We were lucky to catch up with Tinghe Yang recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tinghe, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I think there is a mis-understanding that being an artist isn`t a regular job. For me, it is always a normal job that I am happy about and suit for. I have never thought of changing my job. And again, I believe artist is a regular job. It is like people who are genius in numbers who might go for Math, or people who are contributive and kind might become a teacher. I think we artists are also just human who happen to have an insist in beauty and love to do it. We are not special. Just like all the other jobs, we do a job to fulfill people`s need too.
On the other hand, I heard and understand that people would say being an artist might leads to a less stable life. My mom used to say that to me a lot. Like all the other Asian parents who wish they children to have a “good and safe” job, she wanted me to be an accountant. But I honest didn`t see the difference between these two career the way she sees it. The important thing to me was I want to find something that I would still love to do when life doesn`t go well. Shouldn`t that be the most important factor to pick up a career for life? I believe there are definitely ups and downs no matter what job we choose. But imagine if I followed the life plan that I wasn`t convinced to and happy about, I might still be happy when things are smooth. But life doesn`t always go that way. If there are any big obstacles, and I am sure there will be, I would definitely not love my career, live a very sad life and maybe won`t even have energy to recover. I want to be responsible for my one and only life so that is why I choose being an artist as my career, not because I think I will be 100% happy all the time, but because I will have the passion to face challenges. I think this is the reason I am happy about my career and the reason I`ve never thought about changing my job, which is a regular job in my opinion.

Tinghe, 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 am Tinghe, a 2D animator. I want to be in the animation industry since middle school so I went to Savannah College of Art and Design to study animation, and from there I found my job at BUCK Design in New York and started my career. I always make hand-drawn frame by frame 2D animation, storyboards and concept design. In my personal time, I sometimes make crafts and personal animation film and illustrations. I love to do art in many different media and my interests are widely ranged. I learned Kintsugi, the ceramic repairing method, to bring broken ceramic art back to life, I do embroidery because I believe this retro artform would have a refreshing new birth in modern design language. I make Graphic novel when I think it is the most fun and efficient way to tell a story. I love to show people the beauty I am seeing in my eyes in its best artform and I want to let people feel the happiness I can feel within art.

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

Last year I have gone through a lot of tough projects and I found myself very lost after using up my energy. It is not I didn`t do well in those project, I still believe I have provided my best in them. But those projects have been very fast paced, sometimes we go one direction and the next day we pivot 180 degree. The rhythm makes me feel like wondering in a maze and no matter how many times I tried to use all my energy to show a solve, the client would block the wall and make us to go another way. It wasn`t rewarding and after we are done, I don`t know how to define my contribution and lost judgement of how did I do right and what did I do wrong.
I believe a lot people might have a similar experience but now, 6 month have already passed, I know I didn`t do anything wrong, it was just the flow and rhythm and I have done my job well. But the thing that helped my to walk pass that original miserable feeling was communication with friends and coworkers. My boss told me it`s totally normal to have these feelings and because we can`t change what that project was like, maybe it is helpful to understand why, for example reach out to the director to why client picked some storyboards over another? why the project was formed this way? What is his understanding of the project? If I give myself a reason, it is much easier to digest. Communication helped me a lot when it comes to sharing my words and experience.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is definitely being about to show arts to family and friends. Art is a part of my heart, and if I can let people feel happy about my art. I will totally feel very very proud and fulfilled.
I remember showing my dad and mom that I`ve worked in the film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and my dad keep talking about it for months. And it becomes the start point of him trying to understand animation and its process. It is definitely one of my golden moments when seeing my passion is carried by people who I care and they are introduced into the career that I love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.animatinghe.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animatinghe/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinghe-yang-animatinghe/

Image Credits

The flower ceramic creature was created by Yinan Liang. I was only doing its restoration by repairing its broken petal using Kintsugi technic.