Interview with Artist Shantelle Smith
To listen go to: https://anchor.fm/thisislaisa
Laisa: I have Shantelle Smith with me today. She is a visual artist and she’s going to be talking a little bit about that. Shantelle could you please introduce yourself
Shantelle: Hi everyone as you know already I’m Shantelle Smith. I’m a recent graduate and I’m also a character design artist and concept artist.
Laisa: Can you tell us where you were born?
Shantelle: I was born in a small town called Arverne New York. It’s a part of the Rockaways, which is also part of New York city. It’s like a coastal beach town not a lot people remember.
Laisa: I, I’ve lived in New York city and I didn’t know.
Shantelle: Right, there you go.
Laisa: It’s a hidden spot. Have you been anywhere else outside of the United States?
Shantelle: Yes, I’ve been to Jamaica. I’ve also been to St. Lucia, England and Canada, and the Cayman Islands for maybe six hours.
Laisa: Wow. So which one of his countries where like your first trip and how old were you?
Shantelle: I think Jamaica was probably the first country I visited and I was maybe a couple months old. My family is from Jamaica so we go there a lot.
Laisa: Oh, that’s so cool. was there one of them that was most impactful to you personally, that you were like, wow, this is different
Shantelle: I feel like probably Jamaica, the whole places, just because that’s where my culture is from. And that I grew up being an Island girl. So sometimes I like drawing islands, tropical places, people having fun vacations, stuff like that.
Laisa: So now that you touched on the topic of drawing tropical things and islands and people. Where do you get your inspiration from, for your drawings?
Shantelle: I get my inspiration from nature and culture. I really like looking at sunsets and trees and plants. They’re really pretty. And I like to capture them in my art sometimes. And I like exploring different cultures, especially ones that are underrepresented. So sometimes I’ll go on a search, look up some countries and see what their culture is about and try to keep that in mind for future reference and keep some ideas in my little book for new stories that I’m trying to write as well.
Laisa: That is so cool. Nature culture. Wow. where is one place that you wanted to take your art to?
Shantelle: That’s a good question. I want this want to take my art to. I feel like I would want to explore different countries in Africa, just because like, I feel like that’s a place where not that many people are looking into. I would like to go there and do some research and also find out like where my people were from, because Jamaica is a colony and we at the country was a part of the slave trade as well. So I’m always like going back and considering like, “Oh, I wonder where my great, great, great ancestors were from” They’re probably from West Africa. I’m not exactly sure where or what tribe I may have been a part of that at one point. So. Whenever we get the technology and the history to find that out, I am more than happy to do some more searching.
Laisa: Wow. That is amazing. I am. So looking forward to the next thing that you’ll be creating.
Shantelle: Thank you.
Laisa: So did you go to school for art or are you self taught?
Shantelle: A mix of both. I started, well, I’ve been drawing since I was probably three years old.
Laisa: Like 3? 3? Okay.
Shantelle: Yeah. I could not put down a pencil as a kid. You would always find me drawing on walls on paper, one time on the ceiling.
Laisa: Wait, wait, wait, you gotta tell us the story. How did you manage to paint on the ceiling?
Shantelle: I have no idea what happened, but I was around five or six and the world is your oyster. You could literally draw anywhere and for whatever reason, five-year-old me thought, “Hey look, there’s a ceiling. I want to draw on that.” So I climbed on top of my grandmother’s bed. Put up like three different pillows, got a plastic chair, got another pillow and got a really long pencil. And then I had to tiptoe in order to draw a face on the ceiling.
Laisa: Wait, wait, wait, wait. You need to make a drawing of that. I need a drawing of that. Cause I just envisioned pillow after pillow, after pillow and then a plastic chair on top. And then, and then what?
Shantelle: And then more pillows.
Laisa: How did… No, no, I need, I need, I need you to illustrate that. Cause that’s that’s. That is great. That is great right there. I’m just like, how did this little girl do this? Oh, what a fun story and what, what did you end up drawing the ceiling. Do you remember?
Shantelle: It was, it was like two seconds. I ended up drawing just a smiley face. It’s still there actually.
