We were lucky to catch up with Carlos Zapater Oliva recently and have shared our conversation below.
Carlos, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I truly believe that my professional objective chose me many years ago. When I think back, I remember always having a pencil in my hand as a child, drawing anything came to mind.
Every time I saw a movie, I felt inspired to draw scenes from it on paper, as if I wanted to relive the emotions or feelings I experienced while watching it.
When I looked at these drawings years later, I discovered that I was constantly attempting to tell a story, and that I was always looking for something to tell.
After all these years, I’ve discovered that the desire to narrate and tell stories has always been a part of me and has accompanied me throughout my life.
I believe I am a Story Artist today because the profession selected me when I was a child.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My beginnings were not like those of the folks I know. My parents have always supported my decisions, but when it came to choose what to study for my future, they encouraged me to study Technical Drawing because, aside from the creative aspect, there were more job options thereafter. Working in an architectural office felt like the logical decision at the time because pursuing a career in the arts in Spain frequently meant struggling financially. For four years, I studied Technical Drawing and worked at an architectural studio. Later, through the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), I worked as a drafting designer for the European Space Agency (ESA), creating mechanical components for satellite antennas. It was an entirely other field.
During this point in my life, I continued to draw in my spare time at home. Then I noticed a promo on TV for an animation school that piqued my interest. I signed up and spent six months learning the basics of animation. That’s when I recognized what I’d always wanted to accomplish since I was a child. I felt that this was my path, and I needed to stick with it until the finish. I had finally discovered my calling.
I was unemployed and had a mortgage to pay shortly after finishing that course. But I didn’t hesitate at the time. I chose to put my severance salary towards enrolling in another animation course.
I completed the course earlier than expected since I was running out of money and needed to make mortgage payments every month.
I knocked on the doors of numerous studios in Madrid, but it was at Estudios Moro that I was able to begin working in what I was so excited about.
When I think back on my childhood, I recall my parents always attempting to help, support, and encourage me.
And, of course, I’m proud of myself for facing my concerns and pursuing a future without money or bills, but always with self-confidence and a strong belief in what I wanted to do.
I realized that believing in oneself and fighting for what one loves are essential.
I realized that fear should never stop you from achieving something.
I realized that the most important thing at the end of life is to be proud of your efforts rather than your accomplishments.
All of this assisted me in visualizing my future in the field and in believing in myself and my talents. I eventually succeeded, and here I am.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Actually, there have been several aspects in my life that have helped me to get here. One of them and the fundamental one is the support I received from my family when I wanted to improve my knowledge in drawing and painting. Their support and the confidence they gave me in myself helped me to overcome the obstacles that I have had to overcome throughout my life. They enrolled me in the only drawing and painting academy in my neighborhood, and encouraged me to continue and never give up. I enjoyed that time very much, I was eager to learn every day. Copying other artists, seeing how others solved their drawing problems was something that inspired me every day.
Another knowledge that I acquired throughout my life and that has helped me to develop my career is the musical studies that I studied at the Conservatory of Music in Madrid. I studied classical guitar for 12 years and gave concerts during a period of my life.
This musical knowledge that I acquired, learning musical rhythm and phrasing a melody with an instrument, has helped me to give rhythm to the sequences, to understand what a silence is, to make pauses in the narrative and to give it the cadence that, in my opinion, the sequence should have.
Giving concerts alone on a stage, in front of an audience listening only to you, helped me to lose my fears when it came to selling an idea in front of a group of people, which in that case was the music I was making and today, the sequence I have to show to the director.
And finally, having dedicated myself in another stage of my life to be a paragliding instructor, has helped me to be aware of what my weapons are, to measure the risks and weigh my decisions when making them.
My advise is simple: fight for what you believe you should do, without listening to anyone but yourself, your feelings, and your intuition.
And once you’re on that path, look at what other artists are doing, analyze them, emulate them, and try to develop your own style, something that will set you apart from others in your field.
You must strive to ensure that all of your work speaks about you, about who you are, and that your life experiences make you unique and unrepeatable, which AI will never be able to do in the future.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
I’ve only been in Los Angeles for 16 months. I had to relocate my entire family from Spain, and we had to adjust to a new life and a different society from the one we believed we knew before coming here. All of my current issues revolve around adjusting to an unfamiliar environment, a new language, and, for my kid, a new school system that is very different from the one he was accustomed to in Spain. Our purpose for this voyage was to offer our kid the opportunity to travel and discover another culture and language, to broaden his horizons, and to realize that the world is much larger than the place where we resided.
We’re all working together to tackle the challenges that this all brings, especially my wife, who has to find her place here piece by piece.
My wife is a haute couture designer and dressmaker who owned a successful haute couture workshop in Madrid that she had to close before moving here. She has gone from being widely recognized and valued in her career in Madrid to being an absolute stranger in Los Angeles, which is difficult to accept, but together, she is gradually overcoming it.
Handling all of this while focused on the job definitely demands extra effort, but I am confident that we will succeed in the end.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zapateroliva/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-zapater-oliva-52164710/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnfzYOQFoCY
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2500263/
https://vimeo.com/library-search?q=carlos%20zapater
Image Credits
Examples of storyboards that I have made in for the following movies: -SMALLFOOT -WISH POLICE -LUCK
