We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful KC Corbett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with KC below.
KC, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
In 2014, before my last year of college, I was fortunate enough to get an internship with Cartoon Network on the show Adventure Time. Until this point, my primary focus as an “artist” was illustration and graphic design. I had dabbled with freelancing for years, but didn’t have a single full-time gig in the arts before interning at Cartoon Network. Starting the Summer of 2014, I was planning on soaking up illustration skills on the job, with particular interest in background design, storyboarding, and character design. In practice though, working as a Production Assistant meant that I spent most of my time inside Photoshop, using the lasso tool to separate other artists’ sketches into layers. I never expected to fall in love with the broader production process to such a degree that my illustration ambitions would be completely sidelined. The concept of creating and executing an episodic animated series with a team of brilliant artists, writers, and actors, really blew my mind and made me reconsider everything professionally. This period of time is when I started to realize that I’d have to think bigger than drawing. Beyond that, working on Adventure Time reframed the concept of animation for me in a practical sense.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is KC Corbett, and I’m a Baltimore-based artist working across a range of different mediums. As a kid, comic books and cartoons are what introduced me to a lifelong pursuit of visual stimulation. The truth is, I had a lot of trouble breaking into the creative workforce, and most of my 20’s were spent working in different kitchens as a cook. My side-hustle of freelance graphic design and illustration was what kept me focused on the future, and eventually, I was able to weasel my way into a 9 – 5 gig as a videographer. The production-focused job allowed me to delve into animation. After working as a creative chameleon across a variety of professional roles, I was able to quit my job in 2021 and finally commit to my own hustle. My business, Corbett Creative, offers a broad range of services, from animated music videos, to beer can labels and massive murals. Last year, I was also able to open my own studio in Woodberry, and we have some really exciting plans for it. The goal is to create a hub which empowers individual artists and creators, offering the services of a creative agency in a decentralized format. Like many other artists, the thing that drives me is collaboration, and whether that is with other artists, or brands who embrace creativity, I am thrilled to call it my job.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
The thing that has surprised me the most over time is the value of online learning tools. Any professional’s value is determined by their skills, but we are pressured societally to certify these abilities with a college degree. We are told that this expensive piece of paper will work as a key to open up doors for us professionally. In some fields, this is certainly more true than others, but in my opinion, artists are the least bound by this old school methodology of ladder climbing. While there is plenty of tangible value in my obtaining two art degrees, my skills are instead substantially derived from cheap, or even free online resources. The first time I realized this was at my old job, when they offered us a free subscription to Lynda.com, now known as LinkedIn Learning. Watching these videos of instructors comprehensively using the software I engage with daily provided more value than any college class I had ever taken. The instructors walked through the basics of any software I wanted to learn, helping me master the main Adobe tools which I had previously felt like an amateur using. Being able to mainline the information in such an efficient way makes me look back at my college experience(s) with a bit of disdain. Unfortunately, the amount of debt I accrued over 6 years of college can’t compete with the streamlined efficiency of what is now available for dirt cheap online.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I don’t think I have much of a choice on whether or not I would create art, regardless of my job. It has always been a way that I’m compelled to express myself. With that in mind, I feel incredibly fortunate to have made a career doing what I am truly called to do. The truth is, though, simply working as an artist isn’t enough to call it a day and accept things as they are. We live in a world where artists are criminally undervalued. I quit my last job where I was happily working as an animator simply because they wouldn’t give me a raise after working there for 5 years. One year after quitting and launching my own brand, I am proud to say that I am making a similar amount monthly as I did at the old job. Proving to myself that I could break from the system and become financially independent was a massive moment in my life, but it isn’t the end goal. Now, I can begin to determine my own self worth without an imposed ceiling. There are stigmas surrounding artists’ worth, and I hope to be a voice of empowerment for those who feel taken advantage of.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kccorbett.com
- Instagram: kcyal8r
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@corbettcreative7304
Image Credits
Nathan Mitchell Photography