We were lucky to catch up with Roger Young Jr. recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Roger thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on, thought a little dated, was the Funimation Logo Animation circa 2015-2023. This project was executed during my tenure at Funimation, now Crunchyroll, all under Sony Pictures Television. For those who don’t know, Funimation was once the largest distributor of anime and Japanese films in the U.S., garnering enough traction for acquisition by Sony. Think Dragonball Z, Naruto, and Attack on Titan. Our video department, under Creative Services, often collaborated with Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, in addition to major conventions like San Diego Comic-Con. This was my first time working at this scale, and more importantly, working a creative project like this with my childhood connections to all of these brands, titles, and networks was ACTUALLY A DREAM. At the end of the day I’m still a big kid, I still watch cartoons to wind down, and I still draw my silly little characters in action poses as well. The influence the after school programming of Toonami has on me has lasted until this day.

The stakeholders gave us creative freedom, having faith that we would stay true to the brand, and gave us plenty of time to get it done. I even presented to the board of the company, for the first time in my life! The logo animation and the cutdowns were on broadcast television and marked the opening of all of our theatrical releases. Maybe one of the farthest reaching projects of my career.

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’m a Motion Designer by trade but as creatives we all contain multitudes. I love motion design & animation, illustration, and visual design. At a young age I found my muse through graffiti art, magazines, comic books, anime, and video games.

I didn’t even know what a “motion graphics artist” was until I reached early college. I just loved to draw and ended up at art school for graphic design. As I went through my schooling I knew this particular craft was what I wanted to do after the first class. It came naturally to me, it was stimulating and it was pragmatic. I really needed to land a gig because my skills as in illustrator weren’t up to par for full time employment. The more I focused on motion the more I fell in love with it as an art and profession. The medium is so vast. Graphic design, visual design, illustration, timing, and rhythm all in one.

All that being said, I will always be an illustrator. It’s probably my most personal creative outlet. I’m fortunate enough to have my illustration skills set me apart. Having this skillset has been an invaluable asset as a motion designer because the two often come hand in hand. I’ve been drawing since I was a child, mostly because it is a very inexpensive way to keep your kids occupied. In high school I found my tribe. All of us would listen to music and draw our original characters, making up storylines as we went along. To me, collaboration and other people are an absolute imperative when it comes to creative work. People who achieve great things hardly ever do so on their own!

Now as an industry professional I bring this same energy to my work. With every design or animation I create I always feel like I’m tapping into my innate taste informed by my upbringing, the creativity of my younger self, and sourcing knowledge and inspiration from my colleagues and peers. I never thought doodling on the living room floor would lead to me doing illustration and animation work for Google or Android! Or that my illustrations would end up in a gallery in Japan for the annual Famicase Exhibition.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

I took a freelance gig that was very underpaid and a lot of work. I was younger in my career as a Motion Designer and the client had a decent reputation around town, so I signed up for it. I was so young and stupid and was very bad with correspondence and communication. After several rounds of revisions for the project, I quickly realized that this project was way out of scope for their budget and their timing. Instead of doing the MATURE THING, communicating clearly, setting expectations, overall course correcting…I decided to ghost them. Don’t ask why, I don’t know! I didn’t like the project, it was too much work, I was overwhelmed, and they were a difficult client. I ran!

I was taking on this freelance while being employed full-time at a studio. After about a week or so of me ignoring e-mails, the client shows up AT MY WORKPLACE. The receptionist came to my desk and informed me that someone was here to see me. My heart sank. I nearly perished on the spot, I just KNEW it was the client. The industry is quite small in this town with only a few studios and post-houses so she knew exactly where I worked.

So I go into the lobby and I meet her gaze and she is silent. All I do is apologize profusely. I can tell she is upset and disappointed, naturally. I level with her. I can tell she’s mad but she’s understanding, but she may have been desperate considering she rolled up on me at the day job. I consider referring someone else and getting off of the project but it turns out due to the timeline it’d be unfeasible. I end up promising her I’d finish it out and I did. WE NEVER SPOKE AGAIN!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I built my reputation in this market by insuring that: 1) The work I produce is meets industry standard, contemporary with market trends, heavily informed by client asks 2) Tap into my soft-skills, quick and responsive communication, clean and organized on all correspondence or deliveries. 3) My network. Anyone I’ve spoken to at any of these gigs, full-time or contract, I always try to keep myself kind and professional. It is nearly always my friends and colleagues who recommend me for any type of work that I get, I rarely “cold-call”. 4) Be easy to work with, be malleable, be adaptive. Always put forth your best recommendations and the reasons behind your decisions but allow your clients to be a client. It will always be collaborative because they’re the ones paying. If they’re getting out of scope, bill them for it and they’ll put up or shut up! 5) BE NICE AND KIND AND RESPECTFUL.

Contact Info:

• Website: ROGERJR.NET
• Instagram: @rog3r.jr
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rogerjr

Image Credits
Portrait: John Alberico. All other images are my own creations or photos.