Rising Stars: Meet Jeffry Chozon of Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeffry Chozon.

Hi Jeffry, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started in the animation industry in 2011 on Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was one of the best shows I had the privilege of working on. I was at the tail end of finishing art school at SJSU and was lucky enough to get an art test from the production. I remember it being a stressful time because I was initially offered a junior position at a mobile gaming studio in the Bay, but I had my sights set on a career in animation. I took a chance and passed on that job and placed all my efforts on this extremely difficult art test. I remember having only a weekend to finish it, which unfortunately coincided with a wedding my family and I had to attend. Sleep deprived and mentally drained I was still able to get it done, only to find out weeks later that despite my test being well received, the production could not afford to wait until I finished graduating since time was limited. I remember feeling really defeated thinking I might have just missed my only chance to break into the industry. I brought up my concerns to my professors and they immediately instructed me to do what was necessary to land the job, even to move that week if needed. I did just that. I moved to LA to start working for Nickelodeon and had to go back to the Bay to graduate a month later.

It was one of the most exciting and memorable times in my life.

After Turtles I bounced around the industry working on various productions like Venture Bros, and Teen Titans Go before making my way back to Nick and working on Santiago of the Seas, and Rise of the TMNT series and movie. I’ve done freelance for various shows as well, and in 2019 I was lucky enough to work on Transformers Earthspark as a visual development artist before subsequently being promoted to a Co-AD position in the same show a few months later. It was a difficult learning experience, but an exciting one nonetheless, which I will always be grateful for.

Since then, I’ve been focusing more on pitching shows with my friend and the development of projects I’ve been neglecting over the years while navigating the state of the current state of the industry.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is never smooth, but that is what makes it interesting. Breaking into the industry was a pretty nerve-racking experience. I was far from being the most talented artist in school, but my work ethic got me through most of the classes. I would say figuring out a process that works for me was what I focused on the most. Even then, starting professionally was pretty difficult. The bar is just so high that not meeting it made me worried that I would be replaced. I had pretty bad impostor syndrome, and to be honest, I’m not quite sure it ever went away.

There was so much to learn in those first few years. Not only did I learn a lot about the craft of art and design, I also had to learn how to be part of a team with the common goal of making a show. Navigating a production was something I didn’t really learn in art school. Everything from hitting fast deadlines and taking direction to appeasing production and executives, were skills that I haven’t had the time to refine. That comes with experience, which I was fortunate enough to slowly acquire over the years.

Another thing I had to reconcile was work/life balance. Keeping my foot on the gas was not a sustainable long term endeavor and coming from a workaholic family I had to learn to ease up a bit. I never liked all-nighters but even getting enough sleep was tough when you are passionate about your craft. Nevertheless, building in safe guards was important to protect myself from my passion. Staying healthy is important too, mind and body. It’s still a challenge nowadays but I have a better handle on it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For most of my time in the industry I was responsible for color and design. Background paint was what I poured all my focus on in art school because I was told that it was a decent entry level position and I was determined to get a job. I’ve continued to expand my skillset to various aspect of design like layout, character, props and fx, but my bread and butter will always be with color and paint. For practice in my spare time, I would say the split would be 70/30 in favor of things that I’m weak at, like character exploration. In my journey on finally getting a chance to art direct on a show, I definitely needed to have a good grasp on all facets of design. Art is a form of visual language after all, and I needed to learn how to speak that language clearly in order to manage the artists who worked under me and set them up for success.

One thing that I’ve missed dearly is painting traditionally. I used to practice a lot back in the day but other things have taken up that time. I hope to slowly get back and re-learn the skills and techniques I used to know when I was a young artist. I have aspirations of doing gallery work as well. I hope to take time and create a body of work that would be worthy of those types of spaces in the future.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a pretty quiet kid growing up. I’m from the Philippines, but moved here while I was still young. The change was pretty drastic at the time. I remember being fascinated from seeing a highway on ramp for the first time and thinking I was living in a sci-fi world. I definitely took growing up in the 90’s for granted. I’m thankful that I’ve experienced a time before the advent of screens and its grip on the lives of people today. Like many kids who grew up in the States in the 90’s I watched a lot of Saturday morning cartoons, both on Disney and Nickelodeon. I watched a lot of Anime from Toonami on CN and even ordered VHS tapes from Japan through magazine catalogs. Manga and comics came much later for me.

I played a lot of video games too, but made sure a did my fair share of playing outside when I had the chance. You’re only a kid once after all! I don’t think I was necessarily talented in art but I did grow up drawing characters I saw on TV. Most of my schooling was in academia and my parents wanted me to take up math and science, which I did love. I played a lot of chess in high school but was never good enough to compete. Finally when college started I found myself at Cal Poly Pomona as an engineering student. Art school would come three years later after I finally accepted that my love for art and animation just edged out everything else I was doing at the time. My parents were not too happy about the shift, but still supported me nonetheless. This was why breaking into the industry before graduating was the second best thing in my life, the first, of course was meeting my wife.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeffrymazon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsmazon/