We recently connected with Colin Lepper and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Colin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

When I was in highschool I made this amateur music video for an indie band I was into at the time called Okkervil River, as a way to explore claymation, which I’d just been introduced too. I put it up on Youtube where a singer from New Zealand named Renee Louise-Carafice must have seen it, and she reached out asking if I’d like to make an official music video for her. This was so exciting not only because it was my first dollar earned from making art, but it was also one of my first steps onto the internet in general, and to have a stranger from the other side of the globe reach out to me directly was incredibly cool and the epitome of what the internet was promised to be. So I set up a little animation stage using the ping pong table in my parents basement with a dslr my older sisters boyfriend lent me and shot my first professional animated video. I was either too young to understand or technology hadn’t quite come far enough to where large files or money could be transferred easily online… but for about $2000 (sent through snail mail in the form of 2 $1000 checks) I created this video, burned it on to a DVD, and mailed it to New Zealand. It all felt incredibly grown up. I was told it aired on TV in New Zealand too, which would have been amazing to see.

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

I’m a 32 year old guy who likes bugs, dinosaurs, sitting at round tables, a 70:30 split of sunny to rainy days, and making all variety of things using my hands. I’ve been working professionally in the animation industry for about 10 years, where I predominantly work as a stop motion director and animator. I grew up in a suburb of Toronto, and went to school for animation in a different suburb of Toronto, which helped me land in internship in 2014 working at a Los Angeles studio called Jibjab. This ended up launching my life and career in the states, where I’ve worked for the last ten years. I just recently moved back to Toronto though and am excited to bring back a lot of what I learned to the city I (almost) grew up in.

I’ve always been the type of artist who likes to get their hands on every part of a project, and I love seeing something through from start to finish. The job I had at Jibjab was perfect for this, as it was a small team of very talented artists who were all given quite a bit of freedom to jump around from task to task. A lot of the time when you graduate animation school you get put in a professional box (animator, storyboard artist, background artist, etc) but Jibjab allowed me to focus on stop-motion, which I love, but within that medium I was able to grow my skills as a fabricator, animator, compositor, and eventually, director. While I’ve focused more on animation since I left that studio in 2019, it gave me a solid base and reputation as someone who can “do it all”, which has landed me some awesome projects where I get to come up with and execute an idea from start to finish.

I also think learning is one of the coolest things we can do as humans, and I like to use each new project I take on as an excuse to try something new, whether that be exploring a new visual style, studying a new source of inspiration or using a new technique for making something. So I pride myself a little on not being too tied to a certain “style”. Which isn’t always ideal professionally, but I think it helps keep things fresh. I also am a strong believer in the importance of minor details, and having a history and background to every aspect of an animated film. I think these details are things most people won’t be able to consciously notice, but contribute to an authenticity and commitment to a story that we all can inherently feel.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think broadly we need to move to a worker based economy instead of investment based. Art and artists have become an ingredient that is currently necessary to boost profits and chase infinite growth for studio executives and the corporations they work under. They are rarely viewed as artists in the traditional sense of the word and are often barely seen as human beings. I think the development of AI has shown us that these major companies want to extract our value and drop the messy, expensive bit about us being actual people with emotions in which art is derived. It’s a problem that extends well beyond artists too and is something we’re all collectively going to face, I think sooner than later.

I think having platforms that make it easier to contribute directly to an artist are a great way to avoid artists needing to dilute their work, but that still tends to put artists in a box and turn them in to content machines. Ultimately I think in order to create the largest amount of genuine art (not art created as advertising for merch, sponsors, or “content) our society will require a shift that allows the average citizen enough financial stability and free time to explore their creativity so that a larger and more diverse group of people can contribute to this creative ecosystem. I believe there is currently a certain amount of privilege in being an artist professionally, and while I am incredibly grateful to make a living off it, I think that the best art is not done with profit or the market in mind.

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

I think a lot of artists are particularly sensitive, conflict avoidant, and maybe I’m projecting here, but can be predisposed to having low self-worth. I don’t know how much of this is nature vs. nurture, but we often get it hammered in to our heads how lucky we are (often by well-meaning people, as well as manipulative people trying to low ball our rates) that we get to make art for a living. This is true to an extent, but it drives me nuts because of the degree it undervalues the intrinsic need that society has always had for art. Unlearning this has come slowly, from speaking to more experienced artists, more confident friends, and the inside knowledge that a studio was offering me 66% of what they were offering new, less experienced employees 5+ years ago. It’s uncomfortable every time, but you have to have those discussions and make sure you are receiving what you are worth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://colinlepper.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/colinlepper
• Other: https://vimeo.com/colinlepper

Image Credits

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