Meet Robbie C. Ward

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robbie C. Ward a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robbie C. , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I think a big part of it is born from dealing with a severe chronic illness. I’ve been hospitalized 7 times since working on my short film and there have been months where I was unable to do much of anything other than sleep. During those times, it felt like I’d never be productive again. But my love of art and beauty has always pulled me through.

Every time I’ve managed to recover enough to make myself sit back down at my desk again. At first maybe I can only work for ten minutes, but before I know it I’m working ten hour days again, completely immersed in and sustained by the creative process. It’s given me something to hold on to in the midst of physical suffering. And because I’ve experienced that intense contrast- the lows of illness and the highs of creative fulfillment, my appreciation of my own creativity has only grown stronger. I realize that it is something beyond myself that I am channeling, rather than generating on my own. And there’s something extremely liberating and powerful about that.

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?

Since 2017 I’ve been working on an animated short film called Animal Math. I wanted to create something that would be a complete expression of all of my skills and passions, and I hope that is what I have done.

For years I was in a band called DEDSA. As well as writing and playing keyboards, I was the “art director” for the band. I was always drawing when I was young, but got completely sidetracked by music in my teens. DEDSA gave me a compelling reason to pursue visual art again. I created T shirt designs, album covers, and music videos.

I made the music videos using paper cutouts animated frame by frame under a sheet of glass. Eventually I became more consumed by this process than the actual music, and this happened to coincide with the fact that I was no longer able to function as a touring musician due to Crohn’s disease. Luckily, my music videos had gained some traction on the film festival circuit, and the way forward was very clear to me.

With Animal Math, I wanted to take everything I love about filmmaking, illustration, and music, and combine it into something pure and radiant and entirely my own, outside the confines of the band.

I’ve hand drawn and painted every element of the film: thousands of components, painstakingly assembled into each shot, animated by hand with stop motion. I was always drawing and cutting out monsters as a kid, so this feels like a very natural progression of my creativity. I was also thrilled to create an original film score for the first time- music which evolved naturally alongside the images, rather than my previous experience of cramming a bunch of loosely connected visuals into an existing song.

The film will premiere at festivals in 2025, and eventually have a wider release. If you’re interested in seeing Animal Math, the best way to stay up to date is through my instagram or my website. I hope to have an online store up and running this year as well with plenty of prints, shirts and maybe even some toys and other fun stuff.

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

I only have a high school education. I often don’t know what I’m doing or how to achieve what I have in mind. The only thing I live by, and the only advice I have for others is to trust your own instincts. It’s a corny cliché, but it’s also powerful and true.

I’ve had many moments of self doubt where I felt like I should learn to paint digitally, or go to school and learn to be a conceptual designer or something like that. But something deep and stubborn in me always refused and pointed me away from that. And now, if anyone knows me at all, I’m known for creating my own world completely by hand, utilizing a primitive and very old animation technique. If I had succumbed to my insecurities I likely would have strangled the life out of anything original that I had to offer.

So if I had to sum this up in 3 specific qualities, it would be stubbornness, being honest with yourself and not caring what anyone thinks. Just get out there and do it!

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Werner Herzog’s Conquest of the Useless had a huge impact on me. It’s his diary during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. Even though my method of filmmaking could hardly be more different than Herzog’s, his work ethic and persistence of vision remains a constant inspiration to me. Despite debilitating setbacks, constant battles with both the hostile Amazonian environment and obnoxious studio execs, he held onto his own searing artistic voice, and created a work brimming with vitality and poetry.

Even though I work alone in a little studio, and he travels to dangerous and remote corners of the globe, something about his uncomplicated pursuit of beauty and unrelenting DIY philosophy makes perfect sense to me. He taught me that you need no permission.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robbiewardillustration.com
• Instagram: @robbiecwardart
• Youtube: Robbie C. Ward

Image Credits

Robbie Ward