Anna Wang

“Friends and students constantly ask me whether to specialize and my answer is always the opposite,” says Anna Wang, 2D animator at BUCK. She believes that it’s her ability to animate using various tools and mediums that makes her a good motion designer, where solving problems, no matter the method, is key. Now working with clients like Google and Apple, here are her tips for getting noticed by hiring managers.

About my work

My creative practice
I'm a LA-based 2D animator at BUCK, taking still designs and connecting them with motion, rhythm and feeling to bring brand campaigns to life. Outside of studio work, I make personal short films about identity and impermanence.

Influences and inspiration
Philosophy and Alan Watts. His way of seeing the world has reframed my whole practice; we're less like fixed objects and more like processes. I believe an identity is not a thing that has a shape, but a shape the world is temporarily taking. Inspired by Watts’ way of seeing, I’ve come to treat each creative medium as a state of being and motion as time itself.

'Starry Night' animation

My training
I moved from China to do a BFA in Film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in animation at USC. But honestly, University of YouTube. My most formative training was on the job during an apprenticeship at BUCK, where I was thrown into the real professional world.

Favourite recent project
OROBORO, one of my personal films. It follows a character who turns from a single eye into a 2D motion graphic, and then into a 3D human form as she consumes her environment. Overwhelmed by the speed of information, she glitches, sheds her dimensions and dissolves back into the eye she began as. Mediums are not only visual styles but also states of being; the fall back through mediums is the weight of letting go of the ego.

A day in the life
A studio day usually starts slow, with coffee (very important); then a daily meeting to catch up on a project and go over client feedback. Then it's blocks of animation work, broken up by check-ins and reviews.

Evenings are where my own work lives. Currently, I spend my after-work hours building a mobile app or testing different animation tools and workflows.

How I got here

Starting my creative journey
Like many animators, I grew up strongly influenced by Japanese animation films, although I never thought animation could be my career. It wasn’t until junior year in college that the possibility came to me. My roommate, a film major, was doing an animation assignment which I tried drawing; I had so much fun doing it and people seemed to love it. I changed my major to film and animation there and then. 

Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
My first real role was my apprenticeship at BUCK right after USC. I learned that what makes you valuable isn't any single skill; it's a mindset. When there's a motion-related problem to solve, it doesn't matter how you solve it, only that you do. That's what being tool-agnostic and a generalist means: staying open and willing to learn to crack every challenge. The fact that I was animating with different tools and mediums helped me get noticed.

Biggest challenges along the way
Self-promotion. Many of us in this field are introverts who live in our own heads. My instinct is to just make the work, so I had to learn the practical skill of self-promotion: how the algorithm works, how to write a caption, when to post, where to show your work. None of that is the art itself, but it's the part that decides whether anyone sees the art.

As an international artist, another real challenge is navigating the visa system. It's not talked about often, but your visa quietly shapes where you can work, the hours you can keep and how you're paid.

Everyday skills I’ve found helpful for my creative work:
The first is communicating clearly and logically. So much of this job is explaining your choices to other people: what the client wants, why you designed a motion the way you did and the feeling that movement is meant to carry. Articulating my reasoning is a skill I’m still improving.

The second is physical movement and music: I dance, play tennis and love listening to music and singing. A lot of my motion inspiration comes from physical movement and musical rhythm. I understand timing and weight through moving and listening first.

'Year of the Horse' animation

My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
Very much in progress. It doesn't come naturally to me, but I believe genuineness is gold. My favourite thing to post is a sudden creative burst. Having people react and relate to that unique energy makes me really motivated and fulfilled. But going forward, I want to share more of my work-in-progress and techniques. 

Three things I've found useful in my career:

'Merge' animation

My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:
Set clear rates, use contracts and deposits, invoice promptly and know how to push back. Treating the business side as part of the craft is what lets the creative side survive.

Advice

My most useful career tips
Stay a generalist and stay tool-agnostic. Friends and students constantly ask me whether to specialize and my answer is always the opposite. With AI and online communities, you can teach yourself almost anything; each new tool expands your style, your vision and your sense of self. Think about the problem/creative vision you’re trying to solve first and learn the tools that solve it; not the other way around.

Where I go to feel connected as a creative
Sometimes I cold dm artists whose work I love on Instagram and grab coffee with them in a vibey cafe in LA. Every other week, I go to a local event for artists/creative people in tech. Talking to people from different industries broadens my vision as an artist.

What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
Learn tools fearlessly and show that curiosity and ability to solve problems in your portfolio. Post the process, reach out to people whose work you admire, find mentors.