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

Alright, Kenny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

Something that I would love to see change in our current education systems is how theres so little emphasis on finding out what the individual is truly interested in and nurturing that. Instead we often approach education as a one size fits all and unique individuals are often times pushed into creating work that they have no interest in because they were told it was the best path or see others doing it. Theres the idea that if you do the most popular style/designs at the time, you will be hire able or more desirable. But in reality, you end up looking like carbon copies of other artists and creatives.

In the entertainment design industry specifically, we are constantly looking for individuals with a unique look or experience who see the world differently because often times that leads to more interesting designs and solutions. So I would encourage any students interested in pursuing a creative field to find what is interesting to them because that is whats going to set your work above the rest.

Ive always struggled with this idea as well because we are surrounded by amazing artists and it can be very easy to say “I want to do something just like that.” but it ends up being a shallow recreation and lacks the depth the original artist had. But every time I just sat down and created something for myself or incorporated what I was interested in, it always had something a little extra that my other works just never have.

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 a Visual Development Artist specializing in world building and key art in the animation industry. The work I do can vary from client to client but most of the time I work with creative teams to help visualize the world and story that they want to tell. Every project starts with ideas and my job is to understand what they are visualizing in their head and put that onto a page for everyone to see and build.

I feel like what sets me apart from others is my experiences and working process. I have worked at a variety of studios from big to small and have had individual contributor roles and leadership roles. When I work with clients I find that having an understanding of many different studio pipelines and styles is a huge asset for projects in this industry because every project is unique and having individuals that can adapt quickly and efficiently not only saves in time but costs as well.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to communicate with your audience visually. To be able to create worlds that spark others imaginations and be inspired by other creatives has been the most exciting part of what I do.

As a Visual Development Artist, I am often times working as a team and some of the best times is when we all meet and show what we have been working on because you go from feeling empty and uninspired to overflowing with ideas. The feeling when all of the ideas come together at the end and form an even better final result that viewers / audiences can resonate with or be inspired by is the best feeling for me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think something that non-creatives struggle to understand about entertainment design or even other design industries is that the things that we create are deeply personal and are built on a foundation of intention and story.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, the question I have been getting a lot has been, “Why should we hire artists when this program can generate ideas faster and cheaper?”. There has been a push to generate content rapidly but the biggest issue I have been seeing the most is that these designs and images often lack personality or story. These programs have a very high quality bar but the thing to understand about design is that we aren’t struggling with quality, we are struggling with ideas. Our job is to design things that say something to the audience, quality is a part of the artistic process but it isnt the whole thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kennyvoart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennyvoart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyvoart/