Check Out Marty McCarthy’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marty McCarthy.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up on the east coast, first in Cincinnati, Ohio, until moving to Wilmington, North Carolina during middle school. During these early years, I, along with my 3 siblings, loved to draw. We dreamed of bringing characters to life in comics, animation, or video games. The project I spent the most time on was a fantasy comic called “Zott the Warrior”, about a sword-wielding hero who adventured with his friends to save the world. At the time, it was merely conflations of various video game and cartoon plots and characters I was into at the time.

Over a decade later, my brother Henry and I revisited the idea partway through university, fully reimagining the idea as an original animated series. I left school with a (admittedly, extremely optimistic) pitch packet and the framework to bring the idea to life. All I needed was any clue how to do any of that at all!

After moving out to Los Angeles in 2018, I set out to find work somewhere in the animation industry. I failed spectacularly at that, instead only being able to secure a position as an office assistant for a documentary series. In 2019, I was extremely lucky to begin a job at Riot Games, assisting building a brand new “Age Ratings” team, where I’ve stayed to this day!

For years, “Zott the Warrior” continued to be something I’d try to work on on my own. Then in 2021, I brought on my most trusted friends and collaborators in production, writing, and musical composition to help bring a new perspective to what the project could be. Put another way… my ideas simply weren’t working (neither on the production OR creative side), and it was far, far too much to try and do alone. As the creative vision sharpened, I saved up money to grow the crew. The storytelling medium itself was re-examined and experimented with until landing on something that played to everyone’s strengths.

Now, finally, the project exists (now by the name “The Legendary Quest of Zott the Warrior”) with a full release slated for 2027. It blends the unique visual language of comics and sequential panel layouts with the magic of animation and music, all packaged in a lightly interactive click-through experience. It aims to render something that has inspired me for years, even when I couldn’t perceive the specifics of it: a world of vivid, colorful characters, full of ambition and optimism, while not compromising on the harsher truths of growing up in a big, scary, oftentimes indifferent world.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve been working on this project for 12 years. Most of the time, anyway. The rest of the time, I actually find it hard to imagine how it could’ve taken me FEWER than 12 years. There was too much we didn’t know how to do, too much failure yet to face, and too much that wasn’t working creatively that needed time to develop.

A bit more about my upbringing. Since my siblings and I are close in age, the ability to develop together was both a blessing and a curse. While I loved animation, it didn’t take long for an anxiety to settle in, feeling I “wasn’t the talented artist” in the family, since my brothers were so much better at drawing, so much smarter with coding, etc. Over time, this insecurity manifest as an insatiable desire to try lots of other hobbies and interests (there were times in my life where I wanted to be an actor, or a musician, or a dancer, or a writer, or even a professional Super Smash Bros. Melee gamer). Perhaps unsurprisingly, I never felt like I was really “good enough” at anything, and I recall how often I would come to a point where I’d realize, if I really want to grow past this point, there’s way, way more work and dedication to the craft that’s required. I think some aspect of that always scared me (and if I’m being honest, it continues to).

I can’t say I ever conquered that fear necessarily. However, I think the meandering, unfocused path I found myself on brought about even stronger feeling, which I can only describe as a sincere reverence for the artistic abilities and passion of the artists around me. The people I’ve always felt intimidated by, weirdly. Once I began shifting my thinking from “why would they want to work with me, I’m not good enough” to “how can I help this person bring their best self to a project we can collaborate on together”, it snapped everything else into focus. I could never convince myself that I was “good enough” at anything, but I could learn to ignore it if there was a more important priority to focus on.

Additionally, when it came to “The Legendary Quest of Zott the Warrior”, the very concept of its animated format, for one, underwent complete transformation. I initially set out with this project with the ambition to produce an animated TV show like those I was inspired by, such as “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, or the anime “Gurren Lagann”. Of course, I had no clue how to actually accomplish that, or how unlikely the prospect of “pitching a college hyperfixation to an actual animation studio to make” would actually be. At one point in time, I even found myself making the classic mistake of thinking, “We’ll just make it a comic first, and then later, it can exist as the actual artform I want it to be [i.e., a show]”. Over time, I learned to stop trying to produce a version of this project that I saw as a stepping stone and moved towards producing it as a motion comic that blended animation, music, and sound design into the final product. This prospect actually became more exciting than producing the idea as an animated TV show. My (and my team’s) creative opportunities became unlimited.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In the previous paragraphs I talked a lot about how I often don’t feel like I’m a specialist in anything. Maybe the only exception to that is my truly concerning obsession with a piece of productivity software I’ve been using daily for the past 7 years: Airtable. When I need to solve a complicated problem, or just dull the roar of the beehive in my head, nothing helps quite as much as organizing all my thoughts in a database. Over time, this has become the main solution to scheduling work, concepting out sequences of animation, reviewing art and deliverables, budgeting, everything. At this point I use Airtable to run D&D, I use it to track fitness, and I use it to practice combos in fighting games. That and Notion!

Besides that, I have a deep love of fiction. Airtable helps me make sense of the information of the world… and fiction helps it all make emotional sense. I love connecting with people through characters and dramatic scenarios, which is what drives me to seek more of it through hobbies like D&D, despite how demanding it is to just juggle my day job and the Zott project!

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Luckily for me I suppose, it seems like independent animation is really where a lot of passion is directed right now. Studios like GLITCH and Sun Creature have shown what’s possible even if you don’t have the resources of the big companies, and every day, it seems like there’s so much fear in investing in original ideas when more and more, content is driven by engagement and initial impressions.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://martymccarthy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marty_mcninja/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccarthymarty/