We were lucky to catch up with Manuela Pianesi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Manuela thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Animation is a very vast medium. Just getting into the basics takes years of practice and diligent work.

I started getting into drawing as a hobby when I was in middle school, and it kinda stuck all the way into my late teens. At the same time I was really into playing video games in my free time so I figured that putting together the things that made me the happiest would make a good career choice. For a couple of years, I wanted to go into concept design for AAA games. I was attending public arts college in Buenos Aires and working on my own projects on the side, until I got the opportunity to work at local animation studio Bellolandia, under the guidance of one of the kindest and most generous persons I’ve come to know in this industry; Nacho Malter. Surrounded by more great in-house artists, I started to fall more and more in love with animation, to the point where I decided to change my desired career into *something* within animation.

Story wasn’t love at first sight for me. It was more of a hate at first sight. A craft so complex and hard that you couldn’t just ace it on the first try. I remember receiving ruthless critique on my first story sequence. This seemed to be a face of animation that had a lot of moving parts, there was a complexity to it that lured me in and didn’t let me go.

Story requires a lot of discipline, a certain detachment from your drawings and ideas, and over everything else, an ironclad resistance to frustration. I think this is what has taken me the longest to figure out. It’s a challenging craft for someone with somewhat of an ego. Most of the time your biggest obstacle is yourself, and the limits you put on your own work, how far you can push it, and how much you follow (or don’t) rules. There is a point where some of the basics start making more and more sense and you can feel certain decisions come to you with more ease and speed.

I’m always learning more and I’m in no way an expert in story, that is also one of the things I love the most about this specific area in animation, there are always new challenges, always new things to learn, and barriers to break. There’s really no limit to how far you can go as a story artist.

Manuela, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m still dipping my feet into the animation industry. I’ve come to realize that the process is much lengthier and more complex than I had expected. I’m still figuring out my place in the industry, where I can help and how can I make myself useful.

As a story artist, most of the work I do has to do with visualizing ideas that are either in script format already or need to be put into words to later be transformed into a sequence of images that tell the story. I’ve done a lot of work and revisions for friends and their projects. I get excited about other people’s ideas very easily and I’m always eager to collaborate and add to their creative vision.

My biggest strength is how quick I am to have work to present after an assignment is given to me, and how much I can iterate between ideas to find what works best for the story. I have a knack for character writing and acting, I get a lot of enjoyment out of figuring out how to make sure the character is communicating things deeper than what the dialogue lets on. My best work has come from assignments where the character is in direct contradiction to what the dialogue shows, as I believe it requires interesting and complex acting choices.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

A dream of mine that propels my journey forward has always been the desire to work on beautifully crafted films with compelling stories and interesting characters that really grab the audience’s attention and don’t let go of it. There are a lot of people around the world championing original stories that continue to subvert expectations and present beautiful stories with deep meanings. I would love to work at studios where creating original projects is paramount to the mission of the studio. And maybe in the future, have my own animation studio.

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

Connection with other artists is always something I’m continuously surprised by. All the open and generous people I’ve encountered on my journey has been one of the most rewarding experiences so far. Seeing how different we all are and how we converge in the world of animation, seeing how different worldviews and experiences inform our creative vision and artistic taste is infinitely fascinating to me. And there’s this immediate sense of camaraderie upon meeting another person in animation that I’ve seldom felt in any other field. Most people will go out of their way to offer a hand and give you advice on how to reach your goals. Strong friendships and sensible connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://manuelapianesi.myportfolio.com/story
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stiirped/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuela-pianesi-7b4972206/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ManuPianesi