We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angelica Pascua. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angelica below.
Hi Angelica, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Yes! I’m so lucky to be able to be a full-time 3D artist. Getting here was not at all smooth or easy.
In the beginning, around the middle of my high school years, I would occasionally take illustration commissions from people online. It was often never more than a few times a year, but I had one loyal client who believed in me enough to continue commissioning my art.
During my college years in art school, I was a part-time campus worker. I continued taking the occasional illustration commission but I was fully dedicated to schoolwork for the most part. During my sophomore year, I took an Intro to 3d art class. I took to it immediately and that’s when I knew I wanted to pursue this field professionally once I graduated.
After graduation…I can only describe it as frustrating, haha. I took a month off to relax before I started looking for employment. I continued working on my portfolio and learning new techniques to improve my 3d art. I was applying to job postings for 3d artists left and right. Sometimes I’d get a response in the form of a rejection email. I had a handful that turned into interviews but ultimately was rejected. 90% of the time I was just straight-up ghosted.
For 9 months post-grad I worked part-time at a boba shop while I went through the vicious cycle of applications and rejections. Occasionally, I’d get a couple of freelance commissions for my 3d art. I am forever grateful to those clients for choosing me during such a low point in my life. All this fueled me to improve my work out of sheer spite. After grueling shifts churning out boba orders in a sweltering hot kitchen, I would come home and work on portfolio projects.
In May of 2022, I was contacted by my current boss on Linkedin, offering me a spot on BOND’s 3D team. It was so out of the blue, I honestly thought I was being scammed! Luckily, It was legit! I accepted the position and have happily worked here ever since.
Looking back, I don’t think there was anything I could have practically done differently to speed things up with how my skill levels were at the time. The fact was that I was simply lacking and the industry is insanely competitive. If I had to answer, I would say that I should have applied myself more intensely to improving while being a student. And maybe not change my major 3 times. That really ate up a lot of school time. haha.
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?
Hello reader! My name is Angelica Pascua. I am currently a junior 3d artist in the entertainment marketing industry.
I work full-time at an agency that collaborates with entertainment/game studios to create their marketing materials. This includes film posters, trailers, video game covers, social media posts, and things within that realm!
What I do within my team is: take client assets like 3d models, convert them for in-house use, and then pose/light/render them out for further polishing to get to the final product. To get more technical, my responsibilities also include creating in-house 3d models, texturing, and rigging them if need be.
What makes us special is that we are able to bring the client’s wildest ideas to life—telling their stories in the best light possible, and creating lasting impressions among their audiences. In fact, you may have seen something I’ve had a hand in out in the wild!
I feel a swell of pride whenever a project I’ve worked on makes it out into the real world. Seeing something I handled personally become tangible in the wild, the feeling is indescribable. I find myself pointing out billboards and bus ads to my friends when we’re hanging out and going “I helped with that!!”
Outside of my full-time job, I am still creative in my own right. My true love lies in whimsical video game-inspired 3d art. I’m inspired by anime, street fashion, and all things cute. At work, the things I make are pretty gritty and dark, or based on realism; which isn’t a bad thing! It certainly comes with its own set of challenges that keep me sharp. In my own time, I love using sugary sweet colors and modeling anime-stylized characters and creatures.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
Not a fan, personally.
When I first heard them described, I could not see anything revolutionary about them. In fact they kind of sound like a scam, to be honest. Like, okay, you spent an absurd amount of whatever-coin on a jpeg of a randomly generated cartoon monkey to have sole ownership of it. But people can still look at it and save it for themselves. And you get mad when they do? I just don’t see the logic. Just use https://picrew.me/en/ it’s free.
The concept that NFTs are trying to invent already exists in a perfectly fine form. You could achieve the same thing and more by commissioning an artist for a one-of-a-kind, bespoke piece of artwork. One that is truly unique and belongs to you. With real money and without the baggage crypto and blockchain have on the environment.
Also, a lot of the big-name NFTs are just ugly to me. Sorry, haha. This is all just my opinion though, I’m not looking to argue it with anybody. Do what makes you happy!
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 non-creatives assume creatives are all naturally talented, and that all the beautiful work that we make is effortless for us.
What many don’t see is the hours to years of practice we dedicate to get to the skill level we are at today. There are scrapped drafts, unfinished sketches, and countless times we’ve started over. No artist is born instantly knowing or having the skill set necessary to create good art. All of this comes with consistent trial and error, years of practice or schooling, and maybe even a lot of money spent on supplies and lessons.
In the same vein, many non-creatives have this misconception that an artist can do any kind of art. As if the different genres of art are interchangeable. To some extent. each discipline can overlap with the other, but not so that a professional in one field can jump into another and produce the same quality. \
For example, the Photography department is separate from the 3D art department in my workplace. Both of us are talented in our own fields; but if we were to trade places we would be completely lost in how to do each other’s jobs.
And yet people are out here asking my fellow concept artists and character designers to design logos. When in reality that is an entirely different discipline with a different required skillset. Like, please stop asking me to do graphic design!! I don’t know how!!! But if you need a 3d model, I’d be more than happy to help!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://angelicapascua.art/
- Instagram: @pompomparfait
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelica-pascua/