Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Pérez López.
Ana, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
On the summer of 2017, I got bitten by a bat while I was animating. This is a truly life-changing event that gave me immunity to rabies and granted me extraordinary superpowers in the motion design field that I’ve been trying to enhance by working non-stop in my little bungalow in Silverlake.
Prior to my encounter with the bat, I had been a journalist. I spent two years at the largest news agency in the Spanish language (EFE) in Madrid and Santiago de Chile. While in the austral world I was able to meet most of the presidents of Latin American Countries, tell the stories of women who had survived the tortures of the Pinochet regime, and cover the aftermath of an earthquake. However, I also realized that people my own age were not paying attention to these extraordinarily important stories that I was telling in 600 words.
I decided to study animation and design with the goal of finding a language that would appeal to younger audiences in form. I got to a scholarship to attend CalArts, graduated, and have been freelancing in the LA area ever since armed with my mighty pen and my immunity to rabies.
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?
Good stories deserve good design. This is what I hope to achieve with my personal work. I believe that great design makes the world a better place, so I try to keep an eye on the people who thought in a similar way before me. I like to be bold and driven with my vision, and I look up to women such as Nathalie Du Pasquier, who worked with patterns and color.
I am a big fan of typography and conceptual design, and I try to make the shape of my work emerge from a simple idea. I like taking inspiration in the vernacular, and I attend to the organic movements that shape the world in order to develop my form. I also take a lot of inspiration on the city itself: LA is an incredible city, full of contrasts. You can find the best and the worst of everything in this city, but one of the most amazing things LA offers is great type. There is this point on the 101 before you take the exit to Silverlake where you can see the “Hollywood Tower” sign, an ad for some liquor, and then on the exit the “Western Extermination Company sign.” Even the handwritten signs from some auto shops are unique; I tried to keep my ears wide for good stories, and my eyes open for organic movements that I try to balance with my design knowledge.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I think that a lot of people empathize with that feeling, and it’s not about being an artist necessarily. LA is a place where people spend a lot of time in their cars and where everyone is trying to be their best professional self. That is a cocktail for loneliness regardless of your field. I think it’s important to remember that life is more than working and that most people will lend you a hand if you ask.
There is an amazing community of animators and designers in this city and being a part of it, is a matter of wanting. I help organize R&D, a monthly event for people working in motion graphics, where you can listen to talks that can help you be on track. There are so many events like that around LA. It is quite easy to get very absorbed by the pressure of LA, the traffic, the constant networking… If you need help with your career, my advice would be to go to those events, but my, more importantly, to learn to step out of that spiral.
When I’m stuck I go lindy-hoping, I literally “rock-step” out of what’s giving me stress.
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?
You can come up to me at Cefecito Organico and see my sketchbook. : )
My Instagram is @_theapl
My website is: www.anaperezlopez.com.
My Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/anaperezlopezanimation.
If you are in LA on May 10th, you may catch my latest film as part of the CalArts Showcase at RedCat” since it already happen!
It has screened at SXSW, Slamdance, and won the Florida Film Festival and you may watch it for free with a bunch of other amazing films!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anaperezlopez.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @_theapl
- Other: https://vimeo.com/anaperezlopezanimation
Image Credit:
Ana Pérez López
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