We were lucky to catch up with Mayuko Watson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mayuko, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

My journey into achieving a full-time living with animation is unique compared to most.

When I started high school, I thought hard about how I wanted to earn a living and how I should spend the next four years. I began researching various creative roles and eventually decided on animation, because I was enamored with the pre-production process. When I told my parents I was interested in attending art school, specifically in California, they insisted I would not be able to unless I got a full-ride. So I embraced the goal, completely immersing myself into drawing and college application research. I drew obsessively for 10 hours a day for four years; in the morning, during class, and in the evening. By junior year, I was awarded a full-ride scholarship to CCA’s pre-college animation program.

Upon graduating high school I immediately landed an internship at a powerhouse of a commercial animation studio, MAKE Visual LLC. where I worked as a 2D generalist doing everything from design to inbetweening on animated commercials. By the end of the summer, I was offered a full time role in addition to a full-ride scholarship to my first choice college, Laguna College of Art & Design. It was a tough choice to make, but I ended up accepting the scholarship and opted to simultaneously work freelance for MAKE between semesters.

In my sophomore year, I discovered my work had been mistakenly stolen and put into a Nickelodeon mobile game. Per the recommendation of my industry mutuals, I took the matter to Twitter and received an overwhelming amount of sympathy. The studio that mistakenly used my artwork issued an apology and rectified the matter, and I received a generous amount of recommendations from multiple, kind professionals at Nickelodeon.

Shortly after, I received a job offer from Nickelodeon to work as a character designer on The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish and forfeited my full ride to pursue my dream job at a dream studio on a dream production of mine!

My journey into animation has been a nonstop whirlwind. I’m incredibly lucky and honored for all of the opportunities I have been given, and at such a young age. If my parents hadn’t set the expectation of earning a full ride scholarship, I wouldn’t have spent the entirety of my high school years intensively studying art. I truly believe that was the catalyst for everything that followed afterward.

Mayuko, 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 am a character designer who has been working in animation for over five years. I got my start working in commercial animation at MAKE LLC, then went on to work at Nickelodeon on The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish. It’s easy to assume that a character designer, well… designs characters. But our responsibilities extend past concepts and ideations.

Character design is a pre-production role, meaning it is key in establishing the foundation of a show or movie. In addition to designing characters, we design mouth charts, pose and expression sheets, turnarounds, and “special poses”, which means key frames. All of these are materials that exist to set a precedent for the final product, in addition to providing visual aid for various roles in production from storyboarding to animation.

From a young age I always adored watching animated shows, but it eventually got to the point that I was more interested in how they were made. There are many facets of animation production, but the one I always zeroed in on was design, specifically the characters. Characters are at the forefront of every animated story — they are the ones driving the story, who you look toward for a reaction. A good character design should be strongly indicative of who they are and how they fit into the narrative.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

To simply recognize us. Artists design your homes, your workplaces, your cars. We design the toys your kids play with, the commercials you see on TV, and all of the entertainment you consume when you need to de-stress from school or work. Art is everywhere and it is our hands that carefully curate the way you experience the world. We cannot be replaced by machines, and we are as deserving as any other industry to job stability and benefits. For something that is fundamentally everywhere, our impact is far overlooked.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

To experience the joy of creating something from nothing and hope that my work impacts others in a positive way. Cartoons brought so much wonder and joy to my youth, and all I really want to do is pay that forward. If someone can look at something I worked on and say, “this brought me joy,” then I’ve fulfilled my purpose in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mayukowatson.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risayume/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayuko-watson/
• Twitter: https://x.com/mayukowatson