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For all hopefuls getting into the animation industry and thinking it’s too late, here’s my story!
In the year 2008 I decided to go to RCAD! I was 25 then. I got hospitalized during that first semester, I had only been there for 3 months, and I was so sick I had to leave. In 2009, I gave college another try because I was doing much better by then. I was 26!
Most of my classmates were just out of highschool, all around the ages of 18 maybe 19. I was considered a non traditional student because of my age but I went to RCAD and eventually graduated in 2013 with honors. I was 30 and looking for work in the industry for the first time.
I had no connections and every interview was fruitless. Many companies expressed high interest in me or my work but nothing planned out. 3 months after graduating I took a chance reached out to a studio in GA that was looking to hire character designers. I reached out to them..
Knowing they were advertising for a board position but asked anyways. It turns out that they were looking to fill board positions for a new show they had taken on and after a test and interview I was moving to GA for my first studio job. It lasted for the while run of the show..
But when the show was over there was no more work for us and most of our team was let go. This was the first glimps into just how jobs worked in the industry and how fragil job security was. There were no guarantees, and it was a very low point in my life the first time
I got let go from a production. After this, I was doing freelance & had even gone back to the same studio again for another show (I once again moved from FL to GA to work there) but this time the work only lasted about 3 or 4 months. (It’s been a while I really can not remember)
I lived like this from the age of 31 to 35 just doing freelance work for different companies/production and taking tests for studios in CA that I was never paid that never led anywhere. It was a very hard time in my life, I thought that maybe I just didn’t have what it takes to
do this after all and was considering changing career paths. But.. I love what I do. It felt heart breaking considering it and even when I was actively taking steps to do something different with my life I was still testing and looking. That’s when I recieved
A board revisionist test for a company in CA. They hired me and it was my first MAJOR studio in California that was partnered with the animation guild. At the age of 35 I moved out to California and I am still here, now 37, and just started work on a new product at a new studio.
I relate all this to you to say: it’s not too late. You’re not too old. You can do this. You got this!!!
