We recently connected with Apoorva Gaitonde and have shared our conversation below.
Apoorva, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I take pride in being disciplined in my work and a large part of that comes from my training as a dancer. As a teenager I had to stick to class timings, follow a dress code and dance in sync with my fellow dancers. There are several challenges and failures that are a part of life but you have to be persistent. Animation is a pretty unstable career, so whenever the going gets tough, I go back to the times I couldn’t get a dance step right, and I kept practicing to achieve good results. When performing with live musicians, one has to be a good listener. If you miss a single beat, your entire act can go for a toss. This taught me the value of being a team player and working well with others.Through the dance lessons, performances and injuries, I have picked up a strong work ethic that helps me tremendously in my chosen field.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been working as a story artist in animation feature and tv production in LA and previously in India. Animation offers a unique blend of visual and auditory stimuli, making it an excellent medium for storytelling. The ability to manipulate characters, settings and even laws of physics allows for a level of creative freedom that is rarely possible in other mediums. There is so much potential in animation that is untapped, since animation has been mainly focused on kids. Movies like Spider Verse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are pushing the limits of animation in ways we haven’t seen earlier. I’m currently watching an anime called Demonslayer and once again I’m in awe of the visuals and the level of craftsmanship. My goal for the rest of the year and in 2024 is to keep working on my skills as a story artist, and create a wide variety of work while keeping in mind the kind of story artist I’d like to be.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I’ve been working in the animation industry for a little over a decade now so I can talk about the things that have helped shape my career. As an undergrad in India with very little information about the industry in general,I tried everything from stopmotion to 3d animation until I gravitated towards visual development which is the design part for an animation tv show or film. I was working at a startup where I had to learn to storyboard on the job. It perfectly combined my love for drawing and storytelling, so that’s the field I chose to specialize in. My first advice would be to try everything and then pick a job that you’re really passionate about.
Your network of friends, mentors and peers are a real superpower. I got my foot into the industry because a professor recommended my name to her friend who was looking for a story artist. We are fortunate to be working at a time where social media sites like LinkedIn and Instagram give you access to people whom you admire and wish to reach out to. As someone who is trying to break into the industry you have to put yourself out there and meet people in the industry you wish to work in. Most creative people are introverts who prefer to spend long hours at work in isolation. I’m guilty of this as well and I’ve really had to push myself out of my comfort zone.
Animation is a collaborative industry, where you have to be able to work well with people. I recently finished directing a 2D animated short film and worked with 15 other artists. This experience taught me how to manage people with different personalities and extract the best work from them. Whether you are working on a show or a movie, you will be reporting to supervisors and working closely with directors on a daily basis. One must learn to be professional at all times and cultivate people skills to be a strong team player.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A book that left a strong impact on me this year was ‘Lessons in Chemistry’.The book revolves around Elizabet Zott, a brilliant chemist in the early 1960s whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved cooking show. Like science, life doesn’t always follow a straight line which is how Elizabeth finds herself as a single mother and without a job. What struck me the most about the book was the grit shown by the female lead in a predominantly male dominated society. Elizabeth never hesitated to take a stand against what she felt was right, even if that meant going against her boss. She faced challenges alone and found a way to stay afloat with few trusted allies by her side. Eventually, when her unusual approach to cooking proves to be revolutionary, she ends up motivating a nation of housewives not only to cook but to challenge the status quo. I guess my takeaway from this book was that you eventually do get what you deserve in life. Life might not go exactly how you planned it out, but one must be prepared to go with the flow. And keep working hard everyday with the resources available to you in the moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://agaitonde.wixsite.com/portfolio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apoorva_gaitonde/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apoorva-gaitonde-50753b34/
