Check Out Ryan Chu’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Chu.

Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
My name is Ryan Taizo Chu. I am a 3D animator and previsualization artist who has recently embarked on a career in the animation industry. I grew up in a middle-class suburban town about an hour drive east of Los Angeles. I am ethnically Chinese and Japanese, with both sides of my family having immigrated to the United States in the 1960s and the late 1800s, respectively. As a kid in the suburbs, my main source of entertainment came from the TV. I cite my dad as being the catalyst for the start of my art journey when he introduced me to the Bruce Lee movies at the ripe old age of four. To this day, Lee’s movies continue to inspire me and the work that I do. His kinetic genius awoke in me my appreciation of expressing oneself through movement, which directly translates now into my love for animation. Star Wars was also highly impactful as it gave me my first exposure to how film productions work and, most importantly, the process of creating visual effects for film. The movies of my childhood played a pivotal role in choosing what career path I wanted to pursue. 

In school, I was always known as one of the kids that could draw. I loved making people smile with the drawings I would make for them. However, it would remain only a hobby until I began to take my art studies more seriously at the age of 14. I took art classes through my high school, as well as private art lessons at Drawn2Art, a local art studio where I learned classical illustration and painting techniques. Despite my love for traditional media, I began to explore other mediums as a means of finding an outlet of self-expression that better fit me. When I began to take an interest in 3D art, I took individual courses at ArtCenter College of Art & Design and the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, the latter being where I would eventually go to pursue a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. 

At the end of last year, I graduated from Gnomon. In their very intense program, I studied to become a CG generalist with a specialization in visual effects. Despite all the stress and lost sleep, I was still happy in constantly learning new things about something that I loved, and in this I was able to find my passion for animation and also make friends and great connections with the people there. My instructors, Mauricio Hoffman and Jeremiah Johnson, were both extremely influential in my growth as an animator and storyteller, as well as in solidifying the career path I wanted to follow. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Traversing this path has definitely not been without its challenges. As I said previously, Gnomon’s program is very demanding. Dangerous amounts of sleep were lost, and my social life was completely out the window. Halfway through my program, I also went into a pretty bad art block. I was very troubled by this and began to question whether I’d be able to stomach the whole ‘commodification of art’ thing that comes with any art profession. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA labor strikes caused major hysteria amongst myself and my peers about job security after graduation. The big studios were almost cartoonishly evil in the way they handled contract negotiations with both guilds, which made me really examine the systemic issues within the industry, but at the same time, filled me with a new determination to navigate these challenges and become an advocate for change within the industry. I came out of this more optimistic about my career path as well as for the future of the industry. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As stated before, I am a 3D character animator and a previsualization artist. Both of these go hand-in-hand in the realm of storytelling. Previs is what I enjoy most as it serves as the brainstorming and planning stage of a project. I get to choose how cameras move, how scenes are staged, and set the overall look of the scene, etc. I am basically my own director, cinematographer, and editor, and it’s all done on the computer! As a recent graduate, I’ve only started my journey into the professional world. Most recently, I completed a freelance gig at We Are Royale. I would say that this was an experience that excited me greatly about things that are in store for me in the industry in terms of what stories I get to contribute to. What sets me apart is that not only am I capable of working effectively in all disciplines of CG art, but I am also able to keep in mind all steps of the overall production pipeline due to my two specialties being in pre-production and post-production. My peers have always commended me for my skill in crafting cinematic shots within my effects work, often seeking my guidance to enhance their own projects. Now with my specialty in previs, I am able to also think about post-production and how to make things go smoother for people down the production pipeline. 

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a pretty quiet kid. I liked to work on things independently and always had a small friend group. I grew up going to church, also being active in it by doing volunteer work. I also definitely had a fanboy personality growing up. I loved movies and drawing; I was even a competitive Rubik’s Cube speed solver. As I talked about earlier, Bruce Lee was a major inspiration for me in my art journey, but he was also an inspiration to me in life. From a young age, racial bigotry proved to be an issue I would deal with frequently, but I would not have been able to stand up for myself like I have without having learned about my family’s history with injustice as well Bruce Lee’s story as an immigrant in the United States. As unfortunate as it is to have had to experience these things as a child, it has helped me deepen my understanding of my own ethnic identity over time and is thus a large part of my little origin story that plays a role in my art. All in all, I would say that I’m not so different in personality now than I was as a kid, but of course, my experiences continue to shape me into a different person each day. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://animchuchu.wixsite.com/mysite
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animchuchu/
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ryan-chu-962234123