Meet Arius Ziaee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Arius Ziaee.

Hi Arius, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had a restlessness for self-expression that artmaking would occupy. From drawing on my clothes and walls as a kid to making mud sculptures on trees. I’ve always had a deep connection with art and music and have incorporated a practice of them into my daily life, which has combined into my interest in animation. I am a recent graduate from CalArts studying experimental animation and now I am a Freelance animator/illustrator and part-time art teacher.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Things haven’t always been easy, I grew up with a mother who was diagnosed with cancer when I was at a very young age and would then pass when I was in my early teens. Being creative has always been a coping mechanism for me to get through the hardest of times, and it still is a very important hobby in my life to decompress the world that is moving around me.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work as a freelance animator and illustration, specializing in musical collaboration such as animating and directing music videos/visualizers for bands or illustrating tour posters and cover art. I’m a big music lover so I find it very fulfilling to create visuals that pair with sounds and also interact with lots of cool bands .

My medium of choice is hand-drawn animation, either colored digitally or by hand then edited on Photoshop and After Affects. I am always experimenting with new methods and techniques to give more texture and depth. The work I am most proud of is my personal films. I’ve easily put the most labor, thought and time into them and they are very important to me. In particular, my most recent film TOWER (unreleased) is my most favorite thing I’ve ever made and easily the most ambitious art piece I’ve ever made. (All of my films are on my website)

I believe what sets my work apart from others is my dedication to texture, exploration and non-traditional beauty. In an industry that is over-saturated with clean and digital work, I like to embrace the dirt and the organic. Finding most of my inspiration from forms in nature and its uncontained qualities. My work functions as a curious and playful exploration of ideas, emotions and existentialism, and I think the patience and sincerity that comes from it is part of what makes it unique.

What matters most to you? Why?
What I value most is open-mindedness. I used to get so caught up in trying to make art in a particular and consistent way and would constantly analyze and judge my work, which made art-making burdensome. Once I started experimenting with different ways of creating and let up on consistency it opened me up and I spent less time overthinking and found so much creative freedom and intuitive expression. Art making can be fun, personal and cathartic, don’t let it become something that’s competitive or compared and judged. Moving away from judgment and being more open-minded has opened my world to so much, such as meeting lots of wonderful people, discovering lots of amazing music, going to exciting events. Explore anything that you are mildly interested in, try every art medium, get messy, dance naked on a mountain, run around screaming and make a fool of yourself. I have all the respect in the world for bold and courageous people and art and I believe judgment is the main component that can hold someone back from exploring wonderful things.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ariusziaee.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.marooned/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AriusZiaee
• Other: https://vimeo.com/ariusziaee