJing. It's very clear that I approach those things from a storytelling standpoint.

Why do you tell stories?

The base of it is probably quite simple, just that I really love it. It makes me feel very fulfilled and challenged and excited.

It's just a really great feeling to be immersed in a world that you're creating. I love thinking about the world I'm building and the characters populating it. It's constantly in the back of my brain throughout the day, putting the pieces together. I hope people who experience something I’ve made can feel the intention, care, and emotion in it.

How do you decide which medium to tell which stories in?

It's really nice to work in multiple mediums because whenever one just isn't flowing, maybe the other one is. It feels natural, I follow wherever the least resistance is coming from or where I’m currently feeling inspired. It's less of an intellectual decision. There's definitely some concepts or stories or worlds that have crossed into multiple mediums though.

For example, I have this one story called Hand Betrays Heart which started as the episode title from a series I had in development at Netflix, shifted into a narrative DJ set I performed at a rave in Los Angeles, became a deck building card game, inspired a short film script, and then a full length graphic novel. That concept that must have just been really sticking to me for some reason and I wanted to come out in different ways. It’s quite different in each iteration though.

Could you tell us more about DJing and how you got into that?

I love music so much. I think music is just the best. It's brought me some of the best times of my life. The most intimate moments and the biggest feelings that I’ve felt, specifically in the rave environment. I really fell in love with that space kind of late compared to most people. Maybe when I was 25 is when I really started going to raves and getting into the space. It was just so –

Okay, so I love world building and fantasy and stuff like that. I feel like when you go to a rave, especially whenever you're first discovering the space, it feels like entering into another world. Especially in LA where all the parties are like illegally thrown, they're always in these really cool environments.

The way to get there is complex and there's passwords and they try to keep it from getting shut down. Then you cross through some grassy meadow and you hear the music in the distance and you're getting so excited as you're getting closer to it . You end up running into someone else on the path who's going there too.

And when you get there you experience this amazing feeling of release . The energy and emotions are connecting you with all these people. I feel like I fell in love with that type of music through experiencing those connections and aliveness.

My brother is an amazing producer and DJ. Around that time too he had a tiny little DJ controller when I was visiting him in Mexico City. He showed me how to use it and I got pretty quickly hooked and bought my own equipment. I started playing house parties and then eventually started playing bigger shows, and now I’ve been touring internationally and creating hybrid performances with my partner Jas Lin who is a dancer.

What do you hope your audiences take away from your stories?

That's a really good question.

It’s definitely not a starting point for me. I don't really start from thinking of how I want an audience to feel, but as I'm working on something, it definitely comes up. I think the main answer would just be - and it sounds so corny or whatever - but just to feel and feel big.

I want someone to clutch their heart, you know? I want them to feel whatever it is that they need to feel. It will come up if the big emotions are being channeled.

I think that most of the stuff I make is less about making someone think very deeply about something in particular and is more about cracking the heart open to whatever is in there that needs to get out.

As a DJ, it's such an immediate feeling because you can see it happening in real time. Whenever you’re creating an arc through the set and landing the emotional punch at the end – the process of dancing through the whole set is lubricating the heart to be ready to be popped open at the right moment!

It's really satisfying to be able to create that feeling right in front of the audience. Whereas with writing or directing you don't usually get to see that happen. It's like you already prepped it and someone else experiences it in their own time.

And what's great about DJing too, it’s an experience that can’t be replicated. Its communal and happening just in that moment. And my DJ name is Hearthealer so it definitely makes sense to what I’m saying here.

What is a story you find yourself revisiting over and over again?

I think something that I keep finding reoccurring in my own work is just the kind of feeling of hurting the person you would at least want to hurt and the inevitability of there being pain and conflict where there's also the most intimacy. Going along with this, a story that I read relatively recently that's really stuck with me is, Berserk, which has similar themes.

Our motto is Creators First, Original Always - Are there any creators or recent originals that you fit into lately?

It's a good question. I have a lot of really talented friends that make amazing music, who I've met all over the world. Those people definitely inspire me a lot, both as creators of their art and of community and spaces, specifically in countries that have been impacted by colonization, war, corruption and/or where the scene exists out of pure desire, love, and passion and not as much for clout/industry. I feel so lucky to be invited to and be a part of these spaces. Panic Library in Hong Kong. Terminal Dogma in Manila. Red Room in Yangon (which is sadly closed now), Bussy Temple in Singapore, Shapeshifter in Bangkok. They create spaces the world needs.

