Life & Work with Kasandra Cabrera of North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kasandra Cabrera.

Hi Kasandra, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey as an artist started as a little girl, an immigrant from Mexico with a little grasp of English but a big stack of VHS copies of animated movies. While the movies I had were the Spanish dubbed version, I quickly learned that the language barrier didn’t matter when every other kid laughed at the same jokes, cried at the same moments, and felt the same joy that I did watching those movies. In a way, animation became the first language I became fluent in, and it inspired me to pick up a pencil and begin drawing.

Since then, I’ve pursued every avenue of art that was available to me in my hometown of San Diego. I took an art program that granted me a multimedia production certificate in high school, I joined the AIGA workshop to scope out the art colleges up here in Los Angeles, I attended Otis College and loved every second of my time there!

And finally, in 2024, I was able to scrounge up the courage (and the funds) to pack up and move to the Valley to fully chase my dream of being part of the animation industry. So far, I have been part of a few volunteer/indie efforts, such as restoring the stop motion film “Hasta Los Huesos” for Animation Show of Shows. With every day that I work to achieve this dream, I continue to feel that same power of connection that first inspired me to start this journey, and I hope that one day my voice will be amongst the ones that helped create something truly beautiful.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For me, it has always been an uphill battle. The San Diego I grew up in is not the one you see in the postcards, so every opportunity I’ve had to make art was something I had to fight for. Possibly the biggest struggle that I am still recovering from is the repercussions of the COVID pandemic, as it came about right at the end of my last year at Otis College when we were going to present our big projects to industry professionals; those never really came to see the light of day after everything that happened.

Now that it’s been about 5 years since I’ve “graduated”, I do still feel like I never had that chance to truly present myself and my moment to shine has long since been swept away while new talent is rolling in every year… but that is the nature of this industry, and I try to not let those regrets get me down anymore.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When it comes to my art, I think I excel in story and motion. Specifically, I like to capture moments and expressions in people (or sometimes not-people, like animals or objects!) at certain points in their life and elevate them in a way that only a cartoon or animation can. I also really enjoy emulating rough, charcoal-like texture in a digital painting, so that kind of look is common in my art as well. There’s a certain familiarity and nostalgia to seeing the outline of a faux-crayon brush that I think really resonates with me, so it is something I try to lean in to.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
It is a privilege to be able to be in Los Angeles right now and still have a dream to chase. I think there is something beautiful in that, and I hope we all make it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kasandra.carrd.co
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasandra-cabrera-30b42b195/