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

Fu, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

As a kid, I was so fascinated by TV Champion and Kasou Taishou, these two Japanese tv shows often showcase the process and creativity in art, crafting and performance. Nowadays, I still watch all kinds of competitions, documentaries and interviews about how things were made and the motivations behind them. Listening to others’ thinking processes and how they choose their path prepared me mentally for how I deal with my life as an artist. Most of all, I am not alone on my journey– there are so many passionate artists who are willing to take the risk, keep challenging themselves and grow their skills regardless what media they use.
I appreciate artists who overcame their own difficulties and accomplished their projects. I want to honor the time they spent and the courage they took during their creative journey. Since I work on filmmaking and animation, I want to satisfy my curiosity about their making process and also share their insights that hopefully can fuel more people who love to create as well.

Therefore, I started my passion project “Nice Shorts” with my cohost, Johnny Knittle, in 2021. It is an educational interview series about how creators made their animated shorts.

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 am originally from Taiwan and came to San Francisco for studying animation in 2016. Since then, I spent most of my life in the US and found my husband, Ben Ellebracht, an incredible visual development artist whom I am slowly building an animation studio with. Stop-motion is my forte and I like to combine it with hand-drawn and motion graphics to explore new forms in my work. I see every work as a journal to connect with people and share a message on subjects that matter in my heart.

Being an alien in the US makes me more aware of how other storytellers introduce their roots to start communication and understanding among different cultures. Having the experience as a foreign art student also brings me attention to how other immigrants follow their dreams and break through the barrier of language and limited resources they have.

Through personal projects, I share pieces of myself and the culture I grew up in. My ultimate goal for my animation studio is to provide opportunities for newly graduated students, especially international students, to continue growing with and lifting each other up in the industry. While approaching to my goal by sharpening my own skills in entrepreneurship, I started the “Nice Shorts” interview series with my co-host, Johnny Knittle, as a service for highlighting filmmakers that we hope more people to appreciate their making process. I’d like this media to become a resource for anyone who wants to broaden their horizons and finds the sparks from other artist’s creative journey.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

While working on my thesis, school prepared us with filmmaking aspects but didn’t spend much time on soft skills such as how to contribute and promote our work after finishing it. I wish I knew more about marketing because networking and presentation are as important as the work itself.

Other resources that helped me immensely during my study years were workshops where our seniors shared their paths, their challenges and ways to make their films. I wish all the discussions could have been recorded and shared with more people who were not able to attend in person.

One of Nice Shorts’ focuses is inviting students who finished their films to share their inspirations, motivations, developments, and decisions throughout their productions. We want to fill the gap for independent and aspiring artists to find more examples and advice from the peers who might have similar tasks they face at the stage they are at.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I came to the US with two bags of luggage to pursuit stop-motion. Living in an entirely strange place, nobody knew about me or my past. Life in the US makes me feel like a new born who’s trying to rebuild a new identity here. I was relearning the knowledge from a western perspective. I paused my connection to my own language and culture but started to store new memories in speaking English. The first couple years close to my graduation, I was quiet and adapting myself to blend in the culture humbly. I thought it would be the only way to be seen easier and let the community and industry accept me faster. During the pandemic and social movements happened in recent years, I realize hiding myself, my thoughts and my needs was not the answer to make mine and my community’s situation better. If I want to be treated well at work, I could share more knowledge about the animation making process to let people more appreciate the production value and start to set reasonable budgets and pipeline; If I want my asian culture to be more understandable in the states, I could use my storytelling and share about my culture more through art. I should be more brave at sharing my personal stories which the core has surprisingly so much in common with people no matter what language we speak in.
Nice Shorts is one of the steps that I learn to speak up more for the community I care about. Unlike whom I was in the early years in the US, I regain my self-esteem and want to practice it through my work and pave a way to lift up others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuckoostuff/
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/fu-yang-520603175
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQrOdkYjUaBEhh5QSyOUkCg
• Other: Terry Ibele Interviewed Nice Shorts at Animation Industry Podcast : https://youtu.be/A0LHO4SoCmc

Image Credits
Fu Yang Ben Ellebracht Johnny Knittle Dux (Ira) Yu Yu (余聿) Nia (Nathania Zaini) Zaldy (Zaldy Dingle) Mee (Mee Huh) Bailey & Natalie (Bailey McLeod & Natalie Choi) Eddie & Stephanie (Eddie Betancourt & Stephanie Rattanachane) Jack (Jack Lien) Casey (Casey Follen) Martyna (Martyna Koleniec) Scott DaRos & Alexis Deprey (Threadwood) Terry Ibele (Animation Industry Podcast)