We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Bateman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Eric thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I’d been working in the animation industry for a couple years now, but wasn’t enjoying it. Since projects that are done for streaming platforms such as Netflix, or Hulu are classified as “new media” it allows those platforms to grossly underpay studios for their work. This results in artists and production staff being paid poorly for the amount of work they put in, and being expected to work extra hours to get the project done on time. That combined with my studio enforcing a 50 hour work week, I was basically being paid less than when I worked at Target back in 2020. Combined with the stress that goes along with the job, I knew I needed a change.

I’d known for a while that I wanted to change careers to something more creative and fulfilling. Back in June, my studio put most of the artists and production staff on hiatus, with plans for us to come back in September. I knew I didn’t want to go back after my hiatus, and that this was just what I needed to pivot my career. They told me about my hiatus 2 weeks beforehand, which gave me time to look into other careers. I remembered a conversation I’d had with my girlfriend a few months prior about UI/UX. I looked into it again, and it clicked. I decided to apply for an online UI/UX bootcamp and not return to my animation job.

I am currently 2 months into a 6 month Designlab course and I am enjoying it! The people I’ve met online have been very friendly and helpful. I can’t wait to finish my studies and land a job in the industry!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Aside from my career change into UI/UX, I am also a cartoonist. In elementary and middle school, I would make comics using bristol board and micron pens. In college, I learned how to make digital art on Wacom drawing tablets. Once I got the hang of drawing digitally, I didn’t look back. Digital offers way more opportunities to edit and improve a comic if I feel like elements need to be changed. I specialize in drawing cartoony characters and writing jokes. My comic “Chipperdoodles” is a family-friendly gag comicstrip that doesn’t have any main characters, I just draw whatever funny scenario comes to mind! I post my comics on most of the main social media platforms (instagram, twitter, reddit, etc.). Just search for “Chipperdoodles” and my comic should show up.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is putting my comics out into the world each week and seeing how readers react. Sometimes they respond with puns of their own! Interacting with readers is a big part of why I enjoy making comics so much.

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

When I was in college, I thought that I would do animation for my entire career. I felt a lot of pressure to like animation and make it work as a career, because I saw my parents’ generation doing the same job for their whole careers. When I got my first animation job back in 2018, I knew it wasn’t for me, but I felt trapped since I didn’t know that it was ok to pivot careers. I stuck with animation until my hiatus in June of this year. It took me a long time to realize that it was perfectly normal to change career paths. If something isn’t working, naturally you change it. I’ve learned that careers are no different.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chipperdoodles07.wixsite.com/ericbatemancomics
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eric.bateman.art/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-bateman-434940137/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChipperComic
• Other: https://www.reddit.com/user/ChipperdoodlesComic/submitted/

Image Credits
Maggie Lo (main photo)