Today we’d like to introduce you to Becks Wallace.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Becks. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember. It probably started when I was about four years old when I kept drawing Simba all over the walls. My parents didn’t seem to mind — they drew on the walls with me. They were blue-collar people, but both of them had an appreciation for art and animation, and they happily encouraged it.
I spent most of my childhood drawing, but I picked up other creative pursuits like musical theater, writing fan-fiction, and trying really hard to play an instrument. I considered these hobbies, though. Even though I dreamt of being an animator, I bought into the whole “art will never pay the bills mentality,” so I spent years working hard in school, in hopes of eventually getting a “safe” job like a mortician or medical examiner. I think I just really liked cutting open dead things?
That changed when I went to the Indiana Academy, a college prep boarding school that had a rigorous workload and aggressively difficult classes. I realized pretty quickly that, uh, I was not academic enough for this. When I found myself spending more time drawing on my homework than, you know, doing the homework, I figured I oughta give animation a shot.
During junior year, I was looking for scholarships, and I found a post in some random forum online. It was an email address for the Warner Bros. Animation/Hanna-Barbera Scholarship. The scholarship included a hefty chunk of money and four paid internships at Warner Bros Animation in Burbank. There was no further information, I decided to gamble on it. “If I get this scholarship, I’m going into animation. If not, I’m going to a state school for… uh… something.”
So I spent my senior year taking art classes and building a portfolio. I even drew some really rough storyboards that I taped all over my dorm room to help me figure out the story. I loved it so much, it was fun, my friends loved seeing my work, my parents were super encouraging, and it took away from the oppressive teenage angst. It was great.
I finally submitted everything in mid-March 2009, but honestly, I didn’t think I stood a chance. Even when I was accepted to two different art schools, I was already looking at residential information for the state school.
I got a call a few weeks later. I had been shortlisted for the scholarship. I had to do a phone interview with some animation producers, and I pretty much choked on my lunch. I became a nervous wreck, scrambling to prepare interview answers on notecards and completely ignoring my homework assignments. When the day came, I skipped all my morning classes and sat in my dorm room holding my black Razr phone, counting the minutes to the interview. I almost dropped the phone when it finally rang.
The interview was with Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, and Bruce Timm. It went by so fast, all I remember was 1) Spike and Tony were also Midwesterners who went into animation, 2) they went to the same college I was hoping to go to, and 3) my inspirations were “uhhh, Looney Tunes… and Disney movies… and Powerpuff Girls?” When it was over, I thought I blew it, so I got some lunch, had a good cry, and took a well-needed nap in my loft bed.
I woke up to another phone call. It was the same number from the interview. I answered it, and… I got the scholarship! And then I dropped my phone. I scrambled out of my bed, put my phone back together, and thankfully, they called back. This was real, I got the scholarship and I was going into animation.
So it went. I got the scholarship, I graduated high school and spent the next four years interning at WB between school years at Columbia College Chicago. I met a lot of people, many of whom I still talk to today, I got firsthand experience in the animation industry, and it helped me figure out the specific path to go into: storyboards. My last internship, I was lucky enough to study storyboards with a director on the Looney Tunes Show, and while that experience was short, it solidified my interest.
After I graduated from college, I wasn’t ready to move out to California yet. I ended up getting a job at my old college prep boarding school. It was a weird detour, there were even moments where I was worried that maybe animation wasn’t going to work out after all. But one day, early March 2014, I got a call from a producer I used to work with offering me a storyboard test. I agreed.
While I was working on the test, my dad died. He was always my biggest champion, it was devastating. But somehow, it pushed me to work harder to get into animation, and I committed to moving to California, whether I had a job lined up or not. Luckily, I passed my storyboard test and scored a job on Be Cool, Scooby Doo. At the end of May 2014, I moved out to California with my boyfriend, my best friend, whatever we could cram into my Corolla and the confidence that it would work out.
It’s been over six years. I’ve worked at Warner Bros. Animation, Disney TV, Powerhouse Animation, Warner Animation Group, and now I’m a director at Titmouse. I’d say it’s worked out.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been bumpy since the beginning. Days after I received the Warner Bros. scholarship, my dad was diagnosed with a terminal disease. He was the reason I even knew about animation, he was a big cartoon fan and always encouraged me to follow my dreams. When he finally passed in March 2014, I had to carry that grief with me when I started my first animation job a few months later.
And that first year here in LA was… a lot. It was a steep learning curve to learn how to be a storyboard artist, and between the job, my grief, and the culture shock of moving across the country, I’ve had many challenging days. Lots of all-nighters, lots of politics, lots of therapy sessions, but I made it!
That said, this time during the pandemic really has been the ultimate challenge. I got promoted to director a month into quarantine, and learning this new job, along with learning how to manage people remotely, during a tumultuous time is still a daily challenge. But you know, when you learn something on hard mode, everything after it should be pretty smooth.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I’ll be directing on the show Bless the Harts until October this year. I’m hoping to stay on the production if we get another season. In the meantime, I’m developing a personal project to pitch to Titmouse, fingers crossed they’ll like it enough to pick it up!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: becks.wallace.art
Image Credit:
The picture of Shaggy and Scooby sleeping is from SCOOB, as well as the Fred with the fire behind him. The Addams Family painting with Morticia and Wednesday is a piece created for the Family Values Art Gallery at the Mystic Museum. All drawings are drawn by me.
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
