We were lucky to catch up with Violet Wu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Violet, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
My mother used to want me to become a pianist or dancer. She hoped that I would become an elegant lady in the future, and she always told me that a person must have a hobby in her life, then life will never be boring. But I turned down the piano lesson. My father asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to paint, I wanted to be a painter. My mother still tried to convince me to play the piano. My father told her to let me follow the path of painting according to my own choice. My father said: “If we insist on letting her learn piano, she might not like it in the future, then she will think that we pushed her, and if she regretted to choose painting in the future, then she needs to take that responsibility of her own choice.” That’s why my mother agreed to let me learn to paint. But please don’t misunderstand my mother. After my mother agreed with my choice, she gave her full support to me. Even now, she is still the biggest support for me to move forward. I am very grateful to my parents for respecting my choice. They also told me that I have the right to choose, but I need to be responsible for the choice. And this influenced my subsequent choices about my life purpose. I became brave enough to change.
I spent a lot of time with myself as a child. Painting and reading have become my biggest hobbies. I didn’t feel lonely at all. I was obsessed with the content of the story, and then I drew the pictures which came from my imagination world. Therefore, my picture has always had strong storytelling. The beauty of the picture is not the most important part that I am concerned about; I care more about the information I want to convey through this painting. My father is a writer, and he often shows me many books, including poems and prose written by him. My father told me that whether I choose to paint, or he chooses to write, they are just different mediums for creation, and so does the music. They are all conveying the creators’ thoughts. Later my family took me to see my first movie in my life. I was immediately addicted to movies because movies can bring music, text, and picture art together, but it also forms a unique artistry which is different from other mediums. I therefore pay more attention to the information that the artworks trying to tell me. Sometimes I can see the continuous picture through the novel. I take advantage of my learning of painting to visualize the story content and play them in my mind like a movie. Even different characters have different voices in my brain. Sometimes I do not have a certain specific image but feel the strong emotions that some artworks bring to me. Whether it is a concrete plot or abstract emotion, I am always fascinated by the message conveyed. And these also laid the foundation for my later artistic style. I attach great importance to the transmission of information. Although I still like painting very much, I think that the information conveyed by a single picture is too little. The information content of watching a 10-second video is far more than that of spending 10 seconds to watch a painting.
But strangely enough, I didn’t consider becoming a filmmaker. When I was an undergraduate, I chose illustration as my major. My initial idea was how to make my works contain storytelling as rich as movies. I have tried to add subtitles and lines to my images to make the words blend into my pictures and make them look like static frames. Later, due to the lack of information about film majors, I never considered that I could have the opportunity to enter the film industry. However, I consoled myself that I could still use my illustrations to do environment design and poster design for movies or draw the character design for animation. But no matter how comforting, always feel a little pity.
Until later I came to the United States for graduate study, I still chose illustration as my major at the beginning. However, at my second quarter I failed to register the class which I needed. My illustration professor recommended I take an animation class as an option. That class helped me a lot and made me sure that this was what I wanted to study. After I knew that I could reprepare my portfolio and then switch to animation, I immediately changed my major to animation. It was a big challenge for me, but I still made this decision because I deeply realized that animation is a medium that fits my creation philosophy better than illustration. I value information transmission and expression, and animation can better meet my needs. However, my drawing ability over these years will continue to help me in the field of animation. When I have an idea like this, I know I must do it. Although my family expressed a certain amount of concern, they supported my decision as they always did. And that is how I find my purpose. I think the most important are three aspects， The first one, is always having the braveness to change or stick to your goal. Secondly, think deeply and ask yourself what part is most important for your creation, understanding what you need. Thirdly, if you already know what you really want to do, try to get in touch of that field no matter how impossible it looks like or how far from the path you are right now, because sometimes, it just seems difficult, but after you walk into it, you will find that the possibility is far greater than you think.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
What I’m currently working on is finishing my first animated film. Even though this process was difficult, I am still very happy and excited. This animation is also a reflection of my personal abilities and my understanding of aesthetics. I still focus more on storytelling, so I wrote my movie script by myself and created all the storyboards for this movie. I finally did what I had always wanted to do. My biggest wish now is that this animation can be successfully completed. This film is an answer sheet for me, it is of great significance and contains every trace of my journey.
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?
Ambition, thinking and learning. First, ambition can give you a steady stream of motivation, you must have huge ambitions for your career and always trying to be an excellent one inside of just being a good one. Don’t let any possibility pass you by. Always thinking deeply, be sensitive to everything around you, observe life, pay attention to the details, in this thinking process, inspiration will arise. The last thing is don’t stop learning. Not just an in-depth study of knowledge in your own field, but also learning other knowledges. For example, I learned about graphic design to increase my skill of the picture composition, and I also studied photography to better understand light and shadow. Learn to see the inner connections between things and think about whether there is knowledge in other fields that can help you.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My biggest challenge right now is my perfectionism. My perfectionism makes me demand so much from a shot. My perfectionism would force me to think of better possibilities repeatedly. This gave me a big obstacle when I was initially creating storyboards for my film. I created many versions of the storyboard, and even in this finalized version, I can still find areas to adjust. I’m still working on overcoming this obstacle, and I’m being helped by my professor, who raised this issue with me early on. The experience I have summarized so far is that I need to remind myself that I can never be perfect because my abilities are constantly improving, so the work I have done in the past will make me feel not good enough, which is a normal phenomenon. And the second thing I told myself is that not every idea has to be realized. There is always a steady stream of ideas in my brain, and I am interested in the possibilities of each idea. After spending lots of time experimenting, I discovered that not all ideas need to be applied, and not all ideas fit my movie needs. In terms of action, I set a more specific deadline for myself. Within this deadline, I can create as much as I want, but after this deadline, I must stop.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/limotic.v/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/violet-wu-a9042a282/
Image Credits
Violet Wu
