We recently connected with Steve Biggert and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Steve thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
From as early as I can remember I’d always done some sort of creative work. Painting, drawing, crafts, and just generally making things was a big part of our household growing up. That’s not to say I was very good, to be honest my drawing skills are nowhere near anything noteworthy. But getting creative so early on sparked a love for making things, and eventually as I got older that grew from just having fun with it, to exploring art a bit more seriously. I started out on more of a fine arts track, but it was actually my (rather embarrassing) interest in pro wrestling that resulted in me learning Photoshop. I used to make posters and DVD covers for wrestling shows I watched. As my experience creating things digitally progressed, I started to wonder if this was a skill I could turn into a career.
Like so many young people with a passion for creativity, I was often put under the impression that there wasn’t much of a future in it. A lot of people encouraged me to do something more “reliable” and a lot of teachers didn’t really have much interest in my future after I started thinking about a creative path. But I didn’t want to do anything else, I just wanted to design and create.
In about 2012 I started looking for art schools and found Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. There were so many awesome majors on offer, and an opportunity to learn how to turn creative skill into a viable career. I knew then that I was going to put everything into an artistic career path.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a South African art director and motion designer currently working in the title design industry at Santa Monica-based studio, Elastic. A large majority of the work I help create at Elastic consists of main title sequences and graphics for television series, documentaries and films. Main titles are like mini films or prologues which help immerse the viewer in the world of the show before it fully begins. That was what really drew me to the industry – the opportunity to create very cinematic, concept-driven visuals for film and television.
I graduated from Ringling College in 2018, and despite having some experience interning in the industry I was struggling to find a spot that fit for me. I knew I wanted to work on title sequences, and Elastic was a studio I’d been inspired by for a long time after seeing their titles for True Detective, The Crown and Westworld to name a few. It was a place I really wanted to be involved with. And so with not a lot of opportunities but a whole lot of faith; I decided after graduation I’d pull together whatever savings I had and just move to LA. I banked on the belief that my work ethic and portfolio would attract some opportunity if I was just in the right space. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Shortly after settling in LA I met with the team at Elastic and a few weeks later I found myself working at my dream studio, alongside some of the most talented people I’d ever met.
In my time at Elastic I’ve been lucky enough to work on some incredible projects for clients such as Netflix, Apple, HBO and Showtime. Some of my favorites include design and animation on the opening titles for the John Lewis: Good Trouble documentary, art directing the titles for the season two finale of American Horror Stories and being nominated for a 2022 News and Documentary Art Direction Emmy for Showtime’s Gossip documentary.
It’s been 5 years of a lot of hard work and even some sacrifice, but I’ve learned so much in a relatively short amount of time. That’s what working with an incredibly talented group of artists does.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Before starting my career my goal was to create cool work and do what I loved, so in a way, mission accomplished! But I think a big goal of mine is trying to cancel out self doubt. Doing what you love for a career is special, and if you’d have told me 5 years ago that I’d be making title sequences at my dream studio I’d have never believed you. I feel very lucky, and weirdly that’s often when Imposter Syndrome sets in the most. I’ve been really trying to focus on looking back on my journey so far to motivate how I go forward, and remind myself that it hasn’t been all luck. I try look back and keep evaluating how that experience can move me forward. What have you achieved that you never expected? What did you learn? How can you build on that? How can you create a space for yourself and others, using that experience, that makes the new work even better? How can I make my team, myself and our work even more valuable?
I guess that’s a big thing that drives me, the desire to prove to myself that I can do this, and to keep expanding how I work. Reminding myself of everything I’ve learned so far – how to design better, how to animate in a certain style, how to art direct a team of experienced artists, how to sell an idea to the client – and using that to keep adding even more value.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
It’s ok not to take some advice. I speak about this a lot when I meet students who are looking to follow a creative path, because I think it’s important to learn and it’s something I took a while to fully understand. When you’re young and starting out, everyone has more experience than you, so it’s really important to hear what that experience is. And a lot of people are going to give you advice and tell you what to learn when you’re starting out. A lot. The creative industry seems like it has so many people and resources who offer advice on everything. And that’s great, because it’s so easy to find advice and hear about someone’s experience. There are so many conferences, articles, workshops and talks that offer just that.
But it’s not all going to work for you. I think it’s really important to listen to advice when you’re new to the industry, but it’s just as important to filter it out and ignore it if it’s not right for you. At the end of the day, everyone’s journey to and through the creative industry is so specific to them. You need to figure out what advice and skillset works for you.
I used to feel bad about ignoring someone’s career advice, and I thought I was just being cynical when some talks at a conference didn’t appeal to me. Despite working in such a technical section of the industry, I also hate learning complicated new software. When everyone around me was telling me to do x and y even though it didn’t feel right for me as an artist, I thought I was being lazy. But as I gained more of my own experience, I crafted my own style and interest and learned from the experiences and guidance that did fit for me. I realized that is totally fine. Do what works for you, take the advice that fits with the goals you have and create the work you really want to make.
Contact Info:
- Website: stevebiggert.com
- Instagram: @stevebiggert
Image Credits
All work created by Steve Biggert at Elastic.tv