Tell us a little about yourself and your career.
I am an Illustrator and Designer who graduated from San Jose State in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Animation/Illustration. I got a short job as a Background Painter at Titmouse New York during that time. After that, I worked as a Concept Artist for video games in Northern California up until around 2016, when I began working in animation again after moving to Los Angeles. Since then, I have filled many different roles on animated series, from Layout Designer to Visual Development Artist and Character Designer. Currently, I am working as a Background Paint Supervisor at Skybound. Outside of my career, if I am not working on a personal project, I am outdoors climbing or snowboarding, whichever the weather permits.
What challenges have you faced in navigating a career in animation?
My biggest challenges have mostly been burnout related, which I think is something that many artists in this industry have to contend with. I have always enjoyed work most when I have the opportunity to tackle a variety of challenges that require using different skill sets to accomplish. Concept art has a lot of this variety, especially in the video game industry. Though in series animation, tasks are optimized and assigned in a way that means you are often doing a single thing for the duration of a production. It can become easy to lose motivation if there isn’t enough variety in the type of assignment or subject matter for me. A dedicated focus on personal work is really important for me to maintain a level of creative balance that I don’t always get from my job.
Who are your inspirations in the field of animation?
I suppose the inspirations I found in animation when I was younger were similar to a lot of artists my age. Hayao Miyazaki is obvious, it’s practically a cliche to say. Mostly, however, I tend to look outside the animation industry for inspiration. I love old print illustration—advertising and magazine illustrations of the early to mid-1900s—and anything that would appear on a science fiction book jacket, too. I look at a lot of painters since I am primarily a painter, and I pay attention to a handful of artists and designers who work in scale models and miniatures since I like to do that in my personal time.
What do you hope to accomplish as an artist in the animation industry?
It is interesting how working in the animation industry can be just a career to make ends meet and a lifelong passion at the same time. I have a lot I want to accomplish as an artist, though much of that is somewhat removed from the animation industry itself. That does not diminish my love for animation as an artform, though. Ultimately, I think most people in animation want to achieve enough professionally that one day they have the opportunity to work on a project they are able to truly call their own. It’s the same for me.
What does being in the Union mean to you?
The world of animation is such a complex entanglement of business, art, and commerce. It can be difficult to survive as an artist in this industry without simply submitting to our place in the assembly line, and being an active part of the Union is the best way I can see to do that. For me it is about making a statement: that animation is a form of art, we are the ones who make it, and that deserves respect.
Learn more about Corwin at his website.
