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

Bruce, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first began drawing as a child, before I could talk, I was holding a pencil and doodling. My parents recount having to tear the pencil from my hands so I could go to sleep. So, in a lot of ways I always knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path, but I wasn’t sure in what way. As I got older I created comics and stories, and was coming up with characters everyday. My parents were involved in the film industry, so we were always discussing story and watching films. I remember the most impactful was “The Nightmare before Christmas” since it was the first time I questioned how it was done and pursued finding out the tricks myself. I created sloppy stop-motion films in every free moment with my action figure cast, and fell in love with creating life and stories. I attended CSSSA (Cal Arts Summer Program) where I made a film about a cannibalistic burger-man, who ate less developed/non-mutant cheeseburgers.

In high school, I continued on the path of absurdity, and devoted myself to monster/creature art in my AP art class, where I got reactions and feedback for the first time. Being introverted most of my life, this class gave me confidence about my vision, my view of life, and how I expressed myself artistically. I leaned towards giving the outcasted, weird, and ugly creatures a lovability and charm. My greatest achievement was my AP concentration, called “Imaginary emotional specialists on vacation” – which was a collection of imaginary creatures that each represent an emotion, and when they go on vacation they are seen trying out opposite emotions from their specialty. Out of curiosity and a break from the usual, a character specializing in Relaxation would be pictured visiting a burning hotel., and Fear would be scaling a mountaintop.

I was accepted to USC’s animation program, where I took my passion and refined my skills and knowledgebase about animation, and the many paths you can take within the industry. My final film “Cloud 8″is about an outcasted cloud character who falls tragically from Cloud 9 to Cloud 8. Stranded in a new world, the lost character finds a friend there who shows him what acceptance and love is, and he learns that home is where your friends are. This showcased my interest in storytelling and establishing a look and feel for a project. “Cloud 8″t was my first independent 3D film, so I took on the challenge of doing every aspect of its production: modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, etc.. It was here at USC where I cemented my real interest in animation, storytelling, and design. In the early stages of my career, I have been interning and freelancing in the marketing/ad space. This I feel, is a realm where creativity and storytelling is appreciated at a faster pace, and where a multitude of ideas and concepts with diverse styles and direction can be considered. It also pulls from a personal interest of mine in design, aesthetics and tone, which can be shown in stacks of old vinyl albums with interesting covers, and vintage matchboxes that continue to inspire as they litter my living space. In the future, I hope to work in film or television in animation, but I am open anything.

Bruce, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, my name is Bruce, and I’m a USC animation graduate and at the moment I’m a freelance illustrator, designer, and animator. I’m working on independent projects to build my portfolio, and am freelancing in the ad/marketing arena.

I’m most proud of my storytelling and ideation ability, as I think some of my concepts and my work can come off as unique. I also haven’t limited myself in the things I learn and want to continue to learn, so I have different skills in multiple arenas. I have always loved working in 2D, but have a big passion for 3D art and animation as well. I also have a very specific tone in a lot of the work I create, but again I have skills and curiosity at all ends of the spectrum.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, is the feeling of creating something that other people will enjoy. The process of breathing life into something, adding to it, or being involved in any way that feels like a piece of you is going to imprint that work is satisfying. The second most rewarding aspect is seeing some of the humorous characters I create being appreciated by others. If an audience can gain insight into from my work, see themselves in it’s humor, or be moved by it emotionally, that’s a fantastic feeling.

For me personally, I feel that being an artist is a fulfillment of a dream that I had from a very young age. In terms of animation, the cool part is giving life to the characters I create and seeing them move in a space or world.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think that this is a very current question, specifically with the struggle that the film industry is going through. For most people it’s very tough to break in, and once your in, they struggle creatively and their personal opinions are not as valued. It makes sense too, as there is a lot of external pressure from society on the film industry to create something appealing to audiences, but viewers are not exactly thinking the same thing. It becomes a lose-lose situation, no matter what is being done, people are disappointed or don’t see the movie. It would be naive to say that the creatives should take control and disregard audiences and executives, as this is no longer just an artform, it’s an involved form, so many other people are involved in the process. This could be a negative and a positive, but I think the point is, if there was less outward and sometimes inward pressure on creatives and artists to adapt to the tone of the market, the outcome might be better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brucedebiasse.myportfolio.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucedebiasse/