Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Kallis.
Samantha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in a family of artists, so I have been drawing and painting since I was a very small child; and many people in my family have made been professional artists, so it always seemed like going into the arts was actually taking up the family business in a sense. When I was in middle school I asked my mom to enroll me in life-drawing classes at the local art college, which in this case happened to be one of the best art schools in the country, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. I later went on to attend Art Center as an undergraduate, earning my BFA in Illustration and Entertainment Arts. It was at Art Center that I realized I wanted to go into animation. After graduating in the spring of 2010, I got my first job at Nickelodeon, and since then I have gone on to work for Sony Pictures Animation, Paramount Pictures, Disney Animation, and DreamWorks. I am currently the Art Director of the television show Home at DreamWorks TV Animation. I am also the illustrator for the “Fantastic Frame” series of middle-grade children’s books by author Lin Oliver (Published by Penguin Random House).
Has it been a smooth road?
There were a lot of false starts and bumps along the way, in no small part because I graduated when the recession was still in full swing. Jobs in animation have always been limited – there are simply more applicants than there are jobs, but I have managed to carve out a niche for myself. The animation industry has changed a lot in the last ten years. Gone are the days when you would get a job at one company and stay there your entire career. Now studios don’t keep standing crews of artists – they hire on a project to project basis, making in-house studio jobs almost as volatile as freelance work. Learning to ride the ups and downs of the industry gracefully has been the secret to my success in many ways. In the art world, you’re going to get a lot of critiques, and a lot of doors will be closed in your face before one opens – believing in yourself and staying focused are important strengths to have. I believe in learning from critique, but I always have the core knowledge that this is what I’m meant to do with my life, regardless of the opinions of others.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m really looking forward to developing my own ideas. For the past few years, I have been illustrating other people’s words, which is a process I still really enjoy, but I think the next phase of my creative journey will be in telling my own stories.
Let’s explore some of the challenges you’ve faced along the way. What was the most difficult part of your career so far?
I think the most difficult part of my career, aside from breaking into the animation industry at the beginning, is the on-going challenge of pushing my craft and being more creative. It’s easy to become complacent, especially after having achieved a certain level of professional success. I have always seen my greatest challenge as forcing myself to continue to learn and grow as an artist and to not rest on one’s laurels as it were. I have come to recognize that there is a delicate balance that must be achieved in order to continue working in the arts – the balance between creating work that you are known for and that employers and clients seek you out for, and also evolving your work into new and exciting spaces. I am still feeling out how to best accomplish this, and many times it is a process fraught with growing pains. At a certain point, I realized I have to ignore outside influences and listen to my own inner voice in order to advance my craft. This can be tricky, especially in the age of social media. I reconcile this by having two distinct aspects of my work – the professional work I create for clients is very different from the work I create for myself. The difficulty is not letting one side eclipse the other, and the professional work usually takes precedence. Right now I’m working on balance, and a big goal I have for myself for the future is allowing the work I create for myself to take more of a leading role in my life.
Are there days when you feel like you’ve done everything you wanted to, careerwise – the “I’ve made it” kind of moments?
I think I’m always a little amazed that I get to do what I do for a living. Make no mistake, working in animation and illustration is a lot of hard work and not very glamorous. For the most part, I spend my day sitting in front of a computer… but there are definitely times when I feel incredibly grateful. Seeing your work on screen or in a bookstore is surreal and gratifying, however, I think the most magical moments of my career have come about after I became an Art Director. As Art Director, I am the lead designer, but a big part of my job is also teaching. I have worked hard to create a work environment that values creative growth and learning. When I really feel that I have “made it” as an artist is when I see the other artists working for me learning because of my leadership. The most rewarding part of my career so far has been in helping those artists unlock parts of their craft and grow creatively. This has also been one of the greatest surprises of my career because I have never had the intention of being a teacher, but passing on skills and creating a safe space for artists to explore the boundaries of their work has been my greatest source of joy in this job.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samkallis.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: samkallis
- Other: twitter: @samkallis
