Meet Lesley Marroquin

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lesley Marroquin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lesley, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.

With a TON of practice. Believe it or not, I was a very quiet kid. Growing up I hated giving presentations because it made me incredibly nervous. My voice and hands would start shaking every time I spoke. I also never really shared my ideas because I didn’t want to speak up. It was not until high school when I joined the Marching Band and Mock Trial Club that I started to come out of my shell.
Once I got to college, I continued to pursue extracurriculars that allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and build my communication skills. I became Co-Leader of the M.A.R.S (Mentorship, Advice, and Relationship Services) Club, which forms mentorships between underclassmen and upperclassmen in my department. We also invite Alumni to be guest speakers and just this past year I and the other department’s club leaders hosted a portfolio review night with industry professionals. Through this club, moderating meetings with guest speakers and planning events with other people have further allowed me to practice explaining my ideas and working with others.
Although it might not seem like it, I still get nervous. But I always remind myself to take a deep breath. The phrase “fake it till you make it” is really what I live by anytime I am intimidated to do something. When it comes to working with others in a team, I’ve learned that everyone learns differently. It is what makes them so unique and brings new ideas that you may not have thought of before. It also means some things that may be obvious to you might not be obvious to them. One thing I learned through trial and error is to not make assumptions. You have to make sure you are as clear as possible. Being a good communicator is not something that can be learned overnight, it takes time. Even now, I feel like I am still constantly trying to improve my communication skills.

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?

I am a CG character artist and animator. I love creating unique characters and bringing them to life. Currently, I am a senior at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, where I study 3D Animation & VFX. I’m originally from Visalia, California where we don’t have specific art high schools like a lot of big cities have. Fortunately, I was able to learn storyboarding in high school through a class hosted by the after-school program. While it was fun, it was not my favorite thing to do. So I started exploring 3D modeling my senior year. I started with an outdated version of the sculpting program Zbrush and Blender. I immediately fell in love with the medium. I was mainly teaching myself and looking online how to use these programs, so the idea of getting to learn from professionals made me want to pursue an art degree.
Starting at SVA, I never had a specific role in mind that I wanted to do. I was open to everything and wanted to learn as much as I could. It was not until the end of my second year that I decided I wanted to focus on characters and animation. I find it a fun challenge trying to give each character a unique personality through their appearance like the clothing they wear or the way they act. Each character design has its challenges that constantly have me try something new. So I feel like I am constantly problem-solving and growing as an artist. In my opinion, it’s always about telling a story. It’s what made me want to join the animation industry in the first place. Seeing diverse stories that provide more representation to underrepresented communities is something that has always inspired me. It’s what led me to create a thesis film based in Latin America. Being Latino myself, I wanted to share the culture that I am extremely proud of in this unique medium.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Being adaptable, willing to learn, and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone are the most important qualities that have gotten me where I am today.
The CG industry is constantly evolving. New programs are being implemented and new skills are being sought after. Being able to keep up and see the bigger picture and where you fit in is important. Being able to adapt goes a long way, especially when you are problem-solving. If your initial idea does not work, being able to pivot and try something new is a good skill to have. I can think of so many instances when I had to try something different because my initial plan did not work out. Sometimes taking a step back from a project and regrouping can help way more than you think.
With that being said, being open and willing to learn new things is equally as important. You will never know your true potential without trying new things and pushing yourself to expand your skill set. There is always something new you can learn from anyone you meet. Being able to give space to listen and learn will help you be a better person and artist. Learning new skills can be uncomfortable or intimidating, but something I learned is that a lot of artists are always willing to help. I am so thankful to have learned from my incredible peers and teachers. You do not have to know everything. So being patient with yourself in your artistic journey will help you in the long run. Everyone is on their own path so you can only compare yourself to where you have been and not to other people.
Overall, it all comes down to being able to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Looking back, I would not be where I am today had I not pushed myself to try new things that intimidated me. So many new opportunities often present themselves when you do things that scare you. I encourage everyone to be open and try new things, you might surprise yourself.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

For the past two years, I have been working on my thesis short film, “Chiquito”, which I am Co-Directing with my thesis partner, Anna Riva. Our story follows an ambitious Salvadorean inventor who is too focused on making her teleportation device. She ends up neglecting her pet armadillo, Chiquito and he decides to take matters into his own paws. As a way to catch her attention, he steals the device from her at the exact moment it starts working. They accidentally get teleported to Brazil where Chiquito is running around with the device while the Inventor tries to catch him.
It is a fun, lighthearted film that takes place in Puente Arce, El Salvador where my dad is from, and in São Paulo, Brazil where Anna is from. We wanted to showcase Latino cultures in a fun and unique way. So, a question I asked myself early on was how I was going to authentically represent my culture in this narrative we created. I had many conversations with my family and spent a lot of time researching and gathering references of key characteristics of El Salvador that I wanted to be present in the film. For a lot of people, this would be the first time they see this little town in El Salvador, so I want to make sure it is represented with care and love.
Overall, it has been a unique process and has given me a deeper appreciation of how much work goes into making a film. It is like one big group project, where every person’s role is important. A lot of my responsibilities are at the beginning of the CG pipeline, so it has been a great challenge to make sure we have a strong foundation to create the film. For starters, I had never modeled an animal before, nonetheless an armadillo. I also have never animated a creature like this. However, it has been such a fun learning experience, and getting to animate such a cute character has been super rewarding.
On top of this, communicating with a large team, that includes all the underclassmen and recent graduates helping us and my thesis partner, has been a new experience for me. I have worked with others for clubs, but never on this scale. It was intimidating at first but seeing their excitement and willingness to help us has been so special and motivating that it has made this experience all more enjoyable.
I am very proud of how far we have come and thankful for everyone who has helped us thus far. I am very excited for everyone to see the film in May 2025.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Portrait taken by Arthur Timpanaro
“Chiquito” Short Film:
Anna Riva- Co-Director, Producer, Environment Lead, Look Development Lead, Lighting Lead
Avery Pendleton- Chiquito Rig
Karen Chen- Inventor Rig

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