We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nadya Sugiarto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nadya, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

The idea of pursuing art as a career came up to me back when I was a sophomore student in high school. I have always loved drawing since I was a kid, but I never considered it as a career choice. Back then, my plan was to major in biotechnology in college. Later down the road, I realized that I wasn’t as passionate about it as I thought I was. I liked the idea of studying biology and exploring what I could do with the knowledge, but I found myself not motivated enough to use my free time learning it on my own. Whilst for art, I was excited to spend my time continuously doing it to grow and be better at it. I also spent a lot of time reading articles and watching videos about the animation pipeline and filmmaking process. I didn’t know that animation involved a very complicated process!

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?

I have been working as a Visualization Artist based in LA since 2020, but my first job in the industry was as a Technical Animator at Blue Sky Studios back in 2019. During my junior year back in college, I was offered a 3-month contract job for the summer break to work on Spies in Disguise.

After I graduated college in 2020, I had an opportunity to work with MPC as a Previs Artist (short for pre-visualization) on Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. I had a good time and learned a lot from my supervisors and co-workers on this project. Since then, I have been working with other visualization houses in LA such as Halon Entertainment and Proof inc, where I am currently at right now.

For people who are not familiar with what previs is, it’s part of the filmmaking process where our job is to design shots before the production team goes to the field to shoot the film. It’s almost like doing storyboards but in an animated 3D form. We plan the camera work which includes designing how the camera moves, the composition of the shots, camera lensing, and continuity between shots. We plan the characters’ placement in the set, where they move in space, and their acting/action beats.

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

For my particular job, I feel a rush of joy whenever I see the shots that we animated being put together in the edit for the first time. My first reaction would always be, “This is awesome!! We’re actually making a movie!” And then from there, we’ll keep improving the shots and the sequence until the client is satisfied. If things go well, it’s even more satisfying to see the work we created stays consistent until the final film is released. When the audience reacts positively to the film, it makes all the hard work pays off.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think back when I was a student, there was this mindset that in order to succeed, you’d have to dedicate all your life to the craft. While that might be true to a certain extent, it becomes unhealthy when people interpret it as “You’re not supposed to have a life outside of work.” I think that’s impossible to keep up in the long run and you’d burn out really fast if you go that route. A supervisor I worked with told me this before, “Remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. You should take care of yourself.” These days, I always remind myself that yes, career is important, but life is also so much more than just work. For me, a work-life balance is essential to keep myself feeling fulfilled and stay creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nsugiart.wixsite.com/reel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadyasugiarto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadya-sugiarto-b17b69136
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdUAPMEAB79Dm0Eyua62fBQ

Image Credits
Blue Sky Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media