Daily Inspiration: Meet Candace Osagu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Osagu.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Candace Osagu and I’m a storyboard artist and comic artist from Florida! I’ve been working in animation since 2020 and haven’t looked back! However, I wasn’t always an art kid. In fact, I graduated from college with a degree in Psychology and was pre-med. I definitely didn’t go to some fancy art school.

At that point, I had never taken an art class…I didn’t really know what I wanted to do- I considered teaching, medicine, even forensic psychology. Though at the core of my various activities and classes, I’ve always loved storytelling- even if I didn’t recognize it at the time. After learning about animation on a bus ride home from class, I literally had the lightbulb moment and decided that I was gonna pursue animation as my career!

At the time of that decision, I was a graduating senior, helping my family back home, and broke. I had NO idea what I was going to do after graduation. I had a few friends support the idea of going after animation, but others questioned my impulsive decision…which was totally fair. At the time, I had 0 experience drawing (I’m talking literal stick figures), so HOW was I going to get a whole CAREER in animation?

I’ve always been pretty stubborn and always go after what I want. So after graduating, I spent 2 years grinding and working at theme parks to make ends meet. On lunch breaks and in the little free time that I had, I began to teach myself how to draw and began experimenting with 3D animation. Eventually, I got accepted for internships at Cartoon Network and DreamWorks and the rest is history!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has anyone ever had a smooth road? I’ve definitely had my share of struggles. Being broke, losing my mom, and pivoting careers are all rough in their own ways!

I’ll spare the whole life story, but basically I grew up pretty poor, single parent household, and my mom was sick my whole life. So when I was trying to break into animation, I was juggling familial responsibilities as well as trying to figure out how to start a life for myself. I didn’t have a lot of money at the time, so I was working a full time job at Disney in the theme park and had a part time gig at a local performing arts center. Needless to say, there was very little time for learning my craft- but I just kept at it. Although difficult, that period taught me about discipline.

The biggest, most life changing struggle was the death of my mother. I was pretty young (25)- it put a lot of things into perspective for me. I realized a few things: that faith, family, & friends mean everything to me, that I should “never let the sun go down on your anger”, and that life is too short to not go after what I want.

I lost my mom in the beginning of the height of covid (not related to covid actually…) and took the time I needed to grieve. One of the ways I coped was by keeping busy, so once I got my internship at DreamWorks, I just worked to mask the pain. Obviously, I’m much healthier now (especially with my grief), but that was the most difficult part of my life – figuring out what does my life look like with Mom gone?

So fast forward, I’m in a different kind of struggle- one where I’m feeling the tension of the landscape of the industry and going after what I want. I currently work as a production coordinator and want to do full time creative work as a storyboard artist. There’s been two spaces I’ve been navigating: acknowledging that I’m thankful for my current job yet want to be in a different role, and then knowing that I need time to work on my portfolio to get me said role, but due to working full time and having other responsibilities / obligations, I’m not improving fast enough for my liking. I think this is more of a mental thing- in reality, I have a lot more grace for myself, but it can still frustrating.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an artist / creative who loves storytelling!
I am a storyboard artist, a comic artist, and illustrator. I specialize in creating stories that are heartfelt, grounded, and emotional (sprinkling in some quirky humor).

I love communicating deep emotions and want to help make honest movies & tv shows that are heartfelt and grounded in beauty. I seek to inspire people to live with more wonder about the world around them.

I’m most proud of my comic anthology, Unraveling Spirits, that I am working on! I am so excited for this project- I have learned so much about my craft and leveled up so much! These are 8 slice of life short stories that tackle relatable things like confessing romantic feelings, jealously of a friend, work/life balance, falling in love with a new hobby, and fun things like a crazy night out.

I’m also excited to be delving into animated music videos! The visual language of music videos is so much fun to me! I’d love to work with bands and just make videos all day- this selfishly incorporates my love of music haha.

At the end of the day, I just want to make cool stuff. Hopefully, if I’ve done my job right, I got you laughing, crying, mad at characters who are jerks, and got you in your feels.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m sure if you hang around me in person enough, you’ll pick up on the fact that I sing a lot. Not seriously- just goofy little jingles. Music is a big part of me. So with that, I’m attempting to learn how to play the drums! I guess it’s also a fun fact that I’m learning how to longboard! ….and rollerskate….and play volleyball…
Basically, I have no fear of failure and I’m okay with being terrible at a lot of things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.candaceosagu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candielionart
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candaceosagu

Image Credits
Artwork – Candace Osagu
Nami artwork – Eiichiro Oda (creator, One Piece)
Pokemon artwork – Nintendo