Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anh Bui. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Anh, appreciate you joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Back in college, art was an all consuming force for me, it was the only pathway I had open for myself, and something I strived for incessantly. Working constantly, getting a job, and solidifying myself within a creative space were my most important goals in life, but once I had achieved those things, I had to discover who I was outside of them.

I learned the following:

1: Live your life so you don’t lose your passion.

2: In order to make good art and tell compelling stories, you have to experience your own adventures, inspiration is found through experience.

3: Your value isn’t in what you produce, it’s in simply existing and finding joy in life.

The more I detach from the possibility that art is the only way, the more possibilities have opened up for me than ever.

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

I came to the States from Vietnam at 15 years old, and I bounced around several states and schools trying to figure out where I wanted to be and what to do and holding several part-time jobs in the meanwhile. I graduated high school and went to Columbus College of Art Design in Ohio, but shortly after decided to drop out and test myself by jumping into the Nick Artists Program all the way over in California! With the money I saved up, I came to LA with a dream and the means to achieve it and managed to get picked as one of the new Nick Artists through the program. This lead to a bunch of opportunities within and outside of Nickelodeon, and I’ve met so many people along the journey who’ve helped me grow and given me even more opportunities to get me to where I am now.

I’m a Visual Development & Background Artist for Animation. I’ve been a part of several Nickelodeon shows as well as illustrating books. I have a vivid imagination that helps create worlds and tell stories through my art, and the smile I bring to people’s faces with what I put out helps fuel me further.

I’m willing to experiment and try things that are outside of art itself and then bring them all back to my art. This has created its own feedback loop where the more I do things outside, the better my art gets, which then provides me with more opportunities to do things and so on.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Creating is a way to pay tribute to what I love, to convey an appreciation for life in general, to immortalize the things that impact me.

Living in the moment is important, being with loved ones, creating new adventures, finding joy in the small things, but taking the time mark down those moments can help me gain a new connection with them.
It can serves as a reminder to not be complacent, to be grateful for what I have, to interpret those things through my own
lens and hold them in my hands.

It’s time for me to reflect on what truly matters.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Leaving college after my freshman year.

Art college was somewhere I always wanted to go, but my host family and others from my small town didn’t support that path- I needed to prove to myself I could do it, that this path WAS a viable option, so I applied anyways. But once I experienced my freshman year, and covid hit, I realized it may not be what’s best for me. My gut told me to make my way to L.A, and I decided to listen to it.

School was a comfort zone in a lot of ways, the structure was good, but suffocating- I was driven by the uncertainty of what could exist beyond it. I moved to L.A without a job, but believed that my time would come through my hard work.
And it did- I was contacted by the Nick Artist program a month after moving here, and have worked with them since.

Once I dropped the expectations of others, and allowed myself to pursue my own journey, I found my success as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artofanh.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dumpli.ng/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012328473505
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anhpbui/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dumpli__ng