Meet Spencer Talesfore of Los Angeles / OC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Talesfore.

Hi Spencer, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a large family as the youngest of 4 boys. My parents lived closed to my grandparents on my mom’s side. I would consider us very fortunate to have been surrounded by family. I have received endless support and encouragement from all of them to pursue art and entertainment. As of now, I have been involved in 6 independent animated productions and 5 immersive art exhibitions. If I can find one thing in common that I loved about all of my projects, it would have to be the collaborative storytelling. We owe a lot to entertainment and stories for shaping us with laughter, wisdom, escape, and maybe softening the blow on uncomfortable truths.

Growing up in the early 2000’s with my family was such a blast. My parents took my brothers and me on several vacations where we had to come up with games to stay entertained while on the road. One of my favorite phases during that time was when my two oldest brothers got ahold of my dad’s video camera, and they made their own show. They asked me to play a cameo as “The King of Gameboys.” My brother, Clayton, hand drew a comic when I was in the 1st grade. It tempted me to do the same. He showed me how to make a comic of my own. I think that was the first time I felt excited to tell a story. Drawing and writing as a first grader, much of my inspiration came from an amalgamation of Dav Pilkey’s, Captain Underpants along with whatever I saw on Cartoon Network. Nonetheless, my peers loved my comic, Karate Man. I had made friends with that comic, and I never stopped doodling on any piece of paper I could find.

One thing I have not mentioned quite yet is I am a huge Nintendo fan. The Nintendo DSi was a life changing handheld for me. There was a software on the DSi called “Flipnote Studio” that allowed me to explore hand-drawn animation. In 2009, I did not have access to animate on anything other than a pad of sticky notes. I wanted to go beyond drawing still images and bring my characters to life like the cartoons I saw on TV. Flipnote Studio was great because not only did it allow me to put together my own cartoon, it had a complimentary website, Flipnote Hatena, that allowed a whole community of people to share their Flipnote Studio creations (known as flipnotes.) During this period of my life, I was active in learning to be a better draftsman and animation techniques. People would share tutorial style flipnotes to share animation techniques. It felt like my world expanded, and at the same time, my interest in animation locked in.

I went to Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) in 2016 where I studied hand-drawn animation and creative writing. To be completely honest, I had no idea where I fit as an artist. I could not pinpoint exactly where in the animation industry I belonged. All I knew was that I really enjoyed anything animated. By this point, I had taken in so much animated media. Now I was learning how all of it was done to achieve the professional quality, and it revealed exactly the pipeline worked. I miraculously graduated in 2020 during the pandemic, and moved back in with my parents. Since then I have found ways to involve myself with the visual arts. I worked with a local children’s book author to adapt her story into an animated short. I also worked together with an art collective to create an immersive experience in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Now I am a storyboard artist and animator for Little Magic Studios, and I couldn’t be happier.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are always bumps in the road, and I did think at a few points in my life that I would have to give up on pursuing a career as an artist. I’m sure most people can relate to this feeling of not being good enough. That feeling is especially prevalent in the age of social media where you have an endless list of talented people to compare yourself with. However, my two biggest struggles were most likely with time management and task avoidance. I can’t tell if I was awful at managing my time, or if maybe I was a little too good. When I was given an assignment, I would not start working on it until the last minute. SOMEHOW, I got most of my assignments in on time. I’m not sure how I decided which hour to pick up the assignment, but when I did, if felt like I would do a 3 hour task in 1 hour. It worked out, but caused tremendous amounts of stress. There were several times in college where I thought I might have to drop a class simply because I thought I had severely misjudged when I should begin working on a project. This is not a habit I practice anymore, however it leads me into my next struggle of task avoidance. I had to ask myself, “Why am I not excited to work on this project enough to get started right away?” That question turned into a deeper bit of self exploration, and it made me question whether or not I should be working in art and entertainment.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
You know it by now! I am a hand-drawn 2D animation artist. I love a variety of visual styles from what I was exposed to growing up. Cartoons, anime, and video games all fed my visual library with other artist’s points of view. I figure that as an entertainment artist, I need the flexibility to work with as many styles as possible. I’m mostly proud of my work on Henri the Snail and the Watering Pail, a short animation I made with a fellow creative Rachel S. Kardos. It was a craft of family and friends. Rachel’s daughter, Madeleine, composed a theme, while, my older brother, Patrick Talesfore, Jr. and close friend, Mikaela Rangel contributed audio and sound effects. I would attribute the beginning of my career to Rachel and I am grateful to her for letting me work with her story.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Be a friend! I mean… don’t be a friend just to network, but let yourself be surrounded by friends that uplift each other. Try to find local spaces and offer to contribute to them. Build communities around people who have the same drive as you. Opportunities come when you show up to get your work done.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spencertarts.squarespace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencertarts
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-talesfore