Deciding to pursue an artistic or creative career path isn’t for the faint of heart. Challenges will abound, but so many of the artists we speak with couldn’t be happier with their choice. So, we asked them about how they made the decision in the first place.

Alice Jiwon Yoon | 3D Lighting & Environment Artist

The typical narrative of “I’ve always loved drawing” doesn’t fit me at all when it comes to my artistic path. To everyone’s surprise, I pivoted from a relatively successful academic background to pursue a career in art. Now, I’m deeply engaged in technical animation. Technical animation, especially lighting, helped me discover that I enjoy using my skills in hands-on activities to produce beautiful renders, which feels like a reward. There’s something deeply fulfilling about being relied upon for my expertise, particularly when it involves solving complex problems with 3D software. Read more>>

Ben Burke | Sound Designer and Stop-Motion Animator

I pursued an artistic career because, for most of my childhood and early teens (and still to this day), I was glued to the TV, YouTube, picture books, etc. I constantly watched people making things and telling stories through clay figures, Legos, drawings, animations, sounds, and everything in between. And at that time I didn’t know how to make any of those things or how to tell any stories through a visual or auditory medium. I was constantly drawing pictures as a kid of large creatures fighting each other, military battles, and dinosaurs. All this is to say that I have been in love with the idea of telling a story through a medium of art and being inspired by the greats like Harryhausen, Cobain, Tartakovsky, Orna, and Galavan, all those people that I would watch whenever I could, that got me to start doing stop-motion videos for school projects in elementary school and into college, helping me fall in love with the process of pre-production, production, and post-production. Read more>>

Toni Lee | Photographer

I have always loved the arts! I was very creative as a child and knew I would pursue something in the arts. Choosing an artistic career for me stemmed from passion, self-expression and my desire to impact the world! Read more>>