Today we’d like to introduce you to German Butze.
Hi German, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Coming from an artistic family, I was always drawn to being creative since I was young. I was the kid who “knew how to draw” and very into video games. My first console was a gift from my dad, the Super Nintendo – I’ve been hooked ever since. By the age of 12, I started to get into the graffiti movement, the Internet in the early 2000’s helped me get a grasp of what was happening outside Mexico and I was amazed by the different art styles and murals that artists were doing all over the world. I started writing by the name “Aope” which a friend of mine at the time helped me choose. We were just drawing letters on our black books, I really liked the combo and how they sound so it just stuck with me. I’ve always cared more about the actual art and murals than anything else, but of course, I had my crazy moments with friends around the city and that made us collaborate in murals with some of the legends at the time which for me was a dream come true.
I’ve been using “Aope” ever since, it’s been how I identify and call myself. Especially on the internet and every gaming platform I’ve used. Later in my academic journey, I graduated high school with a diploma in graphic design which helped me learn color theory, lettering, composition, and other tools that helped me view and understand art better.
My love for video games and cartoons made me discover animation and multimedia. After high school in Mexico, Animation was a new career. My generation was the first to try this new path at the University I got into. We were being taught to work in the soon-to-be booming animation and videogame industries.
It’s so exciting as an artist to see your creations moving, and with the technology and new software being developed, it was easier than ever. I still prefer the traditional frame-by-frame animation which I of course did on every corner of my notebooks back when I was a kid.
I finished college and had nowhere to go. The industry in Mexico was bearly growing and most of the work was outsourced from US animation and game studios. I didn’t have any luck finding a proper job for my career. So my partner and I, who’ve been together for many years now, decided to try moving to the States.
It was a hard transition and took a couple of tries but after finding and connecting with amazing people going through similar stories we managed to settle and started looking for opportunities here in Los Angeles.
By this time it had been a couple of years since I finished school and haven’t really had a proper job in the industry. So I focused on my own projects. I started doing content creation and streaming. I kept drawing, creating characters, small animated stories, and some really short games that I developed with friends just for fun. During this time I had to start working in the food & bev industry just to keep up with regular expenses and life. Three years passed by and I was about to change my career path since my “art hobby” was not getting me anywhere…
During 2019, I was researching and getting into cryptocurrencies. I had some knowledge of it because of growing up with the internet and gaming worlds but never really took a deep dive into it. During the Covid lockdown, of course, I had plenty of time.
I found out about NFTs and what blockchain technology was trying to do especially for the gaming industry. To me, it was very obvious what was going on with this so I just went full-in after reading about it.
I applied to a fund I found where this company (The Sandbox) was looking for artists and game developers to build games and experiences using blockchain technology. For the first time in my entire art career, I was accepted. This was very big for me and finally had an actual fund to build and create what I always love to do. Art and Video Games.
Ever since I’ve been working and building with this new technology. Currently, I am funding my own indie gaming studio to keep creating content on different platforms to show how this is changing the gaming industry and how content creators can engage with their communities.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been smooth. Trying to find a place in any industry, moving to a different country, and just growing as a person has been quite a ride. There have been many ups and downs, but in the end, I believe focusing on the present and what we live through daily is what matters.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve done creative and artistic work throughout my life, from traditional painting and murals to full digital illustration and animation, exploring different mediums and software that has helped me constantly shape my personal style, which I would describe as “cute cartoon”.
I enjoy creating characters and stories around and about them. Currently, I am building different worlds with these characters, such as Gamebuddy, and developing gaming experiences inside The Sandbox metaverse. I am focused on bringing new ways to engage with communities – for example, players are able to dictate where the games or experiences could go, and at the same time on their characters and equipment that I plan to expand into other virtual worlds.
I pride myself on persevering and continuing to create even though sometimes things go in the opposite way. This has helped me focus on building my personal brand and continue to develop a style – I enjoy bringing to life what’s on my mind, what I see going on around the world, and what I’m currently feeling – this is the way that I express myself, whether this means drawing, sculpting, animating, painting – or building games.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I believe the gaming and content creation industry will only get bigger in the next few years. With blockchain technology, there is a more transparent and ownership-focused way of putting out content. There will be big shifts in how companies and studios use our own and their data, and I really think it is important to know how it’s being used.
Things will be more connected than ever, gaming, fashion, entertainment, and more industries will benefit from this. Even users. I think the point of it is to make the user part of the industry and not be used by the industry. There are a lot of new things to learn on how we can create a better internet experience for everyone. In the end, it is a tool for all of us and it is important to understand how it works.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://notanimated.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/not_animated/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/n0t_animated
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/notanimated
