Daily Inspiration: Meet Chad Bennett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad Bennett.

Hi Chad, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I’ve always cartoons and comics, and growing up as an only child in the suburbs outside of St. Louis, MO, drawing was a good way to pass the time and engage myself. I spent a long time not knowing what I wanted to do when I grew up, but knowing I enjoyed art, and there was a point I was considering being a graphic novelist after reading Bone by Jeff Smith. But when I was 13, Adventure Time with Finn and Jake came out, and I started using the Internet and social media more. I saw these people who worked on the show posting about careers in animation, how their jobs worked, and the animation pipeline, and I was fascinated. I remember telling my mom at the beginning of high school that I was going to go to school for animation and getting a surprised, kind of skeptical response. (She likes to recount this story to me and how she was, in fact, very skeptical.) 

I spent lots of time making art to post on the Internet, as well as making friends and connecting with other artists online while kind of wading my way through high school. (They gave us iPads in our sophomore year and IMHO, I was basically doomed from that point on.) I had aspirations to attend a well-known fancy art school, but high tuition & no scholarships barred me from attending the likes of CalArts and SCAD (as well as the fact that despite my best efforts, my art was not that great yet). So, I attended a school a bit closer to home and less costly, Columbia College Chicago. There is where I found a real love for storyboards, the building blocks for every animated film, short, and segment. I saw storyboarding as a combination for my childhood love of drawing comics and my adolescent appreciation for the complexity of animation. 

I graduated from there in 2019 with a BA in Animation and subsequently returned home to St. Louis to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Unfortunately, that decision was made for me because about a year later, the COVID pandemic started. I spent a year and a half in lockdown with my parents, where I basically returned to doing what I’d always done: drawing to engage myself. I started a gag-a-day webcomic called Eat Your Television and made animated shorts for my YouTube channel. By this time, my art was beginning to be noticed by industry professionals, and I landed some unique opportunities, like mentorships under storyboard artist Amy Hudkins (Big City Greens, The Mighty Ones) and showrunner Ian Jones-Quartey (OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes). People kept telling me I was industry-ready, and I knew from observation that it was best to be close to the action. So, when restrictions relaxed in the summer of 2021, I moved to Los Angeles with a few people I knew from college and online. 

For about a year and a half, I grinded to survive, working at a restaurant as a busser and whittling down my savings to make rent. I definitely hit a point where I got dejected from the rejections from animation studios and thought I’d made a mistake with the move. Luckily, I again landed two more unique opportunities, first getting to do storyboard revisions for Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, thanks to my friend Danny Ducker (Amphibia, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes); and then, I was selected in the storyboard track for the 2023 Nickelodeon Artist Program! I got to work in the studio, meet tons of new people and finally, I had the chance to dip my toe and see what it was like to properly work in animation. I loved it, and I was excited for my career to finally begin. 

Now, things are kind of quiet. With the latest major shake-ups in the entertainment industry, with the strikes, the increase in outsourcing, the advent of AI, I’m a little unsure what happens next for me, career-wise. I remain optimistic, however, and I have big aspirations for where I want to go next, no matter how everything evens out. I don’t regret anything, and no matter what happens next, I’m always going to keep making art and drawing to engage myself over everything. 

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 haven’t had a surplus of detractors; I guess I’m lucky to keep good company in that aspect. If anything, the things that have gotten in my way have been my own skill level and lack of confidence in my ability. I think I’m a lot better in a technical sense at art than I used to be, but I still have bad days and am quick to throw myself a self-deprecating comment about my work. I think in my head I think I’m helping to keep myself humble, but I’m probably just bringing myself down for no reason. Another thing that has been hard is simply the fickle nature of the animation industry. The insecurity of it all can really be disorienting, and I understand why lots of people opt out of the gig economy it tends to operate as today. From a breaking-in standpoint, it can also be frustrating to apply constantly and be rejected, especially when you have peers that tell you have career-ready work in your portfolio. It’s a hell of an industry to try to be a part of, especially now, and I can’t confidently recommend it unless animation is what you’re absolutely sure you want to do with your life. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love to make comics and animation. From a career standpoint, my specialty is storyboards, but I love making comics for fun all the time. I had a webcomic for a few years that I uploaded Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; I made a series of journal comics on my Twitter throughout 2022; I made comics for the Nick Artist Program Instagram page, and this year I’m going to try to make even more comics on a regular basis while I’m between jobs. I like to make people laugh, draw intense expressions, and tell engaging stories. 

I don’t know how well I’m known to know if I’m known for anything yet. I’ll say among my friends, I’m apparently known for being chill and nonchalant, which is always crazy to me because I am a walking ball of nerves and anxiety. I don’t know how I’m selling that appearance, but I’m not mad at it. 

There are things I like…should be known for, like that I made Eeby Deeby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9k-tWsDmjI) a fully animated video I did based on a meme from 2021 that did pretty well. I’m both proud of that from an animation standpoint and because it kind of got associated with that meme retroactively. Also, that meme clip that goes viral every Thanksgiving from the movie Free Birds (2013), where the big turkey says, “We’re going back in time to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu,” I’m pretty sure I started that meme. I’m like 80% sure. So, I should be known for that, too. (lol) 

I’m most proud of getting into the Nick Artist Program because I never thought it’d happen, and it felt like it legitimized my desire to work in animation, turning it from a pipe dream into a career. I’m also most proud of my webcomic; I started it as an attempt to challenge myself to make a long-term project, wanting to make at least 50 strips, and in the end, I made about 250. I also have pride over anything fully animated I’ve ever made on my YouTube channel, even the bad stuff, because frame-by-frame animation is really, really hard. 

I think what sets me apart is my unique sense of humor and an ultimate desire to find something funny in almost every situation. I also tend to be pretty cynical, which, while not the best demeanor, lends pretty well to comedic tendencies. I also think my deep appreciation for any kind of art lends well to my uniquity as an artist. I enjoy all art, not just cartoons; music, writing, illustration, experimental art, graffiti, doodles, furry art, anything made with passion and intent I truly, truly appreciate. 

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Do what you love, but don’t do it blindly; if you have a dream you want to come true, you have to work for it. Also, it never hurts to have a plan B. (This is a “do as I say, not as I do” piece of advice; I don’t really have a plan B if animation doesn’t work out for me; I’m gonna have to improvise!) Draw all the time, and don’t get discouraged if you hate looking at what you drew; that usually just means you need to go to sleep. It’ll look alright it the morning. Or if it doesn’t, you’re going to have a clearer head and know how to fix what isn’t working. I draw at night a lot. Oh yeah, that reminds me, please get sleep often. I don’t fully have this problem, I love to sleep, but I know a lot of young artists like to work into the wee hours of the morning, please take the time to rest! 

I’d also probably say don’t go to art school? This was never an option for me (and I imagine this is a similar case for a lot of kids) because my parents very much wanted me to go to college regardless, and frankly, I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t. But I think there’s a lot of really good resources and classes online for learning about animation that won’t put you into debt for the rest of your life these days than there were when I was first trying to go to school. Tuition’s only gonna keep getting higher at most of these schools, and if you can avoid the headache, I’d say go for it. 

Contact Info:

• Website: kartewnboi.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/kartewnboi
• Youtube: youtube.com/@kartewnboi

Image Credits
Danny Ducker
Cynthia Mendez