Entrepreneurship and the Artist: Allyssa Lewis

In her interview, with ASIFA South, animator Allyssa Lewis makes a number of key points in regard to navigating the animation industry whether you’re a veteran or student straight out of college. I think the first big point she makes is that grades are nice but they ultimately don’t determine your success as an animator. What really determines your ability to get a job is the quality of your portfolio. For me this reminded me how I really need to focus my attention in certain areas over others in order to build on what I think I’m really great at. I think what she’s getting at is perhaps you’re better off trying to be more of a specialist than a master of none.

She goes further into this later in the podcast in which she says to focus on what you really want to do. For example, maybe you’re not interested in actually animating and would rather be a director. For me personally I really want to pursue painting backgrounds as I feel like those jobs employ my strengths best and painting is what I’m most passionate about. While I still want to actually animate I think its important to consider these types of things in order to envision a realistic path for yourself in the industry. This was quite a revelation for someone like myself who is perhaps stretching themself too thin trying to improve as many different skills as possible. It’s not that she suggests you shouldn’t try to get better overall but that you should understand your own strengths and passions in order to have a truly fulfilling career as an artist.

This idea of understanding your passions is also present in her advise on running your own studio or animation endeavor. She suggests that you make a lists of how you want to be involved in a project. I think is really good advise to avoid stretching yourself thin or taking attention away from what made you hyped to work on the project in the first place.