Meet Britney Winthrope of A La Bapsi in Sawtelle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Britney Winthrope.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
For most of my life, I considered my sensitivity to be more of a deficiency than a positive or even neutral quality. I was a boisterous kid. I sang, I danced, I just made noise in general. My earliest memories were of noticing how great it felt to interpret whatever interesting things I noticed as I went about my day.

At 7, my primary creative outlet was playing the piano. The etudes were addictive. I obsessed with perfecting those little finger-strengthening drills, doing them so often that my whole family knew the tunes by heart. It was my introduction to the tense but rewarding headspace of deliberate practice. I found out then that study, observation, and expression brought me joy.

Adolescence arrived with its new, interesting feelings that required a lot more time to metabolize. I realized that the very audible act of expressing oneself on paper wasn’t gonna cut it. Instead of trying to make music, I just listened to someone else’s, painting the angstiest, most cathartic teenage shit on Barnes and Noble sketchbooks in as much quiet privacy as an open-door policy in a Belizean household could afford.

When I was 15, my cousin Dain noticed my sketchbook and pointed me to a website called conceptart.org. He said it was a good place to learn how to be a better artist. I made that forum my home.

Being a concept artist seemed like THE coolest job in the world. The idea of constantly feeding your mental library with inspiring things and distilling them into novel designs in entertainment could not have been more exciting.

I learned about Art Center on those forums, and thought ‘this is it’. I’m going to go there. By that point, high school was just a gym for portfolio development and creative exploration. I passed my classes, but if ditching meant more time drawing, I did it. I learned that some evenings spent at the nearby community college got me my diploma sooner. It was just about getting to that next stage already and clearing as many obstacles as I could along the way.

By day, I experimented with whatever student-grade media was in the AP art classroom or composing blocks of notes around my drawings at sketchbooks, just to disqualify them as ‘confiscatable’ by teachers. By night I painted, talked (way too loudly) to Ventrilo friends, and updated my sketchbook thread on ca.org with whatever I created that day.

Due to excitement to be paid to make art, and later, in part from financial necessity, I freelanced through college. I cannot recommend this enough for someone who wants to learn fast and stay competitive as an artist.

Work for me is about scratching that creative and collaborative itch. That rapturous combination of the integrative study that I loved about etudes in piano, the energy of executing with a close-knit team in the 11th hour, and that ever-validating experience of distilling a lifetime of little observations into my work, knowing that it will connect with someone, somewhere.

So far, that journey’s taken me through 3 sports titles, a VR flying simulator, a breathless sprint through AR/VR prototypes and proofs of concept, and a stay in a creative AR Avatar utopia at Snapchat. On the micro and macro level, my career’s required integrating every last bit of what I’ve picked up along the way into my work in unexpected ways, and I couldn’t ask for more.

Has it been a smooth road?
I had endured some very hard times, but the scope of art, my limits and obstacles were in my head, not necessarily in the cards I was dealt. I had the tireless support of my parents. I had made friends from all over who saw and accepted me for who I am. But without knowing it at the time, I spent my time in and after college fighting burnout. I brought myself to the brink trying to make sure everyone’s investment in me was worth it, not realizing that the support system I wanted to prove myself was already rooting for me. I think this unfortunate and exploitable delusion that is common in the entertainment industry, especially for artists. It’s my hope that I can serve as an example that a way out of that mindset is possible.

Please tell us more about your art.
I’m a concept artist. I think like every concept artist out there what’s special is my unique perspective and how I put it all into my work. I think my other competency is my knack for organization. I’m charmed by a well-considered and efficient system whether it’s in someone’s concept work or how production values are put into action in a project, and that appreciation definitely can show through in my work. As an artist, I love when I see an audience interact with the work I’m a part of. It’s been a joy to see hype around Bitmoji released for example. Seeing people smile or think or even riff off projects that I was a part of brings me joy.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Many people have put it more beautifully than I ever can, but my short answer is absolutely. There is so much creativity and enthusiasm in this city, which makes it just a magnet for innovation if you know where to look. These days, though, I think the gap is getting a little smaller. With more spaces, tribes, and conferences taking refuge on the internet during COVID, the unique energy of LA’s scene can be more accessible to people outside of the city.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.alabapsi.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bapsii
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alabapsiart
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alabapsi

Image Credit:
Portrait photo by Shan Han

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