Finding My Passion

How I got where I am Today

Posted on March 4, 2021

I’m working on an animated short. From here on out, I will be posting the process and a bit of the art while I create the Elusive Green Elephant (working title). My hope is that this blog will keep me accountable and that the short will be made with a special something. Before we get too far into that, I’m going to brief you on how I got here.

In 2019 I decided I needed a change. I had graduated from California College of the Arts (CCA) with a BFA in Animation in 2014. At the time, I knew it was difficult to break into the animation industry, and quite frankly, there wasn’t any particular place I wanted to work. I always said I’d start my own studio. That plus the fact that California has a high cost of living, I decided to move back to my Chicago suburb and pay off my student loans.

Painted title screen for For Peace, Love, and Harmony. The image is of the character Nirvana sitting a Magnolia flower stem In 2015, my sister Crystal (she’s a great illustrator and comic artist) and I started the Sleepy Gallows to make shorts and mini series. Our first production is For Peace, Love, and Harmony (PLH). A fun project, that became too much too handle and is currently on hiatus, but will return within the next 2 years.

In 2017 I paid off my loans in full, but was not working in the animation or art except a few freelance projects and PLH. By 2019, I needed a change. Still not wanting to live in California, and having no luck with Chicago’s more commercial Motion Graphics industry, I looked to another interest of mine, web development and programming.

So I jumped into a 6-month coding bootcamp at Northwestern University. The bootcamp ended in January of 2020 and the job hunt was on. I can now make basic apps in the MERN stack and build websites, but of course, there’s still a lot to learn. March 2020 I was on the cusp of getting a Programming I position that I matched word of word on the job posting. It seemed perfect. The technical interview was scheduled and I was elated! Then the first lockdown happened. Not only was the interview cancelled, but the whole position had been pulled. I noticed across the board in many industries entry level positions were being pulled. So much for a change.

During those first few months of the new world I applied to places (tech and creative), got a few interviews, but no offers. But I was getting freelance animation, and these were people finding me. This is great because I like animating and need the money, but it is also bad timing. Now I don’t have the time to study and keep up my coding practice.

What do I focus on?

For now, I’m choosing my passion. Join me on My Short Journey.

Catch ya next time!

Visit SleepyGallows.com to see our art (I made this myself with REACT!)