Emma Bell

I attribute my success to a whole lot of grit and a whole lot of luck too. Being at the right place at the right time, having the right style, and meeting the right people have all been important factors. But none of that would have come to fruition without me putting in the insane work first. It's so rewarding when you put in that hard work because then you're like, I did that. That 12-year-old me would be very happy if she'd see that I made a cartoon about a rat, that's all I've ever wanted.

The best career advice I've ever received is networking, because that's what landed me my first gig outside of college. It didn't take me a few years, it just took me a month or two. I met someone in college who is now a director and is making his own animated series, and he's the one that hired me to do the character design. We met at a screening at the school where I said, hey, if you need a character designer, nudge, nudge, here's my card, and the rest is history. It's who you know, and that honestly is true.

My advice is to definitely work on your skill every day and never give up, but also have a plan B so when you're trying to make up for the months where you don't have work, you have a trade on the side that can earn you money while you wait. For instance, I do dog grooming. Have a support system where you do have something to fall back on and you'll be safe. Definitely put a lot of work into personal projects that you can show off to people. That'll give them an idea of where you are, what your style is, and what your work ethic is. Opportunity can come at the moment when you least expect it.

The biggest challenge is to latch onto those opportunities, really. The animation industry is so oversaturated, there's hundreds of people, thousands of people, clamoring for the same spot that I am, so you really have to stand out in a way that sets you apart. For instance, the animated personal projects I have going help brighten that resume and make the recruiter go, oh, she's done this and this and this, that's different, so I'm not passed over. AI is definitely hindering the industry because it just takes the pre-production away from the final product in a few steps, and those steps belong to, or ought to belong to, people that have worked for it and have the skills. The industry is oversaturated, there's not a lot of job openings for new faces like myself, there's software competing with the professionals who have been in it for a long time, and that was before AI has taken over.

What's always been important to me is the grind, for sure. One thing I've always carried with me from middle school on was when I said once in front of my teacher, the only break I take is to die. Hard work ethic is crucial. You do have to pace yourself, you know, or else you will get burnt out and you'll be like, what am I doing, what's the point. My parents, my dad's a surgeon, my mom was an art teacher, and they've always instilled those values in me to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and work, work, work. That's paid off in ways that I never could have imagined.