Animation

Just after the new year in 2020, I discovered an email in my junk folder to test as a storyboarder for <REDACTED> at Cartoon Network. I replied, in a panic, apologizing for missing the email, and they sent over a test. Like everyone in alternative comics, since Adventure Time, I've fantasized about finding myself in that position on a board driven show. It seemed like one of the only sustainable options to do something comic adjacent. The test itself was a ton of work but it was extremely rewarding. I spent too much time fretting over it and didn't get the job but it would later lead to me throwing together the above portfolio. If I had gotten that job a lot of things that have happened wouldn't of so it's hard to feel too sour. I often think of that alternate timeline where I somehow got the position and didn't end up writing Blind Alley or any of my "current projects".

That following summer I was kinda panicking about how sustainable freelancing would be. After a decent first year freelancing, I found myself without any new clients and all of my prospects seemed far off and only "potential". The combination of lack of "editorial" clients and the storyboard test made me really question what type of illustrator/cartoonist I wanted to be. On top of that, my father and my partners parents are animators so it's something I've grown up with, dabbled in, and feel, maybe somewhat cockily, confident that I understand. In that haze I whipped together a character design portfolio and applied to an opening at a neat studio. Of course I did not get the job but I had a lot of fun doing these! I honestly wouldn't of gotten by without Canada's CERB program ($900 every two weeks for those whose work had been effected by Covid) so it was a strange time. 

Currently and entirely unrelated to the above work, I've stumbled into a 6-month contract working as a part-time designer on an animated show. I'm mainly on props but occasionally backgrounds and characters. It's quite an interesting test of my drawing abilities as it's a few steps outside of my style. It has really helped me brush up on my basic drawing abilities (I've drawn a ton of cars) which I already feel effecting my personal work. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the job but working in the animation industry part-time has reaffirmed my present-selfish desire to create work I am personally invested in. I probably shouldn't write much about the experience while I am in it but needless to say it's been a positive learning experience. In the end, I am extremely grateful to have found myself in this position and it's only fuel for my desire to pump out comics.

This career I've chosen is nebulous and full of tangents. It's been hard learning to embrace the formlessness of freelancing; to ever feel confident in the lack of guarantee of when the next job will come, what it'll be, or how much (little) it'll pay. I've felt extremely lucky that I have the capacity to balance part-time jobs, shitty editorial contracts, and genuinely exciting contract work with my own comics.  When I left university in 2019, my goal was to have a comic published and become a successful editorial illustrator. Now, two years since graduating, I've realized my drive to be an editorial illustrator was strictly due to the university environment. I am now comfortable thinking of myself as a cartoonist, which I was resistant too before, with all the strange alley's that entails. In the end, I just want to draw and write and I am lucky that the next two years seems to have me doing mostly that. In the end, however, I have no illusions that I may find myself questioning my path again, after all my current projects have ended, and a pivot may be necessary to continue drawing dumb pictures for a living.