We were lucky to catch up with Natalie Stepanian recently and have shared our conversation below.

Natalie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

“If you do what you enjoy, you will never work a day in your life”. A very well respected and beloved professor taught me this quote in high school. I had heard it from time to time but never really took a moment to truly understand what she meant.

It was not until I entered college when I realized that I was studying the best possible major for myself. I found that I would actively be excited to go to class, start on my projects, and present my work. I felt motivated waking up everyday and found that I would immerse myself into my work and leave the real world behind for a bit.

I am, as we speak, in pursuit of a professional job in the animation industry as I have very recently graduated from The Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta.

However… I sometimes have trouble falling asleep because landing that big job has not come easy. I have a very healthy amount of rejection letters for all of my applications that I’ve submitted so far. I sometimes wonder if choosing to be a nurse would be better. I struggled a lot with STEM though and was horrific at math when I was in high school. I keep getting scared that I will never land a professional position as a storyboard artist or a character designer. The most beautiful and fortunate thing though in all of this anxiety I have is… that I remember that everyone needs to start somewhere. I currently have a mentor and he reminds me that it took him over two years to really land that big job that he wanted. In the mean time he made an effort to make ends meet.

I know my time will come. I know I need to take the journey day by day and trust the process. In the mean time, I plan to keep spicing up my portfolio!

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

Picture the following: A 5th grade presentation on your artwork that leaves the whole class speechless. Lots of “ohhhs” and “aaahhhs”.

That was my spark.
It was essentially when I learned I could entertain another human being with my drawings. I very distinctively remember that no one else in my class had gotten a reaction the way I did with my work. Even my teacher gave me two whole thumbs up!

When I was in high school, I joined cross country in my JR year and found that I improved in the sport fairly rapidly. I worked my way up the ranks and eventually finished as one of the top 10 seniors (for girls) in the state of California. I had a weird level of discipline and guilt that would never let me quit, or leave, or ditch practice. I found that I had a very natural competitive drive and I wanted to run with the top dogs. My titles eventually earned me an opportunity to run for college, but not just any college, and ART college!

I carried this same drive in my work. I continue to strive for improvement and I believe I will some day be one of the remembered in our industry.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Oh boy oh boy… my senior year in college was very likely the hardest year of my life. Not just from a standpoint of my projects, but also in terms of health, family, and a difficult social life.

When we become seniors in the animation department, my school gives students the opportunity to be a “director” and to lead their own film. Very few students tend to choose this path though because it is usually one of great stress and struggle.
I chose to be a director.

I give much credit to my producer for the film because without her level of organization, I don’t imagine we would have completed the film to the quality that we did. She was my rock throughout the entire process and I will forever be grateful to her.

When I came back to attend school in the fall, I started having a lot of difficulty during practice and getting through my daily responsibilities. I felt a very uncomfortable consistent pain in my chest, I lost my appetite completely, and I had constant headaches. Breathing would eventually become painful, and thus started a whole array of medical appointments, blood tests, MRI scans, heart scans- you name it, they probably did it to me.

It was about 6 months worth of this horrific tests because everything kept coming back clean. I felt extremely frustrated because as each day passed I started to genuinely believe I was getting closer to my death. (I really mean this- I was in that much pain). Eventually, my issue was spotted and I had to fly back home for surgery. Even after my surgery my headaches were very persistent though.

Despite everything that was thrown my way, I still came back in spring to compete and run with my team for my last term. It was INCREDIBLY painful to run again but I was encouraged by my coach. I also needed to complete my senior film for not only myself but also for my team. They had put in too much effort for it all to be wasted.
I never forgot my potential and while I genuinely did struggle I knew that the light would be at the end of the tunnel. There is always a downhill to every uphill!

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I plan to go down as one of the remembered in my field.

In the same way that Tim Burton has created Jack and Sally as incredibly beloved characters, I plan to leave my mark on the world. I will leave a story and film that will not be forgotten in time.

I love to make people smile and laugh. The sun literally shines brighter if I am able to make someone laugh. I believe people deserve to be happy and I believe my work will some day deliver said happiness. I love what I do, and I will always strive to push myself to new heights.

… Most importantly of all… drawing is truly so fun. There is nothing like it to me. I will always appreciate and respect this medium, especially on the days when I find myself struggling the most to get the perspective right.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.natalieanimated.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalieanimated/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-stepanian/