We recently connected with Adriel Meka and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Adriel, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Confidence comes from believing you can, understanding that with time and work you will, and looking back to see that you did.
In my experience, the simplest answer is that confidence comes from believing and doing. The hardest part is starting but, once you believe you can it is as simple as putting one foot after another, and logging in the hours and the work to achieve your goals. For me, it came at a healthy intersection of mindset and work. Want to be the next Micheal Phelps? You can be. Believe you can, then hop into the pool and grind your laps! Your first time will be 5 times longer than Michael Phelps but as long as you keep at it you will improve and look at your first 200m swim the same way he does. Want to grow more confident in conversations? Believe you can be a charismatic talk-show host then, ease yourself in countless chats; simple one-liners, and convo starters at the grocery store or social gatherings, and look for ways to connect with others through your questions and responses. Practice makes improvement. Your first convos will not be your best ones, you’ll have some moments to yourself where you’re like “Why did I say that?” or “Ooo I didn’t connect with that person” But over time, once it has been normalized for you, you’ll find yourself to be the life of the party with some great stories to tell. I approach my art career with the same mindset. So, “I want to be the next great artist?” It’s all about pencil mileage. A lot of my confidence over time was built through rigorous trial and error that led to growth. My first drawing will be way worse than my 100th but when I hold them next to each other, I can see the improvement, gain confidence in my skills, and look forward to my 1000th drawing.
I feel a large component of growing confidence is humility and understanding that no matter what position you are in life, you will have many people above you and below you. We are all works in progress. Understand your position and utilize it as leverage to improve. Lean on the people above you and inquire how they took the steps to achieve what they have. Seek them out as mentors and study the ways you can emulate, improve, and grow so you can reach the next step in your journey. In the art world, I found that I was always interested in showing my work to those whom I felt were more talented than I was. In being open to critique and learning, I treated their feedback as key insights I could use to improve and become more and more confident. My mother always told me that “a bird that tweets is never lost” basically implying that you should never be afraid to be vocal and reach out to those more knowledgeable than you because, in a time when you are lost, they can help you find the way.
On the flip side, there will also be people below your skill level or earlier in their journey than you, and it’s moments like this where I try my hardest to provide value and knowledge to help them grow as well. Right now, my journey has led me to work as an artist at Disney Television Animation and I often have to take a pause of gratitude and realize that I am currently living the dream that 15-year-old me had. Remembering where I was and what I aspired to be at a young age encourages me to serve as a resource to those early in their journey. This also intrinsically contributes to my confidence as an artist in that it validates the work and effort I put into mastering my craft to the point that I can help those who are where I was.
Additionally, never underestimate the importance of your circle. I’ve always been a big fan of my friends and their efforts and I find that it is equally as important to surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed as much as you do them. This road isn’t always easy and knowing that you have people you can show your work to, ask for advice, and people who will push you to be your best self is essential. Some of the friends I’ve made along the way are working at incredible places like Netflix, Disney, and Nickelodeon. They’re passionate people pushing their journey along and I am honored to be able to cheer them on while also being inspired to put my best foot forward in my career.
Another key component of confidence and self-esteem is battling the fact that we are often our own worst critics as we strive to be the best we can be. Over time I had to learn the importance of being kind to yourself and trusting the process and I found that this inner kindness will radiate in the kindness you show others as well. I have experienced countless times where I had to pursue something that made me feel like I was taking a step off of a cliff and just hoping that a floating rock would meet my foot so I could take my next step. Confidence and self-esteem are deeply personal things and in moments like this, it’s important to have faith in yourself and your capabilities while trusting the process. Your path is exclusive to you! There are only so many things you can control in life but as long as you are present, believe in your own skills, and are determined and open then you can accomplish anything!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I like to say that I’m an illustrator and animator by trade but label what I do as visual storytelling. This may also be what sets me apart in ways but, I tend to enjoy being a very stylistically-versatile creative. Artistically speaking, I gravitate to things that are grand, cinematic, moody, and visually striking. I’m deeply inspired by the transportive powers of art in its ability to make you feel like you’re traveling to a new world and find I enjoy making things with a bit of a surrealist, cinematic, escapist quality.
