We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mai-Han Nguyen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mai-Han below.
Mai-Han, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I think towards the end of high school. I went to Georgetown Day high school which had a well supported Arts Department, and I was taught painting techniques by my teacher Michelle Cobb who is a plein air painter. At first I took the classes because I already enjoyed drawing, but Michelle treated her students like they were professional artists and I think that encouraged me to be sincere about the work I made. Any time I wasn’t in class, I was in the art studio even during lunch and free periods. When it came time for college applications, Boston University offered me an arts scholarship and that eased my worries about finances. It made it way easier to convince my parents too, so that was around the time I decided to pursue a career in the arts professionally.
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.
My name is Mai-Han and I’m a Visual Development (VisDev) artist from Washington D.C. I graduated from Boston University in 2021 with a BFA in Printmaking and for about a year after, I tried interning in a bunch of arts-related roles such as gallery assistant and graphic design. I decided I wanted a career that encouraged collaboration with other artists and made use of my studies in Fine Arts, so I began looking into Animation.
My first experience in the Animation industry was working as Background Artist on a short-film through CTN (Creative Talent Network)’s Production Experience Workshop. We had a small crew of about 20 people with no prior production experience except for the director, which allowed me to experience adapting to a variety of roles as the film progressed. Our short premiered at CTNExpo 2022 after about 6 months in production. This experience really felt like a crash course, and it was a rich experience that allowed me to approach my later freelance projects with confidence. Afterwards, the crew formed our own collective called Wild Goat Animation to keep producing 2D short films.
As a VisDev artist, the most rewarding part of my work is when I manage to piece together the vision of what my client wants. This where my Fine Arts background is a great benefit because having a strong foundation in painting techniques allows me to challenge projects in a variety of artistic styles.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I knew about online art communities during college. When I decided to pursue a career in Animation, I looked into online communities because it was mid-pandemic and I was on the East Coast, while the hub of Animation was in California. I joined a bunch of discord groups expecting to just chat with other artists looking to break into Animation or maybe a couple zoom meet-ups, but these communities offered so much more. Groups like AIA (Asians in Animation) invite professional artists to speak about their latest movie projects, Rise-Up Animation and THU offer portfolio reviews and mentorships for rising artists. I actually got my first freelance project in Animation through AIA, so I definitely recommend this resource for any artist looking to learn more about the industry or connect.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I chose to pursue a career in Visual Development because I like studying. It was because I enjoyed studying that I switched my major so many times during college. I was accepted into Boston University with a dual degree in Environmental Studies and Painting, later dropped Environmental Studies for International Relations, then dropped both for Printmaking during the last semester of my Junior year. I was interested by how what I studied impacted my work as an artist, and this became more obvious when I began my work in VisDev. For my projects, I got to research a variety of topics from art styles of early Warner Bro cartoons to how planes work; I get to study everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maihan.myportfolio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nah_iam/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maihann/