The Universe Answers · Issue #8 · 2022
About finding my career path and handling the uncertainty of not knowing where to go.
This is “The Inspired Animator”, a newsletter about my adventures in animation, illustration & the creative process! The UPs & DOWNs of building a creative business. Discovering new tools, experimenting, talking about failed and proven workflows with occasional tutorials, or behind the scenes of my animations and techniques.
Soon I will have been a freelancer for almost two years. It is a valuable experience that puts many things in perspective. It makes me think harder about what I want. It changes my relationship with money, with work, and with time.
It is not as simple as making a hobby into your job.
All of a sudden you have to think, how do I earn money with my skills. It’s not always straightforward. It’s a discovery. You try different things and see what works. Sometimes what works is surprising. Other times you realize that the thing that works, doesn’t actually bring you joy.
It’s dificult when you don’t fit any particular mold. I’ve been through a career of multiple stages of software engineering, design, people management, and now animation and illustration.
I enjoyed the type of work most where I could use a variety of my skills.
When working in tech I feel the need to be creative.
When working in the creative field I get excited by cutting-edge technologies and want to use them for my workflows!
And I love using my programming skills creatively…
The Light Bulb Moment
Now for several years, I have been really excited about the potential of animation with VR tools. Specifically this year I focused on animating more in VR with an animation app called Quill.
At the same time, I was frustrated that I don’t feel like my career is progressing in a meaningful way.
Whenever I’m frustrated, I tend to return to a habit that is called writing “Morning Pages”. It is a practice popularized by Julia Cameron in her book “The Artist’s Way”.
Writing the morning pages is a habit to declutter and organize your brain, by dumping all the things going on in your head onto paper. Writing down three pages every morning. Plain and simple. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, coherent, or — god-forbid — great literature. Just extract it from your head.
Over time this habit will help you see patterns and gain clarity. For example, what are you complaining about a lot? How can you change it? Is it an external reason, or is it something you can influence?
It helped me pinpoint my frustration. With that, I could think about possible solutions. For example, in the past, I was always really good at combining what I want to get better at with an actual job or assignment.
The essential questions to answer now were:
What do I want to get better at?
How can I earn money with that?
Which job or gig allows me to do that?
1. What do I want to get better at?
Using VR as a tool to make animations and illustrations.
2. How can I earn money with that?
By being faster in producing 3D animations or assets, than with traditional tools. By helping build or design VR software that helps make this process even more enjoyable and efficient.
3. Which job or gig allows me to do that?
Let me think about that…
And this is where the light bulb turned on.💡
The VR industry is booming right now. There are tons of startups and big companies working on VR hardware and software. There must be SOME that are hiring for a diverse skill set, that I have. Something that uses VR to create stories or design products.
Announcing it to the Universe
Now that I had a more clear of where I want to go.
I’m not a very spiritual person, but I think “announcing things to the universe” actually helps with getting there. Hear me out…
In my case, that means talking about it with people. Friends, ex-colleagues, potential, and former clients, and customers!
When you talk about it with people, there is a network effect. People now know what you want. Even if they don’t need that service right now, they might encounter someone who does. And since you are at the most recent person to talk about it, you might be the first one to be recommended.
Even you yourself are more likely to spot opportunities if you now focus on a particular thing, rather than focusing on something really broad.
The Universe Answers
The very next Monday, 2 days after I started speaking about it, I find an advertised freelance position for a Quill animator by one of the best studios that do this kind of animation — Lavamachine.
But I realized, I don’t have anything in my portfolio or animation showreel that shows that I can do what I am applying for. Next thing I know I sit down and assemble the quickest showreel in my professional history. It took me about 4h to pump out a quick trailer of what I can do with VR. That’s what came out:
The next day, I write a personable email to explain how lucky I am to find such a position that coincides with my own goals, skills, and ambitions.
A couple of hours later I get a call. It’s Piers, from Lavamachine!
Long story short: I am working with them on a scene for an animated short film! It’s entirely animated in VR. I am excited to share the result once the movie premieres. And I’m happy to work on something that aligns perfectly with my personal goals and things I am currently interested in learning!
I observed that many times things fall into place when you figure out for yourself where you want to go. Yet, it can be the hardest thing to know what you want. What I want is never one certain thing. It’s flowing like a river, changing directions with the landscape around it. Sometimes it helps to align yourself with your current goals and environment.
That’s it for this month! I have been busy animating scenes for this short movie, this is why the amount of writing went down. I might go down to a monthly schedule for a while.
A question for my readers:
Did you experience that an opportunity came around the corner right when you gained clarity on your own goals, values, or direction?
Cheers!
Goscha