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

Hi Erik, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

When It comes to animation, the best way to learn is obviously tons of practice. The sky is the limit if you can figure out how to execute your ideas. I’ve spent hundreds of hours tinkering, watching youtube tutorials, and picking the brains of far more experienced creators. I think you also have to fail a lot. The first person who taught me after effects would sometimes just close a project, start over and never look back. For everything I share or publish online, there are very many screw-ups and drafts in the trash.

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

I’m a video producer/animator based in the Boston area. I work full time producing/directing youtube series for a culinary media brand, but my creative passions are motion graphics and photography, and I hone those skills whenever possible.

I spend a lot of time collaborating with other artists as well, adding movement and life to illustrations, creating promotions for bands, and ‘spicing up’ music videos and short films with animations and motion graphics.

In my free time, I do a lot of collage animations, adding movement and creating fantasy/sci-fi vignettes from my photography. I always have random ideas for different scenes and images I want to see popping into me head, and there’s nothing more satisfying than bringing those ideas to fruition.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I actually got my start working in local news for close to two years. I worked a lot of overnights and early mornings, and spent a lot of time driving around in a news van as a technician/editor/photographer, establishing connections with satellites and microwave receivers, crash editing news packages, and shooting everything from house fires to murder scenes to Christmas parades. I’m grateful for that time because it taught me to work efficiently and I had unique experiences that I might never have had otherwise. After a while, I realized wanted to do something a little more creative (although news employees are certainly very creative too, in their own way), so I slowly phased out of that career path by taking jobs getting coffee, carrying gear, and taking out the trash on commercial and film sets when I could. I actually paid a service 55 bucks a month to put me on a production assistant roster, and I would get a few gigs a month at random, and I’d have to drop everything and go. During that time I was also taking any and every opportunity to do creative for small business, friends, and family.

Eventually I worked my way into the creative side of things by constantly bugging the producers on those shoots to give me a shot, and I just kept going. I’m thankful for my news days (and the amazing people I learned from), and I think I still take a lot of inspiration from those experiences, but I’m happy that I can make a living in a more creative way.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of my line of work is having a clear, visual representation of my own personal and professional growth. Sometimes I absolutely loathe seeing my work from a few years ago or even a few months ago, but I think its also great to sort of learn from your past self in a way. What mistakes did I make, What did I learn from this particular project, and how can I apply those lessons to what I’m doing now? Also, I think everyone has a creative streak, it’s part of being human, so being able commit my ideas to a visual medium, or help others to do so is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vimeo.com/erikfreitas
• Instagram: @freitas__erik
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/erik-freitas

Image Credits
Alberto Campos