There is a monthly radio series called Innermost that I always listen to the moment it comes out. To me it is deeply inspiring and the world building really brings you into a new environment with each episode. They're just really beautifully and thoughtfully crafted, I’d definitely recommend listening to everything they release.

I also have a friend who writes novels named Jud Widing. He writes these fat books with insane vocabulary that I don’t even know what every word means. But I’m always so entertained by his writing. It’s laugh out loud funny, super sharp, and dark.

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Find Peter's work HERE

Casey Gonzalez shares a look behind the scenes at FredFilms, discusses the importance of vulnerability in creativity and the inspiration parenthood provides.

I owe so much to Casey. I was lucky enough to have her as my supervisor when I started as an intern at Frederator, and now have the privilege to be developing shows right along side her at FredFilms!

Having Casey in my corner for my entire professional career has been such a gift. I’m so grateful for her guidance and advice as both my mentor and my friend. She is wicked accomplished and has a deep wealth of knowledge from working in almost every part of the storytelling industry!

I remember discovering First Second's Science Comics series and being excited to tell Casey about them only for her to tell me "Oh, you know I started that series during my time at First Second." She has done so much and I'm excited to be there too as she keeps doing more!

-Flip Sarta

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So tell us about yourself. What’s your story?

I’ve been a ravenous consumer of media since I was a kid. I can find something to love in just about every genre and medium. Books, comics, movies, radio, music, YouTube explainers, video games, mind-numbing mobile games—you name it, I have indulged in it.

I started my career in publishing working mostly on comics. I fell in love with collaborating closely with artists and writers, helping them bring their ideas into the world. I noticed that many of my favorite creators were exploring animation and I decided to do the same. I eventually landed a job at Frederator, which kicked off a decade of working for the legendary Fred Seibert. After a stint at Crunchyroll, I joined Fred again to lead development at FredFilms. I’m so grateful to get to do what I do. Thanks Fred!

Outside of my work at FredFilms, I’m a writer and crafter. I’m always working on some sort of craft project—usually something I can do while watching way too much TV!!

[Panels from Paul Pope’s Battling Boy]

Why do you want to tell stories?

I think storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have as humans. It’s how we build connections with one another. That's fundamentally what I think storytelling is—a connection to our shared history. Whether it's a handprint on the wall of a cave that says, “I was here,” or a creation myth passed down over millennia. Stories have this inherent power and value. Now more than ever it is vital to share what we're experiencing with each other and to document it for future generations, and that's what drives me to tell stories.

How do you go about telling stories?

I get ideas spontaneously, just reacting to things I see or experience, but when I'm actually sitting down to write a story I find the scaffolding to be really important. A well-structured story can almost write itself.

I also like to get to know my characters really well. Anyone who has worked with me will know that I'm a stickler for detail. I think the best characters blend the universal—traits anyone can relate to—with the specific—things that only this character could experience, and that only one person could write. Personal experiences really come through in those vivid, wonderful details.

How do you take a story from the seed of an idea to a fully developed story?

Describing the beginning of a story as a seed is really apt, because it takes a lot of nurturing and care. It’s a balance of being disciplined and being gentle with yourself.

One thing that I try to do in my personal work, and that I work on with our creators, too, is stepping away from any shame. Making art can be a very vulnerable act. In fact, I think you have to be vulnerable to make great art. So I often remind myself and the folks I work with that we have to be kind to ourselves as we're creating! A first draft doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, a tenth draft doesn't have to be perfect. Shaping a story is like cutting away at a block of clay. You can't just do it all in one motion. It's a lot of repetitive action, revisiting and revising.

I think one of the best things you can do if you're stuck on a story is put it to the side, and take a short break or go on a walk. If you need a longer break, take a week off and indulge in another medium, like music or movies or something that's totally different from what you're working on, and see where you find inspiration and then go back to it.

What’s something you do that people might not realize about your work?

I think what I do is made possible by what makes Fred Films so special. We get to be very hands-on and deeply collaborative with our creators. I work closely with creators on everything from writing their first scripts to preparing them to present their work—especially if that’s outside their comfort zone.

Building relationships based on mutual respect and trust is central to my work. From the outside looking in, my role might seem invisible—and I want it to be. My job is to help creators express themselves in the best possible way without overshadowing their voice or vision.

[Casey and FredFilms' creator Elyse Castro finally meet in person after working together on Zoom for years!]

What is an unexpected source of inspiration in your day-to-day life?

