Conversations with Ben Meyer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Meyer.

Hi Ben, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I fell in love with animation by accident. I was super young, and Valve just released a piece of software called Source Filmmaker. I was already a Valve superfan – my main pastime was running games as the heavy in Team Fortress 2 – so I HAD to give it a try. What started as fun, low-stakes short animations quickly became higher-effort, planned out stories. I learned to collaborate with others, and started to really teach myself animation.

After that, I felt it was something I could maybe possibly turn into a career. So, I did some research and saw there was a solid 3D program at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. I applied early, got accepted, and worked my ass off to improve, learn, and hopefully get a job at the end of it. I learned valuable skills, picked up other specialties, and made some of the best friends I have ever had. I surrounded myself with ultra talented people and there was an incredible synergy, especially as we moved into our final projects. My project, titled “MIDAS”, which I directed alongside my teammates Mav Vitale and Lisa Qingyi Liu won us awards and set the tone for the next few years of my life.

Shortly before graduating, I got my first opportunity to pursue 3D Animation as a career. Psyop had seen my thesis project, and wanted to chat with me. We met, it went great, and we started working together almost instantly! The connections I made through that job, as well as my network at SVA has allowed me to very carefully string together freelance and contract jobs one after another. Since that initial booking, I have worked at a bunch of studios including Hornet, HOPR, Iridium Studios, Lunacy Studios, VERSUS, and more on notable projects such as Apex Legends, People of Note, Blacktop Hoops, House of Hikmah, a new Huggies campaign, and the General Insurance to just name a few! I’ve managed to bounce between the worlds of advertising, animation, and game development, constantly pursuing projects that are interesting, unique, and having the honor to work alongside the most talented people I have ever met.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have had to remain constantly hungry and on the lookout. My greatest fear these past few years is feeling too comfortable or complacent. I want to constantly be improving, growing, and pushing myself to make better things than I had made even a few months prior. Even so, reaching out to studios I had rapport with, cold emailing others, and applying to jobs have only gotten me so far. As a freelancer with limited job security, it can be rough and there can be lulls in work. In between jobs I try to remain optimistic and keep myself busy and focused (while also finding time to relax and go explore and travel) so that I am refreshed and ready to take on the next challenge. I try to make myself as available as I can, and say yes to as many people as I’m able! In addition, I make sure that I am not only pursuing paid professional work, but constantly working on other cool artistic projects that I have the privelege of helping out on – or spearheading myself.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a 3D Animator, Technical Animator, and Rigging Artist.

My most notable project is, “MIDAS”, which I directed, was the lead animator, lead rigging artist, and a slew of other roles. In addition, my personal project which has received the most views was definitely a series of Animal Crossing animations I developed during covid starring Raymond. The top one was a camera operator pointing a (fake) gun at him to get him to do a dance. It was a play on how the current Animal Crossing community was treating their villagers, forcing them into unfortunate outfits or trading them like commodities. I don’t really care about all of that, but the videos were fun to make.

I’m definitely most proud of my work on MIDAS. However, professionally, I am still so incredibly proud of my work in Iridium Studios’ People of Note. I served as the 3-D Facial Animator on the project – meaning, I was exclusively animating facial performance. The game was an RPG Musical, thus, characters had to sing! In all of the game’s cinematics, every bit of facial animation (except for maybe 1 character in 1 sequence), was animated by me. I put a year of my life into that project and worked alongside an incredible team, so I am super proud of that. I was even able to participate in a panel for the game at MAGFest, a convention I had been attending since I was 15 years old.

I think what sets me apart is I am incredibly determined to hit my goals. Both on and off the clock, if I am given a task that maybe seems unreasonable or impossible, I will do what I can to achieve it. For instance, on the upcoming short film “Agua Dulce”, of which I serve as the Character Supervisor, I was tasked with taking a rig which had been done previously, and revamping (and rebuilding) it to hit a very specific look which matched the 2d concept art. It required a lot of research, and a level of rigging I had not previously attempted, but by the end of it the goal was hit and the character looked awesome.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Stay hungry!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meben.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctorsteen/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmeyerart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/doctorsteen