Elyse Filigheri
I’ve always been a creative person. Growing up I took music lessons and was involved in band and choir. I liked to draw, write stories, and take pictures. My friends and I had a lot of fun making our own comics and movies throughout high school. Being creative is just what I’ve always found to be the most fun. My interest in music, art, and storytelling led me to the decision to study animation. With the portfolio I created at a community college, I was accepted into the Character Animation program at CalArts in 2010. Read More>>
Jac Chen
Having multi-cultural experience by spending time in Asia and living abroad in South America, as well as traveling the rest of the world since a young age, I learned to appreciate and integrate details and mannerisms of those global cultures into my work. My art and design routine consistently expands and evolves with different styles, striving to always create new shots in various cinematic angles, and telling the narrative visually. My university degrees in both Communication Design +Technology and Animation in conjunction with my aptitude for production management, make me a unique, valuable, and versatile Creative. Read More>>
Hans Ranum
I was born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1978 and have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. After 10th grade, I worked at an Add firm as a runner for a year, before I started my education in design and classic animation at “The Animation Workshop” in Viborg, Denmark. In 2000 I graduated with a B.A. and got my first gig as a background lay-outer and assistant animator at a London based studio, working on my first animated full feature film (“A Christmas Carol: The Movie”). Upon completion of the film and about a year later, I moved back to Denmark, to work on my second film (Eight Crazy Nights) at a studio in Copenhagen. During my stay in London, I also met my now wife of thirteen years. Her being American, I decided to take the big leap and move to the States in 2003, where we spent the first year in her hometown of Indianapolis, then five years in Tampa, Florida, before finally moving out to Los Angeles in 2009. Best decision we’ve ever made! In the seven years I’ve been in L.A. Read More>>
Catherine Horne
I was never great at math, science, history or English. The only thing I was good at was doodling on my notes in class. Even then I didn’t really think I was that great at it, much less think I can make a career from it. Once I entered my senior year of High School I was so stressed out because it seemed like everyone had a career they wanted to pursue and I didn’t. I was even thinking of joining the military at one point because I honestly could not find what I wanted to do with my life. Read More>>
Theary Sim
As an overweight, I had a hard time finding clothing that I could be proud to wear. At the age of 12, I started to recreate clothing and making it styled to my preference. I didn’t know I would become a fashion designer until I was discovered at 14 as a model. I didn’t quite understand the plus size industry at the time but I was open to seeing how I could help, plus I loved fashion. After, having the opportunity to model with the top retail stores, I knew then that I wanted to become a fashion designer. I hated the clothes they put me in, I did a lot of research and would speak to everyone on set to gain the knowledge and relationships that would help me jump start my career in fashion design. In 2012, I launched Youtheary Khmer. A woman contemporary clothing brand for woman sizes 12-24. Read More>>
Jessica M. Wilson
I was introduced to poetry when I was 13 — it all started with the Beat Poets, Shakespeare, and Edgar Allan Poe. I fell in love… Later that year, my first poem took shape in a stream of consciousness. I was very surprised and excited for what I had created. I knew since that moment that I wanted to be a Poet! Read More>>
Alminda Veloria
It sounds really cliché and common but art and design has been a part of my life since I can remember. When I was little, my mom worked for a huge corporate company in the Philippines and they provided drawing workshops and art classes if you bring your kid into work so she always put me in those. I also grew up with two older brothers who heavily influenced me in art and design, both of them are also in the creative field. I looked up to them so much growing up, anything they listened, I listened to. Anything they watched, I watched. Read More>>
Roger Betka
Well, as far as I could remember the idea of being a professional artist was my life goal. At first, it was just that childhood dream and worked over the years to go in that direction. I did get a degree in Illustration because I thought that’s what proper artists are supposed to do. I learned that there’s a whole lot you don’t learn in art school and in many ways had to re-educate myself on who and what kind of artist I wanted to be and how to be in the business of art. I worked a number or years for as an artist working for other companies until I figured out how to work for myself. Being an independent artist suited my personality and temperament much better despite the unpredictability of self-employment. Read More>>
