We recently connected with Kristen Pileri and have shared our conversation below.

Kristen, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Well this is an interesting question! Only because I feel so split between two worlds that I can’t just choose one of them! I would say the most meaningful tv shows I’ve worked on as a storyboard artist would be the ones that have had the most meaningful crews! When you work with incredibly kind and talented artists, it fulfills that void in your heart that yearns for meaning. Some of the best shows that come to mind first are – Puppy Dog Pals, Farzar, and The Great North.

As for the most meaningful bakes I’ve done, WELL THAT’S EASY. Early on in my cake making career, I wanted to do some crazy cakes that no one was asking for. So as a learning experience, I made a life size baby yoda cake for my best friends birthday! I’ve never done a stand up cake before let alone a bunch of new techniques that included constructing the base with wood and drills, collecting and measuring dowels, playing with physics, jello eyeballs, edible paper, luster dust, and LOTS of fondant. It was daunting to say the least, but I was determined to surprise my best friend to the max.

This cake took me about 3 days, including staying up through the nights to get it done. Once I was finally happy with it, (after much blood, sweat, and tears), I roped in a friend of mine to drive us (and the cake) to my best friends place, in the middle of a Wednesday to surprise her, while being dressed up head to toe in Star Wars Jedi robes. Let’s just say she was VERY surprised! That smile and disbelief on her face was all worth it. And those techniques that I learned in that one cake has served me well in countless others. Even tho it was an absolute pain to get through, it was so FUN and definitely worthwhile.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For people who are not familiar with me, I am a storyboard artist for animated tv shows AND a home baker that makes particularly crazy cakes! Both of these crafts are creatively demanding and detail oriented. They require open minds and problem solving, which I thrive in!

Originally I learned storyboarding for animation at Loyola Marymount University. It was love at first sketch and I knew I had to make this my career. After I graduated, I worked my way up the animation ladder for a few years until I finally got to be a real life storyboarder for a kids tv show! It was a dream come true! Then covid hit, and I found myself without a job or any kind of hope for the future. I began watching baking videos to keep myself entertained and less depressed while quarantining. Fast forward many videos later, I thought – “I could do that” and tried my hand at baking. The beginning bakes started off very small and kinda terrible, but as time went on, my love and imagination for baking grew! The surprise and delight on my friends faces when they see something that was specifically crafted just for them, really made the cakes worthwhile. I’m really fortunate that I found something I’m really passionate about AGAIN in my life. I would never have gotten there without my animation roots.

And now I combine these two passions all the time! Sure some other artists like to bake, but I am EXTRA and I can take it far. I have made cakes of specific animated characters for the directors of those shows, a cartoon cake that looks like it was drawn in a comic book, anime themed cakes that move, and I’ve even made a cake that looks like a giant Wacom stylus pen! (A device that looks like a pen that animators use on screens for their animations). In my world, baking and animation are forever connected and deliciously intertwined.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the hardest thing non creatives struggle to understand is that they think they can’t do this. Yes, of course people are more naturally creative than others, sure. BUT, I don’t believe no one has “no creative bones in their body”. I get so annoyed when non creatives say “oh I could never do that”, or “I can’t even draw a stick figure.” It’s all nonsense. I believe in the 3 P’s. It’s all about what you put your practice, patience, and passion in! NO ONE is great at the beginning. I think people get too frustrated with how long they are taking to get better and if they can’t do it right the first time, then they just give up. Yes, of course it takes time and lots of practice, a lot more than most people think. Maybe if they took the time to work on it without any pressure on themselves, then they would realize how long the artist took to actually develop those skills for their craft. Heck, they might be even more impressed when they see something truly extraordinary.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I graduated college, I won the Bernard Abbene Comedy award given out at Paramount Studios for my animated thesis film – Couleur. I was over the moon and thought I would be getting so many job offers from my favorite animation companies! Or at least they would hire me if I applied. To my surprise, no one cared. No one hired me, no one even looked my direction. I thought – maybe it was me? Maybe I was the problem? Maybe I suck? I then went into a long downward spiral of self doubt while my friends got animation jobs left and right. It took me a good long while before I finally realized – my worth had nothing to do with anyone else. I had to unlearn that I needed someone else to tell me how great I was and how great my potential could be. After a good long year of looking inward into my own self doubt while doing whatever kind of jobs to get by, I finally got hired as a production assistant at a small animation/stop motion company called Stoopid Buddy Studios. It was a very simple job, but it was something! I still had lots to learn, but luckily I learned the one thing I needed to keep going. And that same lesson keeps me going every day. Whether it be baking, storyboarding or something else entirely, I have the potential to be whatever the hell I want.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://krittenart.blogspot.com/p/storyboard-portfolio.html?m=1
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/la_magnificake?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
• Linkedin: Check out Kristen Pileri’s profile on LinkedIn

Image Credits
All images were taken by me (Kristen Pileri) on a timer.