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Hey, Animation Artists!
There’s no sugar coating it — the Los Angeles animation industry has changed. While colleagues, friends and students ask for advice and tell stories of an industry gone dry, all I can say is: It’s okay to move on, whether it be temporary or permanent.
I have had plenty of time to come to terms with the same problems that face many of us in the Los Angeles animation industry. It has been a roller coaster ride that I was foolish enough to think wouldn’t be this rough again. I fought super hard just to get to America. The goal was to get the dream job working as an artist in animation. My wife and I landed in L.A. with four suitcases, our personal action figures (from our days as professional wrestlers … yes, that’s true). We had no place to live, no friends to visit, no family and no jobs.
It took years to prove myself to others and to gain their confidence as a high level professional artist, all the while aiming to work at the world’s biggest studios on nothing less than the world’s best known IPs. The constant hard work paid off and I started building a long list of career achievements in film, TV, theme parks, live entertainment and publishing. I built a very successful career.
“If you and your friends still love animation, regardless of what is happening in this town, then take it back! I dare you! It now belongs to you.”
Yet, like many others, I am watching the hard work I put into all these great projects seemingly float away like smoke, disappearing fast. It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that billions of people have seen my art but have no idea who I am or that I helped create something they truly love. There is nothing I can do to leverage that at a time like this.
Regardless of how proud I am of the work I made for the big studios, like many of you, I am coming to terms with a truth I’d rather ignore. Our local industry is being dismantled by a corporate world that struggles to show they care for its product or people. It sounds harsh to say but I don’t expect that to change. We are seeing local productions leave, investment in AI over humans, “new media” contract rulings screwing artists out of pay and so much more. All the while, the animation contract negotiations are being deliberately slowed so the studios can prepare for long strikes with limited impact.
That last statement should be the slap in the face all us artists need. While the places we all wanted to work for at one point in our careers, prepare themselves to survive and thrive, we have to do the same. The beauty in an artist doing that is you aren’t a giant autonomous machine that will continue to churn no matter who is in charge. You are a creative! You are the magicians I fell in love with while growing up on the other side of the world. You make art come to life. It moves, breathes and makes us feel human.
That cannot and will not be squashed! Your level of skill will not diminish. Your talent hasn’t disappeared.
As many of us face the challenge of figuring out how to pay our bills, where the next job is coming from, or if our skills are needed, don’t be afraid to branch out to other industries and take some chances. What is happening to animation in this city is not your fault.
As a former wrestler, fighting for the crowd’s acceptance or hatred, I had to learn to use any motivation I could. Anger seemed to be one way to fuel that fire. That feeling also pushes me forward now. The fuel that keeps this emotion alight comes from something I’ve said many times before and will say many times again: Art is expected, not respected. It doesn’t seem like the thing that should be said to motivate an artist, but it’s true.
The public expects art to be in the entertainment they consume, the clothing they wear, the paintings that adorn their homes, advertising, consumer products, music and more. It’s expected to be there, but is it respected? At times like now it doesn’t seem so. The idea of art and creativity not being respected angers me. Art makes us feel more human, more connected to the world around us. The thought that it’s taken for granted is the fire I need to fuel me.
I will never stop making art. I will never stop being a creative and neither should you. Regardless of whether we go back to doing it with studios or on our own dime and in our own time. If you and your friends still love animation, regardless of what is happening in this town, then take it back! I dare you! It now belongs to you.
Nic Gregory is a background painter, designer, color stylist and concept artist in the Los Angeles animation and theme park industries. His clients include Disney, Cartoon Network, Thinkwell, Legendary/Geek & Sundry, and more. Nic is also an accomplished plein air painter and teaches classes at The Walt Disney Family Museum and throughout L.A. For more info, visit nicgregory.com.