The shortened version of my story is that I was born in Montréal, grew up in a family of creatives, and pursued art as a career once I found my voice in illustration. I did an undergrad in animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design and recently completed my MFA in animation from the University of Southern California. The MFA program is comprised of 3 years where two are spent honing your filmmaking skills and the last is spent creating a film that encompasses your ability to tell a story, lead a team, complete a project, and showcase your identity as an artist.
I learned about the importance of a story’s authenticity and ability to tackle relatable themes in a way that feels familiar, yet innovative and new. After a lot of creative soul-searching, my goal was to use the project as a way to focus on the thematic elements that inspired me in film and TV. A year later, I created my proudest piece of work: an animated short film called “Camp Kona”. I often found myself going back to 80s movies and pop-culture horror flicks and realized that there was a hole in animation that could be filled with this genre. To date, the film is my proudest piece because, as an aspiring director, it is a testament to my abilities in art and leadership as well as an unapologetic representation of me. In the simplest essence, Camp Kona serves as a calling card to my experience and passion for visual development, retro nostalgia, illustration, and animation.
The premise of Kona is: A lonely kid finds an unexpected friend when forced to attend a summer camp with a dark secret. After Kaia goes missing during the summer of 1982, Jasper enrolls at Camp Kona a year later and begins to discover hidden facts about her disappearance. With many ups and downs, the film makes you laugh, gasp, and smile as you watch these two characters navigate what feels like a classic Speilbergian adventure. Now that it is completed, the film has been selected at the Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival among others and we’re excited to see it take on a life of its own as it completes the film festival circuit and is shared with people around the world. After wrapping Camp Kona, my dream is to take more projects to the silver screen and this is just the beginning!
Currently, I am working at Walt Disney Television Animation and have had the honor of working on both “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” and the Miltiplatform “Chibiverse” teams. My time at the studio has been nothing short of a dream and I’m grateful that my journey has led me to places such as Apple, Nickelodeon, and Disney that have allowed me to bring my childhood love of animation full circle.
As far as new and upcoming news, after receiving a lot of positive feedback and seeing a demand, I’m happy to announce that I’m actively developing a print shop so that my fans will be able to purchase prints and products of my art! For my children’s book fans: I recently signed a deal to create a 4th children’s book so I’m excited to share some fun new stories with everyone! Lastly, my friend and collaborator Sam Pagan (former light artist at Nickelodeon) and I arranged a quite successful virtual artist Meet & Greet and are planning to host many more this coming winter! 2024 will be a wonderful year of growth and expansion and I’m eager to share it with you guys!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three skills I found most important during my career as an artist are: Technical skills, Social Skills, and Business skills.
To break each of these down, I can begin with technical skills. This (animation) is a visual-skill-based industry and while there are some ways to fake it til you make it, it is very easy to spot someone who has the technical skill vs someone who doesn’t. As previously mentioned, developing technical skill just implies putting in the work and the hours to master your craft. In my case, it was drawing. To grow and progress in my journey, I needed to learn to draw and to draw better. I needed to study the basics and learn how to develop my style. I needed to study those around me and see what was working in their methods. I needed to seek the guidance of those more skilled than I was to master my craft. Focusing on on my trade began with illustration and that branched into a love of learning animation. I’ve since learned how to do 3D animation, Concept art, Graphic Design, and Production Design. Now I feel confident in my ability to adapt my technical skills to suit any new task I’m faced with. The singular skill can evolve into a nebula of many but, it is important to invest in your technical skill so you can provide a solid end product that will set the foundation for your other skills. It is also important to have good taste. Whether you’re a filmmaker, fashion designer, photographer, or painter, many artists have good taste and are critical of something’s aesthetic, always analyzing why something works and what makes it work. Appeal, design, composition, lifework, color, posing. All of these (and more) are the fundamental rules I’ve found to be imperative to the process of developing your technical skills in art.