Ariane McDonald
I first started discovering that I was an artist and wanted to pursue my creativity when my mother decided to enroll me in a summer theatre camp when I was eight years old, where I was exposed to performance and theatre as a craft and outlet for the first time. Ever since my first day at this summer camp, I have never stopped creating stories, actively utilizing and learning more about my own creative capabilities, and using my art as a connection to the happenings of the world around me. Theatre was like a sudden addiction that I knew completely belonged in my life because of how much joy it gave me and how it challenged me. I did a lot of acting in high school, participating in drama classes and school performances each year. Read More>>
Dima Otvertchenko
I studied film production in college and took up photography as a hobby once I moved to LA. I started photographing friends and playing with concepts – discovered I really enjoyed it and I’ve been doing it ever since. Read More>>
Miranda Hoffs
I was raised in Nashville, where I grew my roots in the world of hospitality, cooking for friends and family, hosting dinner parties, and helping to plan weddings and social events of all shapes and sizes, all while working toward a degree in Art from Vanderbilt University. In 2010, I was the grant recipient of the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award for my thesis exhibition, which allowed me the opportunity to move to Los Angeles. Read More>>
Laura Jarrard
I started in the nineties when Adobe was a baby and Photoshop had no layers. I was restless in junior college, always working and supporting myself and the thought of a four-year made me squirm. When I found UCLA extension classes, it felt like the perfect solution so I took an intro graphic design class and that’s really when it became apparent that it was a viable career option, so I followed that path. Read More>>
Zachary Hill
I had a pretty average middle-class childhood mainly centered around legos, basketball and of course drawing, but I never saw design & art as a career until my early 20’s where I began to show and make artwork as well as write for an art and design magazine. Working for that magazine cultivated my passion for design & illustration which led me to pursue both in school and with freelance opportunities. After I graduated I started working at a small studio as a designer while pursuing illustration projects on the side which leads me up to where I am today. Read More>>
James Richman
From an early age, I had always been inspired and interested in the visual arts. I knew the only way I would be happy showing up to a job everyday was if I was doing something creative. I started off like many in my field at art school, but when the opportunity came to drop out and start working for a small agency associated with the Academy of Motion Pictures, with great deliberation I took the job. My counselor reminded me numerous times how I was throwing my career away and that being a drop out would limit me. Read More>>
Adriane Leigh
Art has always been my escape. I never attended an art school or class, it comes to me from a special place, a creative energy that I want to share with people, inspire people, tell a story, share a piece of my soul, create artistic pieces that will outlast my human experience. Art is free expression, with no rules, no guidelines, it’s marvelous. When I was 15 my first job was teaching art at a children’s center, I’ve always known my existence would not be satisfied unless it involved a form of creativity. My channels of creativity now encompass many avenues, Creative Director, Visual Designer, Fashion Designer and Artist. Read More>>
Ricardo De Los Angeles
I was born in Los Angeles and raised up the coast in Lompoc, California, a beautiful little town where I spent my early childhood years drawing and obsessing over Disney animated films. One day, I saw the making of ‘The Lion King’ and I thought, “People draw these movies!? I want to do that!” I was about 10 years old when I specifically decided I wanted to be a Disney Animator. Read More>>
Anamarie Twomey
I always knew I wanted to work with fashion. I have a list of life goals written when I was 10 yrs old that includes becoming a fashion “deziner”- that’s how I thought it was spelled, hah! I grew up in Louisiana and got a degree in Apparel Design from Louisiana State University. After working in Philadelphia for home goods and fashion accessories design studio, my husband and I moved to Los Angeles. I have worked full time for a few different companies out here and am now freelancing as I wait for my 1st child to be born at the end of December! Read More>>
Jody Lee
