We were lucky to catch up with Christian Boucher recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christian, 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.
Honestly, I always knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I still do. There was never a time in my life where I wanted to do anything else with my life other. I can’t even remember when I made my mind up about it, it was that long ago. I wanted to make comic books when I was younger, and when I was 11 or 12 years old, I actually started drawing my own comic. Created this entire post-apocalyptic, dystopian story about superhero deities and dedicated all my time to that. Then my dream shifted to making cartoons. There were a few different times throughout my childhood. Screaming on the couch trying to go super saiyan was also one of those moments – I wanted to recreate moments like that with my own story. But it was definitely early on.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
First off, I’m from Texas. Just wanted to throw that in there haha but seriously. Even when I was younger, I always knew that this – being an artist, an animator – was what I wanted to do. There’s actually a funny story about how I got to where I’m at. It all starts with free donuts. To elaborate, when I was a sophomore in high school – I was a couple weeks away from dropping out of school. I made good grades, I just didn’t think I needed to be learning pythagorean theorem when I could be learning how to do 2D animation. But one day my art teacher me asked if I wanted free donuts. You know what my answer was. I mean, who doesn’t want free donuts, right? All I had to do was show up to my school’s art club meetings. That conversation changed my life. I found a new love for art, learning different mediums, and learning about what opportunities were out there for me to follow my dreams. Eventually, I went to art school with the sole purpose of becoming a 2D animator. In an ideal world, that would be the end of the story – but it’s not.
Halfway through my junior year in college, I got suspended for 1 year and ended up dropping out of college. Not my proudest moment. But in that, I kind of lost the passion to animate, but I still continued to draw because there was nothing else I knew in life. I started working all kind of regular jobs- food, hospitality, retail, customer service, cell phone sales, I even became a registered jeweler/gemologist. That was actually fun, but I didn’t actually WANT to do that for the rest of my life. One day, I was having a virtual drinking session with one of my friends from college and asked him how his animation work is going. He told me that he was working with one of our other friends. I woke up the next day and decided that I wanted to get back into it. At this point, it had been 5 years since I made any type of animation. But they had faith in me. So I prayed to God, and left my job as the diamond man. Took a major leap of faith. This how God works. I used to lean on these two when I was going through the whole process of being kicked out/dropping out of college. I was broke without a pot to piss in. One of them would sneak me on campus to get me into the cafeteria, and the other would let me crash on his couch. 5 or 6 years down the road, we’re working on a project for Bleacher Report together, working with rappers, actors, athletes, putting projects on Hulu. The list goes on. So that’s how I got into the industry.
Now, I’m all in. Of course, I do 2D cartoon animation, but I also do a lot of illustration and design work. Illustrations, logos, product design, flyers. If it can be drawn out, I’m gonna do it. I love taking on the more personal projects the most – portraits that mean something to my clients. What sets me apart is my process. I love when my clients say, “do you, we have faith in your ability,” giving me free reign on how to complete this process for them. But the reason I love that, is because regardless, I’m going back to them throughout the entire process. Whether it’s a personal or a professional project, I love including them in the process so that they can also feel like they contributed to their finished piece – because they did. In the end, it makes it more personal and they’re more satisfied in the end. I take pride in that.
I’m honestly most proud of the path I took to get here. It was dark, dirty. I was really in the trenches. I’ve slept under bridges and on park benches before. So to be where I am now, to have literally gotten it out the mud, and to be able to profit off my passion. It’s truly a blessing. And the people I met in the art community – my heart is just full of joy to have found a worldwide tribe.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
OMG yes. Especially as a black artist. When I was applying to college 15 years ago (whew, I actually said that) there were little to no resources for young black artists outside of graphic design. No community, no one pointing them in the right direction. I have always said that I wish there were HBCUs with art programs or HBCU art schools or vocational schools. They have them now, which is great, but the biggest resource, in my opinion, is community. Encourage young creatives to pursue their passions, provide them the supplies and a safe space to create. There’s mentorship and scholastic programs geared towards young creatives that I never knew about until I was looking for ways to be a leader.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Really, respect & value their time. Honor and respect their prices. Stop asking for discounts. I hate to say it like that, but yeah. Every creative has literally shed blood, sweat and tears to get where they are in their artistic journey. I’m not exaggerating when I say that – ask any creative about a time they bled while working and they’ll have a story for you. There’s a lot of passion that goes into creating, and even more time. If you are about to buy some generic art from the store or online, stop and ask yourself, “don’t I know someone who can create this themselves?” And reach out! We live in the age of information, the age of social media. Share their art. Trust me, word of mouth is not dead, it’s just evolved. And even if you recommend us to someone and they don’t follow through, that recommendation is still showing support.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.animatedboucher.com/
- Instagram: @animatedboucher
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animatedboucher/
- Twitter: @animatedboucher, @dynastyanimation
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxM2pZ3I6FPrSagOYhPQdQ