Life & Work with Ethan Clark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Clark.

Hi Ethan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had an interest in telling stories. While in high school, I firmly decided that I wanted to pursue art and animation. But unfortunately, I was terrible at all forms of art. I was fortunate enough to have a friend who studied at a small oil painting atelier in the next town over called The Art Academy. There I learned the foundations of art through charcoal drawing and oil painting, studying composition, value, color, and shape language. I even started to make money selling commissioned paintings. I grew to love the craft of painting. The way it felt to create something. To express myself through color. I would spend all day every day in the studio, just painting. All other things in my life became a secondary priority to the drive I felt constantly. The drive to keep pushing, to keep creating. I wanted to share this feeling with others. I created enough paintings to amass a portfolio, and I began applying to art colleges. I wanted to go somewhere that I could further my technical knowledge of artmaking while also being able to express myself creatively. This led me back onto the path of animation, as I always found so much purpose and meaning in the animation that I loved growing up. I wanted to use the beauty of animation to tell compelling stories to people all over the world. I ended up at the Gnomon School for Visual Effects, Games, & Animation in Hollywood, which is a small trade school for artists entering the film, animation, and games industries. My time at Gnomon intense, and I found myself spending anywhere from 40-80 hours a week working on my projects. Once I finished my program, I received a BFA in Digital Production and went onto work at CheckpointVFX, an independent CG/VFX Studio that has contributed to shows such as Black Mirror and Stranger Things. I’m currently still at Checkpoint, working on a feature-length action thriller starring rapper Quavo and actor Billy Zane.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Self-doubt and imposter syndrome are enemies that every artist faces all of the time. It’s a constant challenge to assure yourself that you deserve the praise you receive and to keep pushing despite the competition. Self-preservation is also difficult in such a demanding industry. In an artistic field, you’re never really “done” with your work. You just keep making it better until you run out of time. This can lead to countless hours of work, where you may even forget to take care of your physical needs like eating and sleeping. A challenge I’ve had to overcome was accepting that you need to step away from your work eventually. Even if you have such a strong passion for what you do, it’s not health to do anything 24/7. You need breaks, sleep, and recreation, just like everyone else.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a visual artist specializing in 3D computer graphics in the film/animation industry. More specifically, I am a CG Generalist and Lighting Artist for film/animation. So far, I’ve had two articles published about my work by well-known digital art blogs (The Rookies and 80 LEVEL), and I’ve won four “Best of Term” awards while at Gnomon. I was a finalist for a global art competition known as “The Rookies” in 2022, and I was also part of a panel talk to a room full of students and prospective students about transitioning from a student artist to a professional artist in the film industry. The moment that I’m proudest of is when my art was printed on a giant metal canvas in the Gnomon gallery a few months ago, where it will be displayed for the next year. I think that what sets me apart from others is my drive and adaptability. When I was studying at The Art Academy in New Jersey, I trained relentlessly to be the best oil painter that I could be. Within two years of the first time I had picked up a brush, I was teaching classes on how to paint. Similarly, I only started learning about 3D art 4 years ago, but I’ve already accumulated numerous accolades and landed a job creating the art for a Hollywood movie with well-known actors in it. I think the biggest thing that sets me apart is how much I love making art, and how hard this pushes me to work.

How do you think about luck?
Luck plays a big role in everybody’s lives. The fact that I went to Gnomon, or even moved to California at all, stemmed almost entirely from one conversation I had with my mentor at the painting studio I was attending in New Jersey. They told me that another student at the school was going there and that I should look into it. I knew almost nothing about 3D art or digital art or movies at that point, I just wanted to paint. But that shifted my trajectory into a whole other world.

Contact Info:

• Website: ethanclark.art
• Instagram: instagram.com/ethan.clark.art
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ethanclarkart
• Other: artstation.com/ethanclarkart

Image Credits
Image 1 (library): Concept Credit: Kevin Gnutzmans Image 2 (house): Concept Credit: Etienne Hebinger Image 3: Collaborative work with Rain Rouhani, David Eisenstadt, Alena Mealy Image 4 (swamp): Concept Credit: Roman Semenenko