I knew at a very young age that I would be in the fashion industry one day. I began to take fashion seriously when I chose to attend Agoura High School solely on the fact that it had a fashion program. I took four years of sewing along with Fashion Design and Merchandising where my teacher Kim Speth built a strong foundation of fashion knowledge and construction skills, allowing me to succeed in my higher education later on. When I was sixteen, I participated in my first fashion competition and became a finalist for O’Neill and Teen Vogue’s annual fashion competition, Generation Next. Read More>>
Matt Grayson
I really got into photography kinda by accident. I grew up in a smaller town in Southern Illinois across the river from St. Louis, Mo. Like most kids back then, life was skateboarding, riding BMX, working on old cars, drinking beer and chasing girls. I think pretty much everyone as a youth had a camera and took pics of what they were into. But I was never into it on a serious level, yah know. So I remember I had just started Jr College and I was going for something really boring like Business Administration or something like that. Read More>>
Mitchell Malloy
I started my path into art pretty early, really focusing on it in high school. I later went to Academy of Art, where I studied illustration. I dropped out at the end of my sophomore year and began working at S2 Games. After a year and a half, I began work at Riot Games. In my time as a professional artist, I have also worked with a number of clients for freelance. In 2014, I married the love of my life, Alexea. And in October of 2015, we had a son together, Sam. Right now, my family is the greatest focus in my life. Read More>>
Michael Soll
I was an actor when I was younger, and I always thought the headshot photoshoots were the most awkward part of acting. As a photographer, I want to establish an atmosphere during the photoshoots that are the most conducive towards creating the most honest and natural looks. My shoots are conversation based and I get to know the actor/model very well in a short span of time. From there, I started doing stills on productions. With set photography, I still try to find the most honest moments to capture on camera. Read More>>
Kyle Bebeau
For as far back as I can remember, I’ve always gravitated towards creative understanding with an endless sense of wonder. I’ve been able to ever so preciously retain and develop that trait despite the countless attempts to tame and/or take that from me. I colored and sketched a lot growing up, and deconstructed almost every device/gadget I could get my hands on. Read More>>
Angela Liu
Well, I didn’t start out wanting to blog. I think I’m what people call a Jack of all Trades, and Master of None. I was a working makeup artist back in the day and realized the industry wasn’t really for me. Something about it didn’t really fulfill me so I decided to go back to college and finish my degree in Marketing. During school, I still felt lost, so I picked up a few journalism classes because I always liked to write. Read More>>
Aaron Milus
I started out making coffee and answering phones for a little post house in Culver City called “Salt” (now Ballast). After six months, I got bumped up to junior designer, cutting my teeth on graphics for the CBS show “Numb3rs”. Since then, I’ve worked as a designer/art director for clients ranging from FOX Sports to E!, to independent films, to NASA. Read More>>
Jonathan Gunderson
I volunteered in disaster trauma services, started after a tornado in northern Colorado working as disaster behavioral health specialist and then moved to California to attend law school and work at National Center for Child Traumatic Stress at UCLA to work on the national level addressing stress and trauma in children and families following disasters and acts of terrorism. Read More>>
Atara Amsel
Since I was a little kid growing up in Brooklyn, NY, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I did not know what type of artist I wanted to be, all I knew was that I loved to draw, and paint, and use my creativity. As I got older, what I wanted to gear my career towards was changing all of the time. When I was 14, I wanted to pursue apparel design. When I was 15, I wanted to pursue shoe design. Read More>>
Handel Eugene
I started off on my path into this industry back in high school (Hillsborough High School Tampa Florida). I would record the football games on a Friday, edit them together over the weekend by putting a lot of time & love into my videos & have them ready to show to the school on Monday. I knew that this (or something similar to it) was what I wanted to do because the hours spent editing would always fly past. Creating creative content was something I really enjoyed. Read More>>
Labkhand Olfatmanesh
My name is Labkhand. Which means Smile in Farsi. As a young girl growing up in Tehran during the 1980’s, I was mesmerized by the arts and theater. I would play in front of the mirror channeling all my favorite stars from around the world, and lose myself in the fun that ensued! By 14, I was getting really serious as a painter and sculptor, and of course, I loved theater. Nevertheless, my family urged me towards something more conventional. Read More>>
