Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Sluka.
Jacob, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I spent a year studying graphic design at the University of Cincinnati right out of high school because at the time, I sort of thought graphic design was like a safe bet in terms of being able to make money in a creative field. I realized pretty quick I wasn’t having fun and decided to drop out to commit fully to what I really wanted to do, which was animation. I liked animation because it lets me combine writing and drawing and comedy pretty seamlessly. Luckily my friend Ben Crouse was going through a similar internal odyssey and we decided to team up and just always be creative partners. We set a pretty lofty goal early on to get an animated show on TV and I remember sitting down and doing a lot of googling of success stories and how to go about doing that, eventually stumbling upon the holy land known as Calarts and deciding to go there. I spent a year kicking around in the Iowa City DIY scene, making music, delivering pizza, and putting together a portfolio, you know just growing as an artist and as a person and stuff. I went to CalArts for character animation after that and learned a lot about what the industry was looking for in a creator. I remember pitching a show to Frederator after only a month of living in California and they were nice enough to sit me down and tell me everything that was wrong with my pitch. That really helped me. While I was at school, I got my first gig as a storyboard artist on a show called Pickle and Peanut for Disney TVA and Ben worked on the show too which was neat to work together professionally. After graduating Ben and I hit the streets with a ton of different pitch bibles and we ended up pitching to just about every network you could think of. We got a lot of rejections, but eventually, a few stuck and now we basically work full time developing those further which is pretty much very cool and fun to do.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I do a lot of constrained creative work in the animation industry so when I find time to draw for fun I use it as an outlet to draw stuff that makes me laugh with no filter on how dumb I can get. I also do some abstract painting when I really want to shut my brain off. I never really settle on any one style and I’m always moving on to the next idea that’s currently making me laugh. Like, I spent a few months recently doing sloppy marker drawings of cartoon characters that look like they’re from a non-existent Sonic the Hedgehog style TV show. There’s something funny about the idea of a “generic cartoon” that I always end up coming back to. I think it’s funny to marry a stupid cartoon aesthetic to important or “sacred” iconography to imply some sort of meaning but when you stop to analyze there’s nothing there, it’s just absurd. I guess if I had to describe why I think that’s funny to a therapist, I would say it’s like a commentary on how people try to find meaning in everything but the world is inherently a chaotic mess. That the hollowness of the message is the message because I’m a jaded weirdo living in a dark future where media saturates our lives so completely that the consumption of art has become as natural as breathing and lost all impact. Pretty deep stuff right? Just remember this next time I post a drawing of a caterpillar with a gun or something.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
For me, it’s quality over quantity. If you can find one or two people who you work well with and trust their taste completely, it’s way more socially satisfying to talk about art and stuff. The alternative is to sort of bang your head against the wall trying to appeal to everyone or work well with everyone all the time. Having one deep conversation about how much you love an ironic Snoopy drawing is way better than having a hundred frustrating conversations about how you don’t like Bojack Horseman. I’ve been working with my friend Ben creatively for ten years now and we are totally on the same page with just about everything art-wise. When we are just hanging and talking shop we can cut right to the chase and talk about really stupid esoteric stuff and it rules to be honest.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I have a Tumblr and an Instagram that should pop up if you google my name. Having the last name “Sluka” has been a real boon for standing out in a google search honestly. My friend Ben and I post our animated videos on Vimeo under the name GROSSBUS. There’s some really dumb stuff on there for sure. You can support me by thinking of me and praying.
Contact Info:
- Website: jacobsluka.tumblr.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @jacobsluka
Image Credit:
Jacob Sluka
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
