Today we’d like to introduce you to Kasey Williams.
Kasey, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Basically, I’m a midwestern art school dropout who ended up working in animation (and making a webcomic about dogs). I used to primarily draw comics, specifically horror mini-comics, but comics are an incredibly lonely biz. It’s nice that you can work on your own ideas, but it’s so much solitary work, and you don’t really get paid squat. So, I started eyeing animation work! In animation, you have to take tests as a part of the job interview process, as a way to show off your skills and show that you can work in the style of the project you’re testing for. I had no idea what job I wanted to do in the animation pipeline, so I just took any test that came my way- storyboards, character design, prop design, color styling- and through that I realized that I really, really liked color styling (Color styling, also called color design, is essentially designing the colors for everything on the screen that moves).
Animation is a hard industry to break into, so it took me a good handful of tests, a few years of unemployment/freelance, and several months spent as a production assistant to finally land my first color design gig. So far I’ve worked on a few Nickelodeon shorts (including Planet Panic and the Cupcakery of Doom), Little Big Awesome, Niko and the Sword of Light, and I’m currently on the reboot of Animaniacs. But, on the side, I do still draw comics! I make a weekly webcomic called the Good Boy Report, where I draw four dogs that I’ve spotted in the past week.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The Good Boy Report is just really fun for me to make- the drawings are simple, I like coming up with funny captions, and it makes people happy. Animation is great and fulfilling, but I can’t show people what I’m working on, and people won’t be able to enjoy it until it airs (which is usually a year or so after I’ve done my part). I love being able to draw something, post it online, and immediately get a response.
I actually put a lot of thought and consideration into the direction for these simple strips- like, I keep it all G-Rated so that no audience is alienated, each caption is worded in a way that suits the dog, but is something that people can relate to, and each four-panel page has a vague flow and a sort of punchline. My goal is to make something without irony or cynicism since I have a bad habit of being a pretty cynical negative person in real life. Why not try to change that via making funny dog drawings?
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Well, I can only speak from experience in comics and animation, but I think it’s important to be self-aware and self-critical. Realize what works and what doesn’t work as an artist. Don’t be afraid to change things or to listen to people’s feedback.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Read The Good Boy Report here: https://www.instagram.com/thegoodboyreport/.
You can see my other personal art here: https://www.instagram.com/kaseywllms/.
And here: http://whoiskasey.tumblr.com/.
Contact Info:
- Email: kasey.brianne@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegoodboyreport/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaseywllms
- Other: http://whoiskasey.tumblr.com/
Image Credit:
Kasey Williams
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