We were lucky to catch up with Mimi De Ponte recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mimi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Well, I have always been a creative soul. As a kid and throughout my life I was drawn to drawing (pun intended), never not creating something on a blank piece of paper. The encouragement from my family and the praise from friends and school teachers alike made me realize I could make my hobby of creating hyper realistic illustrations a serious thing. My parent’s support encouraged me to research universities in the US that offered creative careers, so I found a major for Visual Arts which had a bit of every creative branch in the mix. It was during this time at uni where I discovered my passion for the scratchboard medium and immediately put a pencil down to give way to sharper materials that would enable me to reach levels of hyper realism I had never imagined. After three years studying, I decided to keep firing that flame within that lighted up back home and offer to sell my illustrations, making this officially a career in the arts for me (seven years and counting).
As for animation, I discovered that passion in a high school project. I managed to hone my skills further in it during my years in university. It was an on and off thing, but animation always managed to show up in my life somehow. It wasn’t until a Portfolio class where I made stop-motion animation my final project and, after showing it to the student and professors present, realized how big the impact it had had with them. I will never forget one of my professor’s comments, “Call us when you’re famous!” My heart instantly swelled. Fast forward 2 years to the pandemic where I still made animations confined at home. And then, after coming back to my hometown, decided to create a stop-motion and digital 2D animation studio to make product advertisements. It is still slowly growing, but it has been a huge dream of mine for years, so this year I finally decided to make this other passion of mine a serious thing and take it hand in hand with my illustrations as a professional career.

Mimi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My (nick)name is Mimi, I’m a Venezuelan multidisciplinary visual artist and animator. I got into the arts at a very young age being interested in hyper realistic pencil illustrations of wildlife during my teenage years. After graduating from art school, I decided to keep creating them after learning the scratchboard medium and offer commissions mostly from pets that my clients ask for. For my personal projects, I love creating wild animals or plants, giving them a space to show off their elegance and importance in the world. As a nature and animal lover, what drives my work are the species that where here first before us. I am drawn to recreate their beauty and grandeur with the contrasting blacks and whites no matter how big or small the creature is to remind the audience of their existence and relevance on Earth. Given the nature of the medium, people often mistake my artworks for photographs, but that’s the beauty of scratchboard where I can achieve incredibly fine details and make the subject in the panel almost seem like it is breathing right there inside the frame. Scratchboard is a very underrated medium, there are few of us artists who decide to step in to the unforgiving yet inspiring technique that this medium demands. Knowing this, it can be either easy or complicated to be noticed in the art world, at least in my city. I am surrounded by the works of pioneers in colorful creative kinetic art in the country, as well as abstract/pop sculptures, landscape paintings depicting our most iconic natural wonders, fast digital designs showcasing Venezuela’s tasty dishes, its devotion to the various representation of the Virgin Mary in different regions, or the overall culture of our people and common imagery associated with our cities and towns (cue the arepas, macaws, orchids, Angel Falls, the flying turpial, Araguaney tree, so on). So I have struggled to stand out in this sea of colors and culture and liveliness while clutching my dark panels devoid of hues and the essence of the red, blue, and yellow tones dotted with white stars that is the national flag. But, despite this, there is a bright side: there is no other artist who does the same artworks as I do. There may be Venezuelan artists out there applying amazing realism in their work, but not in the same medium or subject as I do. As mentioned before, scratchboard is a very underrated medium and even more so in my country where I get numerous “Is that photography paper?” “So you use white and black paint?” “I’ve never seen anything like that before!” People really have not seen this illustration engraving technique, so it is a promise of my advantage in setting myself apart from the other artist’s colorful works and coming forward with a new and unknown form of art in my country. I’m proud to be able to unveil and introduce this medium here, to be a young Venezuelan offering a different yet interesting view on what the panorama of art in my city can be. I’ve yet to create more panels depicting our wildlife (I’ve got some pending endemic animals looking back at me waiting to be scratched to life) and perhaps the landscapes of our country that so many Venezuelan migrants long to see and drink in again, but I trust in my ability, skills, and talent to be able to swim harder amongst the beautiful art culture my country has and hang a piece of my own creativity in our artistic hall of fame. I believe there are people who can see the beauty of what I bring to the spotlight, as I believe in myself, too.

