We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Munn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I actually went to undergrad for computer science (University of Delaware). I wanted to program video games for a living. Funny enough, going into my senior year, I got my hands on MAYA (computer animation software) and everything changed. A few “MAYA for Beginners” tutorials later, and I had fallen completely in love with computer art and animation. Unfortunately, I was on a path to graduating with a comp sci degree, so I had to figure out how to shift my focus super late in the college game. Remember, I’m a senior at this point. So, I declared an art minor, took a bunch of random art classes, and spent that year filling up sketchbooks and modeling as many CG characters as I could. I was on a mission to finish the year with an art portfolio worthy of getting me accepted into a Computer Art graduate program. At the time, there were only a handful of those schools… and I got rejected by all of them except one… Savannah College of Art and Design. Somehow they saw something in a young brotha, and let me in. Once I got in there, my mentality was, “I have to work harder than everyone”. I looked around and saw nothing but students who went to traditional art schools for undergrad. Kids who could draw and paint circles around me, So, my insecurity drove me to grind as hard as I could. Overcompensating like crazy. I did all of my computer art course work, but I also always had personal animation projects going on the side. I was doing monthly online animation competitions, reading all of the animation books I could find, emailing pro animators in hopes of getting eyes on my work, and staying late nights in the computer lab cranking out one terrible animation after the other. After a while, those animations started looking a little better. Eventually, I got my opportunity to animate professionally as an animation intern for a small animation studio in Atlanta. A year and a half, and several animated shots (both personal and professional) later, and I was offered and opportunity to move to Los Angeles to work as a staff animator for Sony Imageworks on my first feature animation project, OPEN SEASON.

I know there are a lot of extremely talented artists out there. But, my story is one of GRIT and perseverance. I just decided I wanted it bad enough, and I worked relentlessly to see it through. It took a very long time before I became competent in the craft. And, I took countless butt-kickings along the way. Believe me. But, I kept getting back up, and dusting myself off. I kept “choppin wood”, and it worked out. I don’t think we talk enough about the power of perseverance. Art careers especially require a high degree of it, because there are going to be days when you feel like an imposter. Days when you can’t get whatever you’re working on looking right. You can spend all day working on something, realize you hate it, and find yourself having to start from scratch the next day. Not a lot of people can handle that type of struggle. That’s why my number one bit of advice to aspiring artists is KEEP GOING. No matter how impossible it seems, if you truly love it, Don’t you dare quit. A little GRIT can go a long way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been in the animation industry for nearly two decades, working mostly as an animator on over a dozen animation & vfx projects. I say mostly, because I’ve done a little voice acting and directing along the way as well.

Lately, however, I’ve been transitioning into more of a development role. I looked at my career one day and realized that I hadn’t animated on anything rooted in black culture. Twenty years in animation, and I’ve only animated two black characters — both were pretty much the only black character in the film. So, I decided I had to do something about that. These days, I’m doing a lot of writing and concept creation, on a specific mission to bring more black culture to animation. It’s time to tell our stories, and I’m proud to finally be working towards that goal. As we speak, I’m executive producing an exciting Afrocentric animated series in early development.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Two years ago, Blue Sky Studios was closed by Disney, and we all lost our jobs. It was a challenging time to say the least. One day, we’re working comfortably, business as usual… the next day, we’re all scrambling to figure out our lives. For me, it was a kick in the rear-end. I had been flirting with writing and pitching for a while, so losing my animation job was like the universe telling me to “stop playing” and go for it. I almost had to. So, I dedicated the next 6 months to developing a pitch for one of my story concepts. After lots of hard work, some cold dark nights, and a lot of help (especially from my newly acquired talent agents at VERVE), I managed to get the story optioned at a major animation studio.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I don’t own any NFTs. But, I need to get some! My prediction is that we’re only a few years away from “the metaverse” becoming this thing that rivals our “real lives”. Soon, kids are gonna care about the brand of virtual sneakers their metaverse avatar wears more than they care about the sneakers they wear on their actual feet. When that day comes, NFTs are gonna really explode. So, I need to hurry up and get with the program. I already know I’m gonna want some NFT artwork to display in my sexy future metaverse condo. Maybe, I’ll create my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.munnderful.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/munnday06/

Image Credits
Dual Vizion Photography http://dualvizionphotography.com/ Photographer: Michael Edwards