I’m going to sound like the typical new parent, but watching my daughter learn about the world is incredible. That vulnerability that I talked about artists having to access, that is the vulnerable state that all children live in all the time. There's a reason that we are so drawn to childhood. There is a reason that nostalgia has such a powerful hold on us. Children live in what’s called the “absorbent mind” stage up until around age six, where they take in information effortlessly and without judgment. That mindset is so intrinsic to the creative process. I think every adult taps into that childlike state when they create, but seeing it firsthand in my daughter is amazing—and, of course, very inspiring.

Our motto here is creator first, original always. Who is the creator or what's an original you’ve been into lately?

I just watched Psycho Goreman, which was really fun, like a mix of Power Rangers and Gremlins. I’ve also been enjoying playing Animal Well!

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Creators First: Spotlights is a new interview series in which we interview creators about their lives, their work, and what they love! Stay tuned for more from artists, writers, musicians, comics creators, executives, and other friends of FredFilms!

At times a human man, at times an internet raccoon, cartoonist Alex Krokus expertly captures the humor of daily life and the weirdos that make it all worthwhile. The creator behind Loud & Smart, Talking to My Fathers Ghost joins us for another Creators First Spotlight.  

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The first time I got to sit down and talk to Alex was at a bar in Brooklyn shortly after we started discussing his animated series. When the conversion drifted into talking about Estonia I knew I found a kindred spirit and someone that I needed to work with.

Over a year later this still rings true. Alex has been one of the funnest people I have ever collaborated with. The way he is able to ‘yes and’ our ideas while keeping his vision clear and distinct has never ceased to impress me.

For someone who seems to always have 8 plates spinning, he is still able to be present and incredibly supportive of fellow creatives in his community. He’s just a really chill guy!

His webcomic ‘Loud & Smart’ never fails to make me laugh and I cannot wait to read his debut graphic novel, Talking to My Father’s Ghost, coming this August from Chronicle.

-Flip Sarta

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What's your story?

My name is Alex Krokus. I'm a cartoonist who studied illustration. I taught myself animation after graduating college, and through being in the industry and making my own films I discovered a love of storytelling.

What's the earliest piece of media that made you think “I want to make something like that one day?”

The earliest thing I could think of is the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. I read and loved a lot of strips as a kid, like Garfield, FoxTrot, and Zits, but as well as being funny, Calvin and Hobbes had this sentimentality to it that I never really saw in the medium before or since. To be honest, I don't think we've ever gotten another Calvin and Hobbes, despite my best efforts.

Although it's not the earliest and it's definitely cringe, On The Road by Jack Kerouac had a big influence on me in college. Go ahead, execute me. The story is fine, but I really connected with how self-indulgent it was. I walked away from that book thinking “Hey, I can do that.” And after that, for all of my 20s, I became a very obsessive journaler.

I traveled a lot. I toured the country with my DIY folk punk band. Once again, execute me. But while I did all of that, I wrote all the time. I had stacks of sketchbooks with writing in it. And I've never revisited that writing, but I've been meaning to because there might be a good story in there, if any of it makes any goddamn sense. But I haven't confronted that yet.

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What's your process like?

If it's conversational, I like them short and sweet, more like vignettes or anecdotes. My attention span is pretty fried, and I don't know if I can stick the landing if I tell the unabridged version of a story. And this is maybe why I've been writing comic strips for so long—it translates very well to that medium.

In the last few years, I've been writing more and more scripts. I wrote my first graphic novel script a few years ago, which will be getting published this August. It's called Talking to My Father’s Ghost.

Since then, I've written a lot of pitch scripts for TV. I've been dedicating more and more time to thinking about what goes into writing a really clean, effective sitcom script. How can every line advance the plot but also be funny at the same time?

It's been fun revisiting some of my favorite shows that I grew up with and appreciating them from a new lens. I used to just like them because I like the stories or I like the jokes, and now I am capable of respecting the craft that went into telling those stories.

What is your inspiration for the characters in your work? 

All the characters in my stories are either informed from my personal experiences, a side of my personality, or someone that I know. The most obvious example is my raccoon avatar in my comic series, Loud and Smart.

I think of him similarly to how Larry David views Larry in Curb Your Enthusiasm. He represents me. I voice him when he is animated, but sometimes he makes decisions that I wouldn't because it makes for a better story or a joke.

We're not one in the same, but, both him and almost all of the stories and characters that I write in and out of my comic are really informed by my life.

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Is there a project you've worked on that you ended up abandoning, would you ever want to go back to it?

