We caught up with the brilliant and insightful PRANAV NAIR a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
PRANAV, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
Yes, but it has been an interesting and challenging journey over the last few years. Working as a freelance digital artist and designer in today’s post-pandemic job market is a risk that comes with few rewards. But if you can position yourself in the right place at the right time with the right skillset, you might just find opportunities all around you. I’ve navigated my creative career from unemployed design school graduate to full-time freelance digital artist and designer by pivoting to adapt to the tide and learning essential skills on the way.
I always knew I wanted to do art and design for a living, and always had ideas of working with different industries and people even before my formal design education at Art Center College of Design. Here I spent about 2 years learning to communicate futuristic visions of people’s lives in the context of transportation, lifestyles, and the urban setting. This environment grew my love for storytelling and gave me the artistic ability to visualize my ideas.
I have since worked with multiple independent creators and productions to help tell their stories. Being a creative professional means that people will look to you for guidance on their creative endeavors. Your ability to learn on the job and help them with their goals will keep you self-employed.
Since the beginning of my career, 5 years ago, I have helped design the visual brand identity for a healthcare startup, illustrated a published sci-fi novel and its sequel, worked on a live-action film as a storyboard artist, designed various visual concepts for an independent film studio, and led an international team of artists and animators to pitch a pilot for an animated series. This was possible only because I was open to changing my approach and mindset when some doors closed and others opened.
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 am a freelance digital artist and designer living and working in the Los Angeles area. I help writers, filmmakers, designers, and innovators communicate their vision. I bring their ideas to life with concept art and storytelling, essentially helping them with visual problem-solving.
I started my career as a design intern at Pininfarina, an Italian automotive studio in Torino, Italy. I worked on future mobility experiences as a part of my graduate thesis, which I completed back in California shortly after. After graduating, and spending a few months looking for work, I found myself working as a designer at Wytcote Inc., a tech startup that was changing the way senior care was being conducted across the United States. I worked as a UX/UI designer, often working on building out design frameworks and establishing visual guidelines for their software applications. Since this was a small team that worked closely with each other to complete projects with tight deadlines, I was often the only designer working to meet all the creative needs of the company. This meant designing, logos, presentations, advertisements, graphics, websites, business cards, and any other visual asset that needed to be created. After a few months of working exclusively in this role, the pandemic caused a drastic change in the working hours and conditions in 2020. I saw this as a sign for me to spread my wings and find another role that would grow my career. During this period I worked on my first freelance project illustrating characters, environments, and key scenes for a Sci-Fi novel called Embargo, which was published later that year.
My next role was as the Lead Concept Artist and Designer at Argonaut Media Group, a new independent film studio in the heart of Hollywood. They were on their way to building an in-house creative team and had a host of interesting projects in the pipeline. As they went through the initial stages of building out a studio and team, I helped them establish a creative direction for their brand identity and contributed to many of their projects at an early stage. Eventually, I was tasked with storyboarding their first film. I worked closely with the filmmakers and writers to visualize the shots for the entire movie.
I then began working with an independent writer and director on his passion project; an animated action comedy series with a hint of political satire. Over the next year or so I helped visualize every aspect of the script and story. This is where I learned to use everything I learned from my previous roles. As the project grew and developed through the “blue-sky” pre-production stage, I designed characters, props, backgrounds, storyboards, and key concept art from the story. I also helped build and coordinate a lean team of artists and animators from Los Angeles and India to deliver a pilot pitch for the show. I am proud to say that we did a great job visualizing the best moments from the story for a kick-ass pitch!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Invest in creative work! Make your own films, shows, animations, and books. Find artists and designers to collaborate and help you through these projects. With traditional art and design roles in the entertainment industry becoming fewer and fewer due to loss of funding, studios letting go of employees, or simply because there is a scarcity of creative projects being produced, there is no better time to be an independent producer or publisher who wants to make their own piece of work. If you can network and find a small group of artists who align with your ideas and vision, I am certain they would be eager to help and gain a new source of income.
The reality of the situation is that most freelance artists need multiple streams of income to support themselves in the United States, and this means that the best way to support the creative industry is to create more work by enabling more individuals to publish and produce their own creative projects. With the evolution of digital art tools and generative AI programs, there is more power in every individual’s hands than we can imagine. With the right amount of time and knowledge, it is possible to develop independent projects to a professional level with a small team of artists, or even by yourself.
Encouraging more people to be creative at a professional level legitimizes the creative industry and can enable more opportunities that don’t require big studio funding.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Every opportunity to do creative work professionally also came with its unique set of challenges. Either you are expected to do more than what the job demands or you are tasked with guiding non-creative personnel through a collaborative project, or you have to learn new skills in a few days or even hours so you can meet the creative needs of your team.
My story of resilience is one that is shared by many creatives in the same position. There have been a lot of uncertainties in the job market across every industry since the pandemic and it has consistently gotten harder to find sufficient creative work to support yourself financially. Job scarcity and a general fear of investment have stalled several entertainment projects, leading to strikes and layoffs.
On some days, it takes a lot of resilience and inner strength to even call yourself an artist when you don’t consistently make a living from your work. I have been lucky to have a good support system with my wife, my parents, and some friends who have helped me through the hardest times. They have taught me to constantly be open-minded to opportunities where I can contribute as a creative professional. Through them, I have learned that the kind of artist or creative you are isn’t as important as the impact you have by sharing your ability with others. So when one door closes, you should be able to shake off any preconceived notions about yourself and kick the next door open. It is also important to constantly ask yourself why you create art and do what you do.
For me the answer is simple; I create art to help others visualize their ideas and achieve their creative goals, and to support my family in the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nairdesign.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranavnair27/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranav-nair-981b3683/