Meet Ethan Salmon

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ethan Salmon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ethan, 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?

Ever since I was a kid, I loved to tell stories! I was constantly inspired by my favorite shows, movies, and games, and through some of my darkest days they were always a guiding light to look forward to. I think as I grew up, I found comfort in creating my own stories and often I would create or learn new things to make my own fanart to my favorite media! I didn’t realize the extent of the creative process behind my inspirations until I started digging into “Art of” books, or watching “making of” documentaries. That’s when it clicked to me that this was my purpose, and I could follow in these artist’s footsteps.

I think finding my purpose was one thing, but staying focused on it was a lot more challenging. Over the years, it became easy to get distracted by shiny new ways to tell stories that I forgot my main goal was to just be a storyteller! For example, I went through a period where I was obsessed with working at a specific studio, and I realized after months focused on this goal that I was losing myself in the process. I don’t create just for a studio, or job titles, or followers, I create to tell stories that make people feel something. With that goal, my worth isn’t defined by external factors, just my drive to create!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

My name is Ethan Salmon, I am currently a Concept Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering! As a Concept Designer, I blend art and design to solve problems within wider projects like games, movies, or experiences! I love to start with a lot of research, my goal is always to find creative solutions visually and functionally for every assignment. Especially in the theme park industry, everything needs to be grounded in how it enhances the experience of a guest. For every design I work on I aim to find the balance between something that visually looks dynamic, as well as something that authentically functions within the world, story, or as an interactive with the audience!

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?

I think what I find myself relying on day in and day out as an artist are the simple fundamental skills of observation, research, and composition! When facing any task, my goal is always to focus on the feeling I want to convey, and my second goal is usually finding out what I need to learn in order to achieve that! Often I’ll go out and observe the world around me, sketching and taking notes as I’m traveling, just so I can have as many experiences to input into the stories I want to tell. Those experiences help me dial in on authentic feelings from moments I lived, and can help add that extra layer to a piece that resonates with someone. Composition is the key ingredient I always find myself coming back to, as whenever I’m lost on an assignment, it always comes down to not having a clear enough or well established focus for the image. That magical feeling of imbuing real experiences into a focused story is the reason why I sit down to paint, and love crafting an illustration!

One piece of advice I can give is when in doubt, follow your fears. Early in my journey as an artist, I was so afraid of friction when I was creating. I learned later than I’d like that friction is growth, and if you’re struggling to improve or make the art you envision yourself making, it’s likely because you haven’t failed at it fast enough.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

When I feel overwhelmed, I try to balance my time with anything I can do to relax. Sometimes setting clear time limits helps me focus quickly on what I need to do, and conversely having clear moments to rest is important to recover! Like any good painting, areas of contrast only sing with a good balance of areas of rest! I look back now at my art and can remember which paintings I made out of frenzied stress and which I made out of love, and I think viewers can tell the same thing! Ultimately our worth is never derived by one all-nighter assignment or rushed painting, it comes from hundreds, if not thousands of paintings that we have ahead of us! I have to remind myself that making art should be a joyful process, and to keep going, your next piece will always be your best piece!

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