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

Vivian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I think the willingness to try something new and experiment is an important aspect of being a creative! A lot of my projects come with risks. Spending time, spending money, and spending your efforts on a project in itself is a risk, and I have done this several times throughout my career as an animator/creative. One notable risk I had taken, but I will not regret, is trusting a job posting of an animation job through a community thread. I spent money on software and programs I needed to complete my tasks, time into this animation, meticulously put all of my efforts as a creative into this project. In the end, the project turned out beautifully, and some of the scenes I worked on ended up being in one of Toon Boom’s animation reels! Getting the recognition for the work I did as well as seeing the animation come to fruition (and being paid for it) was well worth the risk. This project would not be in the state it was in if I, and a handful of others, did not trust the process and gave up the random opportunity that came up from out of the blue.

Vivian, 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 Vivian Divierte! I am a 2023 graduate of Columbus College of Art & Design with a BFA in animation. I am currently working as a contract graphic designer, but I also direct a volunteer 2d animation project known as Cats ANIMATED! While I am a jack-of-all-trades, live and thrive in the animation world: working contract gigs or picking up character illustration and animation commissions. One of my most exciting projects I have worked on is Khirki – Taha G (Official Music Video) with Sandy Lion Productions.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is putting all the pieces together for any project and seeing the final results at the end. The ability to physically see and interact with the artwork I create (whether that be through a video game I made art for or an animation to be watched on youtube) is satisfying beyond belief.

And being able to see all of these finished pieces and compare back at my earlier works makes the process of being a creative even more worth it, as I get to see my artwork develop while I grow as an artist/person over the years.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In recent years I have found it harder and harder to fully engage with the work of larger gaming and animation studios. Whether that be the next new AAA game or a live adaptation of a beloved film. Of course, there are outliers to the former statement, but as larger companies become more money driven and more conservative/cautious with creative decisions, I feel like there is a lot of creative vision that gets lost in the sauce of worrying about the success of the film, the show, or the game.

With that being said, there has been a rise in indie studios becoming more and more successful. Flow won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Lackadaisy, The Amazing Digital Circus, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel all rising in popularity. Hollow Knight Silksong causing record breaking server crashes on multiple online gaming stores. These are just a handful of examples of smaller companies and groups of creatives creating something beautiful that are taken well by wider audiences. While they stay small they continue to hold their onto their creative freedom and continue to produce beautiful works without worry of the risk of not making their money back like the major studios have been.

In my view, specifically in the sense of animation (and games), I think what would better support the artists in these communities is the willingness to take those risks without blocking the flow of creativity. Some of these larger companies are catching on, seeing the success of works like Encanto, Luca, The Spiderverse movies, or even, most recently, K-Pop Demon Hunters. There was risk in telling these stories and risks in taking on a new style. We shouldn’t be afraid to share new ideas, and I know, as an artist and as a story teller that I would want to share the ideas and stories that are in my head with the world. A society in which there wasn’t a fear of financial risk over creative freedom would be so beneficial to the creative ecosystem, as ideas will bloom new ideas and onward!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://viveronski.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/viveronski/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viviandivierte/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@viveronski