We recently connected with Julio Guerra and have shared our conversation below.
Julio, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I don’t think I had an idea or direction let alone a path to having an artistic professional path, as a young child I loved to draw and doodle anytime I got the chance and never really thought it would translate into the real world given that I came from two immigrant parents my father a construction worker and mother a maid from south central LA. Having very little to no knowledge in any path besides the ones we were familiar with. In grade school I won a $500 scholarship grant for my class friend Donald, he couldn’t draw a stick figure if his life depended on it so I drew a 4×4 truck flying through the dunes and I drew a beautiful dragon nestled against a castle wall with vibrant lush trees with time consuming scales that depicted texture and depth, after the winner was announced I remember the art teacher at the time told me I didn’t choose your work because you will go far if you use it wisely. As a child with a secret I was destroyed because the winning work was mine as well, I saw how happy my friend was with his family cheering him on and thinking to myself this is cool that I got to make him happy. The day that changed my life was in the Northridge cineplex going to see Toy Story, I remember the opening PIXAR scene with the 3D lamp coming into view, It was truly like the heavens opened up, I remember I elbowed my brother at the time and saying “I know what I want to do now” his response was shut up and watch the movie hahaha I was so amazed that I don’t think I saw the movie for what it was but trying so hard to figure out how it was created since I had limited knowledge of traditional hand drawn animation. In the days and weeks coming I looked into enrolling into a school that would teach me the skills needed to accomplish my goals of being an animator and one day working for Disney, after being accepted into The Art Institute I still remember being in my first computer class at the time staring at the screen in terror when the professor said ok class turn your computers on! never owning a computer in my life or even working on one I was under the assumption it was just a giant calculator. I remember my classmate saw the terror on my face and asked if I know how to work it? I sheepishly said no I have no idea what to do I’m sorry she then said ok push that button to turn it on, The welcome screen of HP computers came on and that was it I remember making friends with the janitors to let me in after hours to work in the computer labs going as far as sleeping in multiple times under the tables just to finish my projects and work more, learn more as much as I could. Now a 4 time Emmy awards winner in broadcasting media, Creative director at NBCUniversals Telemundo LA branch I think I can turn back to the day the art teacher didn’t choose my work, So now i put my headphones on listening to the Notorious BIG song Juicy of how ive made it and love to see how ive made my family proud.
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.
As an artist I have had many artists that I’ve followed and tried to imitate work with my own personal twist, like my teacher once told me “art needs to evolve” I’ve taken that phrase to heart, looking at art and saying how can I make that better? or how can that be improved? being in the broadcast industry for most of my adult life I started out in humble beginnings working for a small infomercial company that a school friend had referred me to, I had the time of my life working and creating there, failing and being given the opportunity to grow, see what worked and what didn’t. I think employers now have very little patience and expect perfection with very little time to let the artist mature into who they can become. Being in the corporate world I understand styles need to be more tamed and watered down from the original concept, sometimes less is more and sometimes more is more its just about finding that perfect middle ground where you as an artist can convey the clients vision into reality. Knowing and learning this throughout the years I decided to start my own Full fledge advertising company called 76 pixels where ive worked and handled a lot of productions big and small alike, from logo design to Reality show Pilots, Short film stories, commercials, stage arena graphics, promotions and marketing utilizing some of the best artist that I have met and collaborated with along the years. Building relationships is the most important part of business and success, most of my clients are by word of mouth or someone that I’ve come in contact with over the years that have seen my work and how I conduct myself professionally and timely.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of my role in this echo system is when my clients see results, I am not in the business of producing something just for monetary value, I take into account all aspects of the project, I own the project I take it with me it lives within me until I have reached an end game where my job is completed and I’m fully comfortable in the process and completion because its very important that my work speaks for itself, its my calling card my business card. If I take you as a client just know that your vision will be mine as well.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
This is a tricky line we as artist must cross at some point, it can also be the line that makes us or breaks us. I believe many non creatives think the process is easy because they have a vision but don’t know how to get their vision interpreted and executed in turn there are lots of artists that are great artist but are not good in the communication process. Its defiantly a tightrope I believe you owe it to your client to have good people skills along with technical skills for this journey to be a cohesive entity, so my advise to clients is this, Sit down ask questions and go with the person that feels rt for the project and for creatives that struggle with people skills I say get a friend or someone you trust accompany you to meetings so they can translate or be the middle man. The end goal for all parties is success, for the client it can mean sales and for the artist it can mean vision properly executed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.76pixels.com