We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Phoenix Rose. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Phoenix below.

Phoenix, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2022, I got the chance to pitch a minute long short to SyFy for Pride Month. The pitch was supposed to be about LGBTQIA+ topics and how it related to a genre. Having been a vocal member of the Queer Community, as well as an avid scary movie enthusiast, I wanted to talk about horror and how it related to LGBT+ audiences differently due to their identity and shared experiences. I don’t think I’ve ever had a clearer image for a project than I did with that one. I had no storyboards and very little concept art prepped within the short time I had to prepare my pitch but I knew exactly what this short would say and who my audience was; condensing the entire complex topic into a single minute of narration with visuals that represented it. I wanted it to be so clear and concise that even someone with no knowledge of LGBTQ issues or identity could see it and gain some perspective as well as fellow They’s and Gay’s who might see it and feel more understood or maybe even understand a bit more about themselves. It was a love letter to the community and to storytelling really.
A project has never meant more to me and I think it really shows in the quality of that short. It means the world to me. I’ve since made personal little shorts and comedy cartoons about LGBTQ+ topics and interests but nothing quite to that level. I really hope I get to make more projects for my community about shared passions in the future. I definitely plan to, either way though. I don’t think anyone can stop me, that’s for sure! Though it would be nice to have a sponsor to help out.
The short is called The Monster and Her Girlfriend and you can still watch it anytime on SyFy’s site if you want to see it for yourself.

Phoenix, 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’ve always been incredibly interested in storytelling but having always struggled with dyslexia, I found myself searching for ways beyond writing to tell stories. I got into all sorts of interests that way: writing music, making comics, film and animation are the big ones. I started doing stop-motion and 2D animation in high school and it just progressed from there. My parents were always very supportive and I’ve always been a very self-motivated and goal oriented person so I dove in as soon as I got the chance. I got my first internship at a small stop motion studio in LA called Open The Portal in 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic and real haven’t slowed down since then. Now I have my own animation studio called Little Green Bug and I’ve been making animated shorts, promos, and social media content for bigger companies, which is especially nice given that I get to have more direct communication with the people I’m working with/for that way.
I’d say my studio offers a very personal touch to the work that gives it a more hand-made feel than bigger studios tend to offer. I tend to like to create pretty fast and loose and most of my clients really enjoy my fast turn out rate and hand crafted look that tends to offer. On top of that, I love challenges and experimenting with different mediums so I’m willing to work with more unconventional projects on top of the normal stuff. For example, recently I’ve been playing around with making animated shorts using sidewalk chalk drawings.
I’ve rarely ever done just 1 job for a single client. They almost always ask for more, so I’d take that as a sign I’m doing things right!

I don’t have any studio work currently so I’m focusing more on personal projects and having an amazing time trying to see how much I can cross off my bucket list before the work flows in again. I’m currently working on recording my own original song, and one of my idols, John Massari, is helping compose the whole thing! I still can’t believe that one!
I’m publishing my own comic collection as a limited run, physical book. It’s called The Everyday Adventures of Terryn and is a short collection of touch of life/satirical comics about a world where superpowers are about as common as allergies (and sometimes just as helpful). The story mainly follows a boy who hears the thoughts of plants and his friends. Should be available on my KoFi in October.
If you want to keep up with more of my art/studio or just see what’s up, I’m @ivoxus on most all social media.

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

Well, to start off, art needs to be viewed as essential, not trivial. Art, in all it’s forms, is a core necessity for life. The whole reason A.I. is being so heavily scrutinized right now, isn’t because A.I. is necessarily bad, but that it’s being used in ways that undermine all the labor artist go through to master their crafts and create by treating art (visual, musical, written, you name it) as if it were so trivial and mundane that a computer could easily do it just as well if not better. Our society sees art in general as so unimportant that we’d rather let machines make pale imitations of creativity while humanity counts ones and zeros, than pay an artist the price they need to live for their work. That’s a CORE issue with how our society values art and it’s artist.
For the big picture, we need more funding for public works and artist visions.
For the individual, you can start small. Go to a local art event hosted by your community center. Commission artist you like to make you something instead of buying something similar from a large company. Don’t dismiss artist struggles as a choice or a life style. Even just doing simple things like supporting the Writers Strike right now is a good way to start.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I guess I’m always trying to think of and create stuff I’d like to see as a viewer while also trying to keep the project fun for me as the artist. Sometimes, I think I forget that and get swept up in a trend or a project and then I loose the fun of it.
I want to make stuff I look back on and feel happy about making, whether that be for me or for the people who commission me/ companies I work for.
I always want to try to make something better than the last project in at least one way or another.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ko-fi.com/P5P39O1U
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ivoxus?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ivoxus/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoenix-rose-makes-animation
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ivoxus
• Other: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/syfy-tongal-creators-celebrate-pride-2022-with-genre-films