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

Victor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

Wow, so many points in time where I could have done things differently, perhaps my skills would have improved faster or perhaps it would have changed my path completely. Let’s see, if I have to choose a small thing in my early stage it is: don’t be afraid to invest in yourself.

At one point during my graduate years, I had an opportunity to learn from one of my favorite artists, but I needed to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure a spot. The supplemental class required a portfolio review to get in, I figured why risk a deposit if I don’t get in, “I’ll just wait for their answer before I place a deposit down” is what I told myself. As a broke college student, that just quit his banking job to focus on school, I wouldn’t risk any income no matter how small it seems. Days later I found out I was passed over for this coveted class and for a long time I thought I was just terrible. Turns out after speaking with a friend who had been accepted, it wasn’t a skill level thing because there was a student accepted who was more raw in talent, so why didn’t I get a chance I asked.

Turns out, according to that particular program’s fine print, I needed to pay the non-refundable deposit for my portfolio to be reviewed! Now would that have admitted me into the class if I had just paid the deposit, no, but at least I would have given myself a chance. The successful students from that class went on to get personal recommendations and opportunities that many dream for. Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Raised by a hardworking family from humble beginnings, I am the youngest son of two amazing immigrant parents and a first-generation college graduate. My parents, through guts and courage, gave me an opportunity to reach a dream that they never had. Although hard work, I found, is half the battle, because reality showed me perseverance /patience are the other half needed to break down invisible barriers.

Set back after set back is what it felt like trying to reach the American dream, and unfortunately probably feels like this for a lot of people these days. Your dream may not be in the entertainment industry like I chose, but there’s a reason why 90% of American businesses fail and it’s not for the lack of hard work. All the hard work in the world did not get me to where I am today. I was lucky to have met a friend returning from a CalArts event. I was lucky to have just posted new work for that particular friend to view just before our encounter. I was lucky to just add an extra sheet of rough thumbnails to an art test that got me my first LA gig. Yes, I was lucky, but I define luck as opportunity meets preparation. Good ol’ fashion luck has shaped me into a veteran artist in the entertainment industry providing creative solutions to filmmakers and visual creatives. I specialize in environment design and color for a great bulk of my career, though I’m now transitioning into lead positions to manage teams of artist.

Projects come and go, some are lucky to make it a season, some are lucky to become a bonafide franchise, what I’m most fond of is sharing the experience with some of the greatest talents in the world. A great team can bounce ideas of one another like a symphony, can shatter box office records with unforgettable storytelling, can make an impossible dream into reality, and can flourish future generations with inspirational creativity. This is what I strive to do with every one of my professional relationships.

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

During my 2nd year in art school, I was told by an instructor to find a new career. It was a dagger to the heart. Probably a week of depression that followed. I seriously thought about quitting and giving up, but my ego couldn’t let this person be right. I came from a business background, double majoring in accounting and corporate finance, so I was well behind the curve compared to my peers. I handled it the only way I knew how, to buckle down and focus only on art for the next two years so I feel like I sacrificed a lot of my personal life to get to where I needed to today. I soon graduated, proving that instructor wrong, but the lack of job offers led me to my second point of resilience in my art journey. I knew I wasn’t where I needed to be in terms of design, so I did again what I only knew how: to buckle down and focused only on art. I took supplemental classes to round out my design skills I wasn’t capable of grasping since I was merely trying to get my fundamentals skills under bearing. With patience and perseverance, I finally got my big break using work from the supplemental classes that thankfully brought my gut-wrenching 6-year journey of breaking into the animation industry to a happy resolve.

I can’t say once you make it in, you’re set for life – I only wish that were the case. A lot of folks, myself included, are currently working through a pretty severe drought of jobs in the animation industry. Another test of resilience. But when that call from the producer first touched my ear, it was probably the happiest moment in my life and probably still ranks as my top 3 to this day. Though I only hope my next moment will be as special as that first call, I can confidently say the wait will be worth the squeeze.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

N-F-what-now, are they still a thing? I think AI is the new hype. In terms of AI, I stand and fight with the creatives on all present and future cases. I encourage all artist to post with Glaze and Nightshade to combat this ridiculous theft. I just hope federal laws will enforce regulations like they did with the music industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.victorha.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iskketch/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-ha-461b6723/

Image Credits

Copyright images belong to studios mentioned and are given permission for use, the images do not belong to me. Copyright characters of Illidan and Millhouse Manastorm belong to Blizzard Entertainment.