Tell us a little about yourself and your career.
Originally from Cali, Colombia, I grew up in the weird and unique landscape of South Florida. This meant a large amount of my time as a kid and teenager was spent out in nature—ranging from kayaking through shady mangrove forests to cycling on levees overlooking the endless water of Florida’s Everglades. This all contributed to a love of natural environments and outdoor spaces, and from there a passion for landscape painting. And many more twists and absolutely unexpected turns led to a career in animation, where I’ve worked primarily as a Visual Development Artist in feature film, contributing to projects for Paramount Animation, DreamWorks, and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
What challenges have you faced in navigating a career in animation?
I would say the greatest challenge absolutely was breaking into the
industry in the first place. It’s a highly competitive field to enter, as you
need to find yourself in the unique position of facing an open role for which
no currently established artist is being considered. That’s not to say my time
working professionally has been easy, but once you have professional work
experience and known studios on your resume, your odds of getting responses to
job enquiries look a lot more favorable.
Who are your inspirations in the field of animation?
I think some immensely unique artists have found themselves in this field, and not only carried on the torch of representational narrative art from past masters, but brought new strengths and ideas all their own. Some absolute all-stars whose work I always look to are Manu Arenas, Tadahiro Uesugi, Mehrdad Isvandi, Paul Felix, Ami Thompson, Rebecca Dart, and Noah Klocek. And of special mention to me is the work of Douglas Henderson—primarily a paleoartist, he also worked on the animated films Dinosaur and Brother Bear, and so bridged two artistic worlds that matter deeply to me.
What do you hope to accomplish as an artist in the animation industry?
Animation is a medium, and for me the most exciting projects are ones that try to push the field forward beyond any established look or narrative convention. Our field becomes all the stronger and more exciting when it embraces variety and the spirit of trying new things, and truthfully I think it’s more rewarding to work on projects that aim to creatively challenge you as an artist. I would love to someday take on artistic leadership roles on such projects, and beyond that my main hope is to continually keep exploring my own ideas and growing artistically. I find that personal work feeds my professional roles, helps keep things exciting, and honestly a dream scenario is one where I maintain a healthy personal art/work art balance throughout my career.
What does being in the Union mean to you?
I’ve found that Union membership means dignity as a worker in a way that feels all too rare in any field. Even when I was not too informed about the Union, membership still meant I accessed benefits such as minimum rates, incredible health insurance coverage and rates, and protected hours and a clear job description. Though jobs will sometimes try to push boundaries and extort extra hours/tasks out of you, working under a Collective Bargaining Agreement means being able to point to clearly defined (and legally protected) guidelines that enable you to draw a line on how much work they can ask from you. Membership in the Union is the only way forward I can see maintaining any sort of decent standard of living, and even a fulfilling retirement someday.
Learn more about Pablo at his website.
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