Jordyn Shen

I am thankful for all the wonderful people who have supported me throughout every stage of my journey, both artistic and personal. My friends and family have always been there to cheer me on, and I attribute a lot of my artistic inspiration to them. I also attribute my success to the teachers, professors, and mentors who've generously handed me everything they know. From preschool to today, I haven't forgotten a single one of my teachers. Each and every one of them have given me the tools to express myself and execute my most ambitious visions. Most importantly, though, my teachers are there to remind me to stay curious, and never be afraid to dive into the things that tug at your heartstrings. Because of them, my eyes are open to the beauty and sheer vastness of this world. Once you let that realization sink in, everything becomes new again and there is no end to what you can learn. Even when I imagine myself out of school, I hope to maintain the mindset of a lifelong student. This is also why - apart from art - I have a deep passion for teaching, research, history, and education. Maybe one day I could also be an educator of some sort, and carry on the legacy of the teachers who've helped me become the person I am today.

For young women looking to pursue animation (or any Art in general) I'd say, don't focus too much on finding "a style". Instead lean into your lived experience, perspective, and tastes. I think when you first start off in the Arts, it's easy to get caught up in "finding your style", but I believe chasing that goal alone misses the bigger picture, especially when you're first starting off. Visually, an artist's style is never a fixed thing, and is always changing as you change. Also, being super tied to a style can feel like you're trapping yourself within a set of bounds. So I've found that breaking free from self-imposed stylistic expectations allows you to explore your voice beyond just aesthetics. What that roadmap looks like has no right or wrong answer, since it's different for everyone. But what's important is feeling out what that means for you. In time, you start to cultivate a relationship with your own artistic voice, and thats where your "style" comes from: not as something that's just a superficial or systemic way of art-making, but the deepest, most authentic part of yourself that no one else can draw from.

This is definitely true for my own artistic journey. After I told myself that chasing a "style" was kinda a fruitless endeavor, I've never felt more free in my work. I'm still in the process of digging deeper and seeing where that takes me. I don't think it's a journey that ever ends but, that's why being an artists is interesting! So really lean into who you are, personally and artistically; own it, embody it, and never stop feeding it. Explore your interests, get lost in what inspires you, and most importantly, know that your unique perspective is something special and worth sharing.

AI has been a hot button topic in my field. For me personally, I've seen the side where it is making things harder for artists. There's so much about AI stealing work without credit, and people losing visibility to the sea of artificially generated content. It does sometimes feel like you have to fight even harder, especially when you're just trying to make a name for yourself, against something that can produce products instantly. But I also think that just because AI is here and it's already made itself known in bigger studios, the value of something human-made or a human voice can never be replaced. People will always want that, and even now, it resonates with people differently when you know that real hands, real minds have made something. AI itself doesn't think - it takes data in and spits it out. It doesn't have wisdom or understanding, or even the capacity to make mistakes. The fact that it cannot make mistakes hinders how creative it can be or the extent to which it can produce something new. A lot of artists are starting to really lean in and embrace imperfection, breaking things, being messy, being imperfect, and I think that stuff moving on into the future will really shine. What's important now is focusing on your uniquely human perspective, and having the courage to put it out there, imperfections and all.