Meet Ali Beisbier of Sherman Oaks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Beisbier.

Hi Ali, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started in school. Not immediately— it took me a while to understand that being in the creative industry didn’t mean falling into the “starving artist” stereotype and that there are so many opportunities within the world of art and design to have a successful career. So after going to a state school in Wisconsin for a year, majoring in Linguistics and Communications, I eventually transferred to Ringling College in Florida where I majored in Motion Design! As a Sophomore, I was lucky enough to get a summer internship at Viacom in New York City and I was able to land an internship out here in LA with Framestore post-graduation under the design direction of Anthony Gibbs.

Being an intern after graduation may not sound luxurious, but I took it for what it was: an opportunity to learn from leaders in the industry while also being allowed the grace to make mistakes and grow as a designer. I found my love for animation there. My first job gave me my first Superbowl commercial, a part in the ending ceremony for the winter Olympics, and an incredible portfolio of work that I could be proud of. Every project at Framestore was so different and I really enjoyed pushing the limit of what I was capable of. I learned a bit of ZBrush, Maya, and relearned Cinema 4D for projects that demanded it and got into the habit of saying “I can figure it out” instead of “I don’t know how”. Our small team of designers grew over the years before finally leaving the studio one at a time to pursue other ventures, and I went to work for Cashmere Agency post-covid.

The difference between being a designer in the VFX industry and being a designer in the Advertising industry was night and day. I was working mainly on the Google Play, Taco Bell, and Instagram accounts, but I also ended up freelancing a bit here and there for smaller start-up companies. When I was laid off in 2023, I pursued freelancing for more of these small start-ups, loving their energy and dedication to their work that seemed to mirror my own. One day in 2024, an old producer from Framestore connected me with Matt LaBonge and the team at Dreamscape Learn and I began a new part of my journey: transitioning into brand and marketing design and away from commercial animation. It’s been incredibly rewarding so far, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definitely been a couple of hiccups in my career. I think many creatives can relate to the feeling of imposter syndrome and art blocks. There would be periods of time where I would doubt myself or struggle to produce things I was proud of and that would lead to even longer periods of poor results and further the feeling of being an imposter. It’s an endless cycle that’s difficult to break.

Covid was a very difficult time for the industry in general. Working remotely was not easy when your projects were on tight deadlines and reliant on multiple teams working together to create a seamless result.

I think the biggest struggle was definitely being laid off in 2023, though. The fact that it wasn’t due to performance issues or lack of work also stuck with me for a while and made a lot of my career up until that moment feel a bit pointless, I’m sad to say. I had already been feeling burnt out for quite some time, so it was a difficult time to transition into the highly intense role of being a freelancer and therefore being responsible for securing my own bookings. I took a little bit of time off: traveled abroad, moved home to Wisconsin to be with family (and save on LA rent), and eventually found my way back to design through freelancing. Working on smaller teams, working for smaller companies, being around people who were obsessively checking their Slack messages and work email even on the weekends… it made all the difference. It helped me realize that where I needed to be was also where I wanted to be.

So instead of a negative, I now know that being laid off was possibly one of the better things to happen to me. I never would have made the jump to freelance if I hadn’t been given that push.

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?
If I had to say I specialize in one thing, I think I would say 2D animation. I pride myself in being a generalist, learning new skills for jobs that require them, and always trying to emulate different styles and techniques, but my home has always been in 2D.

At Framestore, I was the first member of the design team that knew and used cel animation. I had taught myself in school and tried to get good at it in my free time and eventually it found a place in a lot of the professional projects I was placed on! A few of the featured projects on my website are cel animation work I did, and am definitely proud of them the most because of how tedious and labor-intensive that process is. Pokemon x Oreo, Ocean Spray, and the LA Rams projects are examples of those. I’ve also done many personal cel projects that have gotten me some recognition from my peers which is always very rewarding.

The other professional project that I’m exceptionally proud if is the work I did for Chameleon Cold Brew. I had previously been taught 2D character animation, but animating and rigging a character that was made up of a mosaic of tiles was something that was completely new to me. I learned how to do lip-sync animation and designed all of the mouth shapes to correspond with the script, rigged each chameleon and then took on my first leadership role teaching one of my coworkers how to use the rig and reviewing his animations before they went to the client. We each took two chameleons to break up the animation work-load, and the project finished beautifully.

Personally, I think I’m also known for my work ethic. I’m not someone that easily says “no”, and always try to go above what’s asked of me for deliveries. I’m a fan of iterating, so if someone asks me to create a design for something, I’ll typically give them 12 iterations to choose from and more often than not I’ve found that they aren’t expecting that. I take a lot of pride in my work, and I want others to be proud of my work and be a good reflection of whomever I’m working for… and I hope that comes across to my coworkers and teams.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I am currently the marketing designer for Dreamscape Learn which is a full-time position, so I’m not open to any freelance work right now. But I still love making connections, so please feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alibeisbier.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-beisbier-motion

Image Credits
Rey Reynolds