We were lucky to catch up with Naeem Stewart recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Naeem with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Generally I attribute my work ethic to always loving the journey of working towards something I want to achieve. Once I see and/or learn of something I want to achieve, I immediately get focused in and obsess over it. Once I’m dialed in on it, I always create a list of goals that would attribute to reaching it. I’ve always felt, along with putting in the work for achieving something, that having a mindset for believing in eventually reaching a goal(s) always works with it actually happening. There’s been a number of times throughout my life, especially during my college and professional careers, where I’ve done this strategy for myself and it has always benefitted and led me to a good amount of awesome opportunities that I’ll forever be grateful for.
In addition, I remember starting to get more of a focus on my work ethic from my grandfather when I was a teenager. He worked as a mail carrier for the USPS for over 20 years and was a pastor at a church I grew up in. I was always inspired by his consistency with being on time at work as well as doing his duties as a pastor for the church on a consistent basis every week. He also had the tendency to always wake up early in the morning everyday to do something constructive in and around his house, especially once he retired and moved back to his hometown of Camden, SC with my grandmother. It made me want to replicate that within my life and eventually throughout my professional career. I’ve even done a bit of a tribute to him since he’s impacted my life early on. I play a character that I named after him on an tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) podcast that is centered on the universe of Mass Effect with my friends called Adventum.
Another person that inspires me with their work ethic is my former mentor I’ve worked with while I was in college (Savannah College of Art & Design) by the name of Munkhtsetseg Nandigjav. When I returned in 2012 after taking a year off, I was placed in a mentorship program. That’s when I met and began working with her, which enhanced my mindset for my work ethic. I believe that I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career without the valuable things she taught me.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve worked professionally as a multimedia artist, with over 10 years of experience in the entertainment media industry, as well as an independent content creator that specializes in creating art and video game content for my audience. As a multimedia artist, I worked for multiple studios over the years as a digital compositor, creating various visual effects for a number of critically acclaimed films and TV shows such Black Panther, the Marvel Avenger films, House of Cards, Fargo, and much more. I’ve also recently worked for several years in the video game industry as a Lead Level Designer and Lead Environment Artist at the indie game studio, Turn Me Up Games.
In regards to being an independent content creator, I design and execute weekly video streamed content on the live streaming platform, Twitch, focusing entirely on traditional art for my growing community as a partnered streamer. The type of traditional art I generally do on these live streams is a called stippling, a drawing technique in which areas of light and shadow are created using nothing but inked dots. Generally I’ve focused on doing fantasy and sci-fi themed art with this technique as well as some of the art pieces I’ve created have been displayed in an art gallery over the past few years. Along with that, I’ve recently became a partnered content creator on YouTube, where I’ve been creating and publishing video game content almost on a daily basis for my community that I’ve grown. Originally, I started publishing video game playthroughs just for my younger sister to watch, due to the fact that when we were children, she always enjoyed watching me play through video games. But along with that, for the last few years I’ve surprisingly been growing a community on there that’s enjoyed the content I’ve created as well as it’s led to working opportunities with companies such as Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Sony.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Consistency is the first quality I abide by when it comes to growing as a person and within my career. For example when I moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college, one of the biggest goals of mine was to create content with my skill set as an artist. I learned about the growing art community on the Twitch platform and decided to stream the process of creating an art piece traditionally for a live audience. Consistently streaming art on that platform for a year straight aided in growing a following on multiple platforms, which led to me becoming a partnered streamer with Twitch. I was also able to inspire and teach viewers about the fundamentals of creating traditional art as well as it has led me to unique work opportunities such as doing art for charities and having some of my art pieces in an art gallery. Being consistent in something you’re passionate about, no matter what it is, is one of the keys to success in a person’s journey.
A willingness to learn is another quality that has impacted me in my journey. As I stated before, I’ve been able to work with several different media companies over the last 10 years. I’ve jumped from being an artist in the VFX industry that’s worked for multiple companies, to being video board operator for a broadcasting studio, to recently being in different leadership positions for a video game studio for several years. All of that took me wanting to learn different skillsets that would aid in my career growth. I’ve always felt that having that desire to learn would lead a person to explore and eventually get into something new that could be a benefit for their life.
Passion is the final quality I believe that has worked for me throughout my life. Being passionate about your goals can help you maintain the amount of effort it takes to achieve them. When you approach the goals with fervor, you may find them more enjoyable. The excitement you may feel when completing tasks associated with your goals successfully may inspire you to improve your skills. This can also help with developing an excellent and consistent work ethic. Passion can also give you the confidence to take risks when necessary to be successful in your career and in life.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I feel as I’ve been very fortunate with my parents believing and supporting me in my life journey. They never pushed me away from attaining any goals of mine and fully supported, regardless of how hard and stressful it may be to achieve. They’ve also consistently given as much as they could, financially, in support of what I’ve strived to do in life. If something were to happen that may be a bit of a derailment for me in my journey in life, I can always get in touch with either one of them for assistance of any sort to help get me back on track. That’s been the most impactful thing they have done so far for me which I’m forever grateful for.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naeembstewart/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeemstewart/
- Twitter: https://x.com/NaeemBStewart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BomaniPlays
- Other: Twitch – https://www.twitch.tv/viciousfool
Image Credits
HyperRPG – 3rd image
