Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Wibisono.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Will. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up, I moved around a lot. I was born in Torrance, California, spent my early childhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, my teenage years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then I came back to California for college. I’ve always enjoyed anything that was art related, and from a young age, I really liked collaborating. I guess I romanticized stories that involve a group of people who band together for a common goal. Like Seven Samurai, Journey to the West, and Power Rangers.
Entering year ten for our IGCSE education, we had to choose between a “Science” or an “Art” concentration. Even though it’s called “Art”, it was more business oriented and there were no actual art classes offered in my high school. So, I would never have thought of pursuing art or even animation back then. I fantasized about being a mangaka in Japan with my copics and G-pen nibs.
Come graduation, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I remember my father asking me what I wanted to pursue, and I gave half hearted answers. I took a gap year before going to a college where I would get into hijinks with my friends. For example, we would go up a hill near a friend’s house in our car and then speed downhill. Was it fun? Heck yeah. Was it dangerous and stupid? Absolutely.
When I finally moved back to California, I was still lost on what I wanted to do. My relatives suggested that I go to a community college to figure things out. I ended up majoring in French. Why? My younger-self thought it was cool and that I could be popular with girls if I spoke French.
One day, while I was procrastinating for one of my Gen-Ed classes, I stumbled upon art schools that focus on animation. That’s when I realized, pursuing art is something that is viable. I looked at schools based in California, such as CalState Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, ArtCenter, Otis, etc.
Now I’m a rising BFA4 in CalArts’ Character Animation Program. The friends I’ve made their led to more collaborative work. We have an animation podcast called the Onion Skins Podcast. We are also working on a short film this summer. There are other projects that I’m working on with other great people too, but that’s still hush hush.
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?
Applying to art schools was definitely not as easy as I thought. I felt like I applied too late and that I was competing with others who had been drawing longer. Convincing my family was also another hurdle. The specific area that I really want to focus on is storyboarding, and explaining that to my family and relatives was a little bit difficult because it’s something that’s more behind the scenes.
Onion Skins Podcast – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Onion Skins Podcast came to be during the pandemic. Morales were low in our character animation program. We lost our routine and the interactions we had in school. Our program director, Maija Burnett, would plan Friday Night Talks with industry professionals, where they would get to talk about their roles in the animation industry, different pipelines for different studios, and etc.
I remember those talks were something I looked forward to as a freshman, and I was sad that the current freshmen weren’t able to experience it to its full extent. So naturally, like many other millennials, Peter Foltz and I decided to make a podcast. We wanted to recreate that space, then we contacted our friends to see if they were interested in it.
A lot of animation podcasts come from professionals who are well established in the industry and enthusiasts who are passionate about animation. We want our podcast to be something more in between. We want it to be more of a conversation between classmates. Current students are going to be the ones who shape the industry after all, so why not get their insights right now?
I’m proud of everything we do. Our charismatic host, Peter Foltz, can make anyone feel at home. Ty Wilson made all the swingin tunes. Anya Martin helped out by co-editing and also scheduling guests, she recently got us some exciting guests too! Lastly, Jessica Xu helps create fun and concise captions for each episode.
Our guests have been phenomenal, some gives us perspectives we have not considered, some gives us some relatable thoughts as a person. We’ve had a diverse list of guests and we hope to reach out to more people. So please check us out!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would’ve taken Spanish instead of French.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://willwibs.weebly.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inexcelsis/
- Other: https://anchor.fm/onionskinspodcast
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