Yes! I had a WebToon series that I started called 420 Fake Street, which was very well received. The two episodes that I posted have ten star ratings, and people who come to my reading on tour will ask me “Are you ever going to do that story again?”

I fizzled out on it because I wasn't ready for the big labor commitment that comes from having an ongoing long form webcomic. Doing comic strips is a lot easier for me. I think I'm just better built for that.

But that story will exist in another form. I’m collaborating with the fine folks at FredFilms to bring this story to life – and maybe have it live in an animated space. The translation of adapting it to a script for animation has been really fun.

You learn what jokes work in a comic format, and what needs to be adapted so that it can work in animation and be delivered with voiceover. I think that I've learned a lot from it, and it may inform future projects.

What do you hope your audience takes away from your stories?

I want them to be invested without knowing anything about me.

That's always my aspiration. One of the tricky parts about being a cartoonist that’s popular on social media is that my identity is such a big appeal of the comic. In some ways, I did it to myself because I'm making comics about my life, and my identity is inextricably tied to that.

But, I love hearing stories about people who find my book in a bookstore, read a few pages, and then they take it home with them just because they like the material. I love instances like that because I know the work stands on its own, and it's not an accessory or an extension of me being an influencer, which is the craft that requires the least talent from the artist.

I know a lot of people like my comics because they're often from the lens of someone who's  living in New York and having a bunch of friends who are living this artist's life.  Although I love writing about my life, I don't really want where I live to  be the appeal of my work.

There are other people who said “Oh, your comics make me think about my life in San Francisco” or something. I'm totally fine with that because I think it's a lot more appealing when my work feels like a mirror for someone else's life. The pejorative term for that is relatable comics.

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What stories have impacted you the most?

A recurring motif in the stories that resonate the most with me is when they're honest, grounded stories where not a lot happens. Those are just my favorites.

I recently watched the movie Sideways, which is a 2004 movie with Paul Giamatti. I really enjoyed that, even though at its core, it's just about two guys hanging out. The stakes are very low and it's mostly just a vibe.

I really liked Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki’s  recent graphic novel Roaming, which is just about three girls spending a spring break in New York City. That's also very grounded. Some would say that not a lot happens, but stories like that are like petri dishes for characters to interact and for you to pick apart relationships. Those are always my favorite.

Maybe I see myself and my boring life in writing like that, but whenever a story takes a grandiose or epic turn, I become a little disengaged. It kind of sucks for me that that's usually what sells, though.

How do you manage your time as a busy creative?

Deadlines. Self-imposed deadlines work, but it's always best when I'm at risk of disappointing someone.

Working with the fine people at FredFilms has been great for getting a lot of shit done. I think that the team and I have done so much with the pitch. Recently we've had our weekly meetings, creating deadlines to have a script done by a certain time. Having other people involved makes it a priority for me and not just “Oh, here's, like, this pitch that I'm working on in my downtime.”

I have other pitches that I want to work on too but they’re not a project I’m doing with other people. Making up a reason why something has to be done, ensures that I get it done.

I think that holds true for a lot of cartoonists, because so much of our work is our personal projects that have an audience that people want to see. When I put together comic readings or tour with new books, I'll reach out to artists whose work I really respect in the cities I'm going to.

I’ll say “Hey, do you want to read something at my book release in the city you live in? You can read whatever you want because I love everything you do.” And they'll say “Oh, thank you so much for giving me this deadline. This will ensure that I'll finish this mini comic that I've been meaning to do.”

I think that this method holds true for a lot of people. Make up a reason for why you have to finish something at a certain time and you will get it done.

Our motto is Creators First Original Always - what  creators or originals have you been into lately?

I have a few and they span media.

Nick Edwards’ Instagram comic Kingly, I think is a triumph of the medium, even in the face of the platform of Instagram not being built for long-form storytelling at all.  t's a great comic. I'm really glad that he self-published it as a book, because it definitely deserves to be read that way.

Connor O'Malley's YouTube shorts are downright hilarious. Some might say that they're insane, and I really appreciate that he is not afraid to alienate most audiences. I really respect that.

The YouTube animator Victoria Vincent, who goes by the name Vewn, makes incredible work that looks totally unlike anything else in the genre or in the market right now.

It's really inspiring stuff. I didn't know one person could do so much by themselves or with a really small team.

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Find Alex's work here

Creators First: Spotlights is a new interview series in which we interview creators about their lives, their work, and what they love! Stay tuned for more from artists, writers, musicians, comics creators, executives, and other friends of FredFilms!