Laisa: Oh, this is so great. I love that we got that little detail, personal detail about yourself and I can already envision your personality of nothing can stop me.
Shantelle: All the way up.
Laisa: Oh, that is so great. Wait, so, okay, so let’s go back. Where did you gain the most about your experiencing college and would you do it again?
Shantelle: College really opened up a lot of doors for me. I feel like before going to college, I was interested in being like a cartoonist and working in animation field, but I wasn’t really sure, like what different jobs and opportunities were in animation besides animating. So when I went there, there were so many different things that you can do. We learn everything like the general different roles that are in animation. And from there you can branch off to whatever you like best. So I learned how to do character design there. I learned how to animate or traditionally with paper and digitally. I learned concept designs, storyboarding. I also learned a little bit of 3D modeling and texturing. And there’s also the writing portion of it as well, and also basic sound design, but there’s so many different things, even stop motion and puppets. That was fun too.
Laisa: Wait, so how has that experience with stop motion? What did you end up creating?
Shantelle: Actually, it’s on my YouTube. I made like a little clay person thing. Yeah. I animated him making a paper airplane, and then he flies away off screen with it.
Laisa: Oh my God! Okay. I’ll definitely put this down in the description box cause this sounds amazing. How long did it take you to create your stop motion animation?
Shantelle: I don’t remember if it took multiple classes or just one. I feel like it might’ve been maybe two hours, maybe four if I came back to work on it. I feel like I worked on it in one day in one day at least.
Laisa: In one day. And how long was it? Like how long did the animation itself.
Shantelle: It was one of the first test animations that we did. So I think maybe 20 ish seconds or so it wasn’t long.
Laisa: 20 seconds! It took one day for 20 seconds of stop motion animation, do you know like, the craft is real.
Shantelle: We’re a new convert and apparently stop motion is pretty hard to do. Well, it’s not super hard, but. Basically, you have to know what you’re doing. Cause if you mess up, you’re going to have to redo a large chunk of all the different movements and different keys that you’ve already set down because you can’t just like erase and redraw. You have to make a whole set and then put it back to where you started. So yeah
Laisa: So if you mess up one thing, you have to redo everything?
Shantelle: Right.
Laisa: Oh my God!
Shantelle: And you have to also make sure that the lighting is right and the camera’s in the right angle and your little clay person is the same as it was before and not deformed.
Laisa: Not deformed. Oh, that is great. That is great. I just learned so much.
Shantelle: Well, if you really like stop motion, I mean, like I said earlier, the world is your oyster. Don’t let that stop you.
Laisa: I love that you keep mentioning that. What would it be an advice that you would give new comers into the animation or that you have been given that has helped you become who you are as an artist today.
Shantelle: I feel like don’t be afraid to let your story be told, or don’t be afraid to explore your own artistic style, because it’s going to be difficult at some point when you’re getting feedback and criticism on what you should and shouldn’t do. But I, I think you should always stay true to yourself and figure out what your passion is. So if you, if you want to do go into character design and you have the style that you want to show to the world, continue to do that, it’s also good to have different styles as well, but if you have your own thing and other people like that thing, then they’re more likely to get people interested in. They’re more likely going to want to hire you if you have something special that nobody else has. Every person has something unique so just let that fly.
Laisa: Yes! I would like to thank you so much for like giving me your time today to talk about your experiences and where you’ve been and where, where you’re going. But are you working on anything right now?
Shantelle: Right now I’m working on a freelance job. We’re starting a. Well, what’s the word we’re starting like a prototype of an animation that may be coming out soon.
Laisa: Ooh, that is so exciting. Okay. Okay. I can’t wait to hear more about it and I’ll definitely be posting about it. Well, thanks again for meeting with me today.
Shantelle: It was fun having this interview with you reminiscing on my five-year-old days, drawing on ceilings.
Laisa: I love it. I’m telling you, you need to draw this illustration.
Shantelle: I have to cause I feel like some people can’t fathom a five year old climbing to the top of their ceiling just to draw a smiley face.
Laisa: I know. I know I’m just like, that is, that is great. All right, everyone. Thanks for tuning in today.
Shantelle: Thank you everyone.
