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

Evan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

Over the past few years there’s been this massive boom in indie animation— with project after project popping up. It’s been incredible to see a new era, I guess you could say, of animation that isn’t restricted to TV standards and creators can just make whatever they want to make.

I think it’s incredible that people are trying to get their own stories off the ground, as I am one of them. But what I’ve noticed is that people tend to jump in, pitch their story and end up not getting funded— there’s been this sort of mentality I’ve seen that’s like, anyone can do it, so can you.

And I feel like, while it’s a good sentiment, what people don’t seem to realize is how expensive it is. Not to mention all the work that comes with it— it takes a lot of planning, preparation and once again, money.

It felt like it was sort of swept under the rug, like the only thing that was talked about whenever these discussions came up was about “making it”, or coming from humble beginnings and not the hard work, time and money that was a part of the creation process.

Thankfully, we have creators such as Tracy Butler (Lackadaisy) and Gene Goldstein (NOXP), alongside many others bringing to light just how much work it takes. So that’s definitely the trend I’ve been seeing, but I’m happy that it seems like people are understanding and taking into account just how expensive it all is, and making sure to plan before they pitch something to a crowdfunding site.

Evan, 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?

Hey, I’m Evan! I’m a freelance artist, writer and creator of Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy, an indie animated pilot that will be posted to YouTube April 20th. I think that is what I’d say I’m the most proud of, it took a lot of people coming together to make it work and it’s truly something incredible I can’t wait for everyone to see.

I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pencil, and creating little stories and worlds even earlier. Animation has always been a part of my life, with constant visits to my uncle’s ending up with us watching The Simpsons or Futurama, and with my grandparents— a lot of Disney on VHS.

I wouldn’t exactly refer to myself as someone who offers products to people— like many artists, I’ve spent most of my life taking commissions and drawing things for folks, and that’s kind of been the norm for me ever since. It was only recently that I started getting into writing that I considered offering my services for that, as well— and I can say I’m pretty happy that I’ve been able to polish up my skills, in that aspect!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I honestly think it was because I just never shut up about my projects. I never had thought about the fact that I was promoting things to an audience— I just kind of ended up tossing my original characters and stories to the wind and being surprised that people came back to check it out. It’s very scary, but something I’ve been very grateful for, and I think it’s never a bad idea to just throw your ideas out there, you’ll never know who ends up loving your work!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Definitely how expensive the entire endeavor is. I wish I’d known sooner, but I think with working on Lumi for all these years I have much a better grasp on it now. It’s helped me kind of slow my roll in regards to making new projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bsky.app/profile/starteas.bsky.social
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@starteas?si=8ox6d8yy15UfcTiA

Image Credits

starteas