Animating his way forward, with Keith from Soft Rock Studios.
Keith is sitting at the Spacemob cafe looking at his phone, when I arrive late to the interview. He takes a glance at whatever is on it, and laughs quietly to himself. I apologise for being late, which he shrugs off with a polite smile, and tells me that he’s got coffee, so everything is fine.
“I’m happy with how things are going now. I have more flexibility. I can take care of the kids. This is a good deal,” he says, leaning back in his chair comfortably. “I certainly don’t miss working in big studios.”
It’s been three years since leaving his position at an international animation studio, where he built animations for a major video game franchise. Despite having relevant skills, it still took guts for him to leave a stable job to start Soft Rock Studios. Three years on, he’s doing better than he expected, and finds himself in a good place.
“I was definitely worried in the beginning, not knowing when the next job was coming in. If i wasn’t working, I wasn’t earning money. That took getting used to. But I gave myself time, and things worked out in the end. It feels great working on my own.”
From the amount of time he spends at his fixed desk — he’s there all the time, at all hours of the day — it takes little convincing for me to believe him. Despite keeping to himself throughout most of the day, his constant presence is a clear indication of his commitment to craft.
He goes on to show me some of the work he’s done for Talking Tom Cat — with over 5 billion app downloads — and smiles knowingly at each turn of phrase or silly animation that appears. Despite knowing it well, he still finds it amusing.
“Eventually I would like to do my own IP. There’s lots of funny people out there. People like Conan O’Brien,” he says, with a smirk on his face. “There was this one GIF I saw the other that still cracks me up. It’s of a skateboarder landing on his groin, which cuts to a picture of Bruce Lee. It’s really funny. I don’t know why.”
Keith tells me that he thinks he is able to continue down this path for another five to ten years. But he has an interesting theory about how he’ll stay competitive and keep his skills current.
“I usually let the market drive where I need to grow towards. Like now, I’m getting a lot of queries about VR, so that’s where I’ll be spending more time in the coming years. You just have to stay current all the time.”
“Maybe next time when the kids grow up, I’d like to work overseas. All I need is a laptop. Maybe the Bavarian Alps. Maybe Yosemite. Anywhere with snow capped mountains.”
We discuss snowboarding — a common interest between us — and joke about the bruised knees and wet clothes that facebook pictures rarely show you. Keith laughs it off before strolling back to his seat, and going straight back to work with a coffee in hand.
