Check Out Ada Vychopnova’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ada Vychopnova.

Ada, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am from a tiny Czech village located in the middle of nowhere, where I grew up surrounded mostly by trees and deer. My mom managed to paint a lot in her free time despite having a very demanding office job — she understood the inner calling and let me express my artistic genius, enhancing Winnie the Pooh books ruthlessly from the very first moment I could hold a crayon. On top of that, my dad could draw a really great stick-figured styled pig, so when it comes to inherited talent, I think I was all set.

Being an artist was never considered a sustainable job over there so, as I was growing up, I kept hearing how what I thought of as an absolutely integral part of my being was a cute past time hobby to others. It made me stray a bit, and I delved into programming, prepared to make a very mediocre software developer out of myself. Watching blocks of text on the screen was exciting for a while. However, when I realized that they can bear direct visual results, doing anything else than computer graphics for a living seemed sacrilegious. Originally I thought that I would pursue 3D character animation, but the more I kept discovering all the wonders of CG world, the more I realized there are other areas that sparked more joy.

After being accepted to Gnomon School of Visual Effects, I found myself really far away from my picturesque home, suffering from the extreme contrast of air-conditioned rooms and the scorching hot outdoors and lack of good bread, but with absolutely fulfilled dreams of being creative and spending time with the best people and artists I would never have even dreamt of meeting.

Sometimes, I wake up and realize that I really am in California — and it all feels very surreal even now, after two years of living here.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Moving all the way across the ocean into a country with different languages and cultures can be both thrilling and absolutely terrible at times. If I knew what I was signing up for, I would definitely be more conscious of my choices, approach everything more carefully, and give myself more time to process things around me than I did at the time. It’s all fun and games until the nature of your accent makes you pronounce ‘bowel’ and ‘bowl’ the same way. Nonetheless, I would have done it all over again since all the opportunities and experiences I gained are invaluable.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As of now, I am primarily a visual effects artist in training. I am delighted that I get to experience the loving frustration of problem-solving combined with art on a daily basis. It hasn’t always been this way; it took me a lot of time to figure out that the technical and artistic sides which we have do not have to be polar opposites; one can always benefit from the other.

I used to do commission-based graffiti, book illustrations, and other miscellaneous artsy escapades in my high school years, and I am very happy all of that lead to me sitting in a dark room, trying to break down complex movie shots.

When it comes to my personal work, what I appreciate the most are the insights about people and myself I gain on the way, and that are later reflected back into the work I produce. Imagination and human connections are a wonderful part of life, and honoring those experiences visually can be an extremely rewarding process. I get to see what I was making years ago and catch a glimpse of how I was feeling or who I was. It’s so much different than having a photo or trying to recall a memory. It’s a direct conversation with yourself throughout time.

What I am sharing here today is a taste of artwork that I gathered within the last two years in my personal time and as a Gnomon student. As I approach graduation, I know my best is yet to come.

How do you define success?
For me, success is being the most authentic version of yourself. It’s very easy to give in and strive for accomplishments that you inherently deem valuable purely because of your surroundings or peers or family values, especially when you do not know what it is that you are looking for. The most authentic version of me thinks success is only a byproduct of hard work, so I do not have to seek it as long as I align with the work I do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adaavy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ada-vychopnova/

Image Credits
Second image inspired by concept art from Disney’s Hercules