The next skill I found to be very important was the social skill aspect of the industry. Although I did see instances where someone’s portfolio is so breathtaking that it can speak for itself, we are working in a team and relationship-based industry and your reputation is very important to maintain. Although I am an extrovert by nature, I feel it is important that everyone learn and practice the skill of making connections with new people. Whether you’re pitching your storyboards, meeting new artists, or getting interviewed, the ability to touch base and relate to people is a part of the human experience and one that I have prioritized when navigating my animation career. Being able to make people around you feel at ease, open, and comfortable is an essential part of refining social skill. This helped me particularly when I was navigating interviews. Instead of being nervous that a recruiter would like to hire me, I began approaching my interviews with the mentality of “What if I worked in the cubicle next to the recruiter and we could have friendly chats?” With the assumption that the interview was set up due to an interest in my artwork, I shifted my approach to finding ways to connect and build relationships with recruiters and this goal helped me forge several great industry relationships.
This being said, it’s important to understand that you will not connect with everyone. many factors can contribute to this: personality types, no overlap of interests, social context, etc. Don’t let this discourage you and rather use it as an opportunity to learn from someone else about their own experiences. People may not always remember what you say but they’ll always remember how you made them feel and if they feel you are respectfully open to learning more about them and inquisitive about the things they are passionate about you can both make a new connection and learn something you didn’t know before. I also find a key part of developing your social skills is learning how to tell a good story or rather, how to tell your stories in fun and charismatic ways that engage your listeners. In summary, developing this skill has enabled me to meet so many amazing professionals in animation who I can also call my friends.
Following this, we have the business skill. I’ve been drawing and animating for close to 13 years now over the course of my career I’ve been able to adapt my artwork into a business and work with clients in children’s books, series, and music. These experiences have taught me the importance of refining your business skills in this industry. Learning how to properly value your work and execute it as a service is an important part of turning your love of making art into a profitable brand. These things will enable you as an artist to feel more self-sustainable while building your relationships and in the worst of times, they’ll help you navigate the fluctuating periods of artist life where there is no incoming work from studios or clients in the industry.
A sub-skill I’ll sneak in is the skill of being perspicacious. This essentially means to be aware of and attentive to your surroundings. The world and especially the creative world is ever-changing and an important skill to have is to move with the waves and learn to capitalize on every ebb and flow. This can include things such as artist trends online, making reels/tiktoks, online marketplaces to sell your work, and learning new software that is emerging in the animation world. Looking into things such as online print-on-demand stores where you can sell your prints for passive income. Create an art book or children’s book with your favorite pieces. Connect with your audience to provide exclusives on platforms such as Patreon or maybe you’d like to speak directly to them and you can take the route of making video content such as tutorials on Youtube and TikTok. The nature of an artist’s job is entrepreneurial and it is important to develop a good business sense because once you learn the skill of being able to sell your work it empowers you as a professional while also enabling you to have more freedom to create what you love. The animation train is gonna power through and move forward and it’s important to be aware and ready for when you can hop on!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Absolutely! I’m always open to finding cool, fun, and passionate people to work with! As mentioned in the previous section, this career has allowed me to collaborate with some of my favorite childhood animation studios, some ambitious and talented children’s book writers, some rocking musicians, and many talented artists from around the world. A year ago, I attended Lightbox Expo (animation convention) and met a now good friend of mine from Nickelodeon and he and I worked together to host networking events for the animation community. I’ve also gotten the chance to co-host and guest start on a few podcasts and love sharing my takes and insights on the animation/film industry.
As far as projects I’m interested in I can tell you a bit about myself and the work that I love: I’m a big fan of Arcane, Spiderverse, Avatar the Last Airbender, Stranger Things, and all things 80s. One of my favorite collaborations was creating retro 80s Vinyl artwork for the band The Motion Epic. I love projects that are cinematic, action-packed, comedic, and heartfelt. Love things that explore unconventional art directions and push the boundaries of design. As far as my services and skills, I offer Illustration, directing, kids’ books, character design, visual development, concept art, background painting, art direction, production design, and animation.
A rising tide lifts all boats! I’m more than happy and open to creating new projects with creatives who are looking to work together! The best way to reach me is usually Instagram @arekusan_meka or my email!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adrielmeka.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arekusan_meka/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrielmeka
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriel-a-meka23/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/arekusan_meka
Image Credits
Student academy awards, Kaitlin Goldstein, Gunjan Dere, Camp Kona, Adriel Meka, Saturday, Razaaq Boykin, Saturday Film, Dinsey, Disney television animation, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Marvel, Gravity Falls, Disney Channel, Drake, Billie Eilish, arekusan Meka, Bad Bunny,
