We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Casey Bauers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Casey below.

Casey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve been constantly learning new art skills for as long as I can remember. As a kid I loved reading about this history of animation and studying the works of older artists. Then I took the big step going to art school. That was where I gained the majority of my current creative skills. I think the most important thing I learned there was to just have an open mind. You never know what you are going to be good at until you try out a lot of different things. I went in with a focus on 2D animation and ended up falling in love with 3D modeling. I also learned a lot of other skills that I wouldn’t have otherwise, which have been very useful in my current job. Even after college I have continued to pursue learning new skills. I am currently attending ceramics classes and I am looking forward to whatever I decide to learn next. I honestly don’t think I could have sped up my learning process at all. There are probably things I could have done to learn more efficiently or have started sooner, but I don’t think there is a need to rush learning new skills. Running into art block or having your skills plateau for a bit are inevitable, and I think trying to rush through those phases too quickly would make the entire process way more painful than it needs to be. I enjoy the process of learning and I want to continue doing so for the rest of my life.

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

In my current role I do a little bit of everything when it comes to creative services. Whenever my company needs graphic design, video editing, animation, web design, or 3D modeling done I am one of the people asked to do so. I absolutely love that I get to do so many different things and make use of all of the skills I learned in college. It helps keep my day-to-day exciting and I feel like it really helps me to strengthen my skills in some of my weaker areas.

When it comes to my personal art I mostly focus on 3D modeling in multiple forms. I love modeling on the computer with ZBrush, but I also frequently work with my hands to model stuff out of clay. Being familiar with both digital and traditional 3D is important to me and I feel that it helps improve my skills overall. I also enjoy working on the occasional drawing or painting on the rare occasions that I feel like taking a break from 3D.

I would describe my brand of artwork as very playful and cheery. With my personal work I strive to make things that can be enjoyed by all ages, but that is targeted towards a younger audience. I like to think my artwork manages to be colorful and inviting without being overbearing or obnoxious. I also pride myself on my adaptability because the designs I create for my career are very different than what I do during my personal time. Cutesy art isn’t very fitting in a corporate setting, so I have to make sure that my designs fit the brand of the company. This was honestly a bit difficult at first, but nowadays I feel like I have really gotten the hang of it and I am proud of how much my designs have improved.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew more about my local art scene. Joining a ceramics class and becoming a part of an art community has been so important to me. I’ve only been attending for a little over a year, but it has quickly become the highlight of my week and I don’t know what I would do without it. I think if I had gotten into something similar when I was younger I would have had a lot of fun, and maybe I would have learned some different skills that I don’t currently have. To anyone with a passion for art I highly recommend joining some sort of creative group extracurricular. Depending on the class it can be a bit pricey, and once a week can be a big time commitment, but I guarantee it is worth it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think its important that people recognize just how much art and design contributes to their life. You can look around at any time and point out countless objects that were carefully and thoughtful designed. Right now just sitting at my desk I could point out my earbuds, the case they are in, my keyboard, mousemat, phone case, tablet case, and plushes were all designed by someone. That isn’t even including all the various pieces of artwork I have hanging up. And that is just at my desk. If you go to any store you could point out endless items that were designed. Life would be so dull without artists and I don’t think everyone realizes that. I think just acknowledging how much the arts add to our everyday lives is the first big step in helping support artists as a society. I think once someone recognizes how much art adds to their life it naturally becomes easier to be more supportive of their local art comunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/caseybauers
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caseybauers/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseybauers/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseybauers?lang=en
• Other: Sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/caseybauers