As for animation, it has been very tricky to balance it with my previously mentioned work. But this medium grips me in a way that I just can’t ignore. I discovered the art of stop-motion animation at 16 years old during a high school public speaking class. The theme for our final presentation was film directors, and our class had to randomly pick folded papers from a basket that would tell us who we had to speak about. I was excited to find out who I would get: could it be the explosive works of Stephen Spielberg? Martin Scorcese’s seemingly endless scenes? Oh, forbid me from getting Peter Jackson’s work cause I would be happily blabbering on and on about The Lord of the Rings. But no, I did not get any of these excellent director’s names in my hands. Instead, the last paper to be picked by me had “stop-motion” scribbled on it. I begged my teacher to change it for an up-and-coming less known director not included in the roster, but she insisted this was a technique used in films, to my dismay. Little did I know how big of an impact this type of animation would have on annoyed teenage Mimi. Once I got home and started my research on the topic, I instantly fell in love with it. My heart pulled me to the inanimate objects moving by themselves as if by magic. I had always liked animation in general and animated films, but this? This was something entirely new for me (even though I had seen James and the Giant Peach as well as The Nightmare Before Christmas multiple times). I learned of the puppetry and set designs and everything in between that a stop-motion animation director had to bring to life for a film. Even though that impressed me big time (still to this day, the innumerable hours and work put for years to create a one and a half hour-long film is insane) I learned of the advertising side of the medium. To bring a product to life and showcase it in a unique and quite literally handmade way unlike digital 2D and 3D animation excited me. So for the coming years, I worked on a few animations as a hobby. I brought my take on it to multiple university class projects where I got raised eyebrows and jaws falling in the faces of students and professors. Unlike my illustrations though, animation was something that didn’t get much support from my family. It wasn’t a promising medium for them as I saw it to be, which made it harder to come to the decision of making it a professional career path I could take. Ever since I came back to live in my hometown, a voice in me was insisting I take advantage of this unseen form of animation in my city. Just like with scratchboard, stop-motion is incredibly absent in the many advertisements seen around in social media here. A few photographers have managed to pull off some animations in their portfolio, but all of them lack the foundations of movement that I have practiced for years, something that very much sets my work apart. After the pandemic, there was a small business boom in my city, something that made the voice inside get louder and louder to help them showcase their products in the original way I could offer. As a small business owner/freelancer, I greatly support and understand those of us who decided to make a living of what we are most passionate about, working from our dedicated space at home for it. So, three years after I stepped in Venezuelan soil, three years listening to that voice and feeling my heart warm up towards animation, three years of struggling with negative thoughts and comments about the “lack of potential” this medium has, I finally decided to dust off my Instagram animation account and give it a new brand image and look: Unplugged Lab – stop-motion and digital 2D animation studio. I finally made the dream I had for years official and offer brands an opportunity to delve into this mostly unknown form of animation to enhance their products and logos. Along with my skills in 2D animation, I have been slowly building up my social media portfolio in order to offer advertising videos of brands and their products to show off in their social media profiles. I have made 16 year-old Mimi proud, which in turn gives me so much contentment and satisfaction every time I sit down in front of my setup spending long hours moving an object inch by inch. It is intense hard work, especially with me being the creative director, animator, stylist, and editor of my own studio. But the moment I see my work move by itself is the most gratifying feeling, one that finally silenced that voice once and for all.

And so, along with my portraits and camera, I am still juggling these two passions at the same time, as different and contrasting as they both are. But they are what give me life and a desire to create and do something for the world, for my city, for those who need creativity. Because our creativity is needed in this world no matter how “weird” or uncommon it may be. If there is something golden I learned at uni besides all the amazing ways to express myself artistically, is that no matter what you do, there is always someone who will dislike you. Someone who will criticize your work and despise the subject matter you specialize in. But, just as there are negative people present, so will be someone who will *always* like and admire what you do. This person will get there, sooner or later, announcing themselves with loud clapping and cheering. Thankfully both of these types of people are in my life, making me fuel my passion even further as light and dark are needed in art as in life.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At the moment with my scratchboard illustrations, my mission is defining my style and work. I’m currently working on a few new compositions and materials that I can imbue in my panels which can make them more eye-catching and elegant. Given the contrasting blacks and whites, it gives way for adding more elements that could make my work more recognizable and original. In the next few months I’ll be putting these to the test and see if it sticks to my line of work about hyperrealistic wildlife. I’m very excited about it and can’t wait to unveil it all. As for stop-motion animation, I really want my audience to get to know this underrated medium in product advertising. It is a technique that is not always seen in my city, and I really wish to be the pioneer in this type of animation here. There are just so many possibilities that people are missing out on and I want them to meet them. For them to be as amazed as I was when experimenting with it. It’s a very fun medium that takes advantage of the limitless nature of animation. Whatever you can imagine can be done as if by magic with stop-motion animation in my studio. I have many animations planned to show in social media for the world to see and be charmed by.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was during art school, one of those days were my mind would sabotage my work and personal choices. A part of me was trying to convince me and silence my doubts about whether or not to switch majors from Visual Arts to Graphic Design. This design branch is one that was constantly nagging at me, insisting that it is much better and effective at getting a job, easier for potential clients to understand, bigger and better than the visual arts are. And maybe in a way it is, but my problem with it is that I dislike it with a passion. I do admire graphic designers and their work, I have always said there is someone out there who does it better than I do at digital designs for brands. There’s just so many layouts, compositions and designs that I would have never imagined to do or have as an idea. But then I do know how to use the programs and the basics in logo design, branding, typography, and such. I know my way around it and could make a career out of it, but graphic design encloses me in a box, limiting my imagination and skills to specs that I’m not inspired to follow. So I did. I switched majors without telling my beloved Visual Arts professors and for one month, I had this storm raging in my mind. I felt as though I had put on a pair of shoes two sizes bigger. I wasn’t entirely comfortable in those classes, even more so with some of them literally making my stomach sink at the projects I’d have to work on, unlike in Visual Arts were every single thing made my heart swell and dance happily. Every day I felt as though I had betrayed my professors but most importantly myself. I had taken an impulsive decision based on what others told me. I had been battling with it since that summer when I came back to my hometown and explained the whole situation to my parents. They still supported me, but I just was never happy with changing majors.
And so, I ran to my professor’s classroom and told them everything. They were shocked that I didn’t consult with them first but warmly welcomed me back and jokingly said to never run away from the nest before asking them first. I switched back to Visual Arts and realized this is where I truly belong. This small but significant pivot in my life opened my eyes to accepting that, if it tickles my heart, then that’s where it’s at.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elstudiodemimi.weebly.com/
• Instagram: @elstudiodemimi – @unplugged.lab
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/mimideponte BioSite: bio.site/elstudiodemimi

Image Credits
Kerman Zuccaro – Zuk Films