We recently connected with Stuart Fleisher and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stuart, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
Despite the stereotypes, artists and creative people are some of the hardest working folks I’ve ever met. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to always be delivering at an extremely high quality. There’s also a constant battle of comparing our own work to what our peers are doing, which is often pretty unfair to ourselves. It’s very easy to tunnel vision on a project or goal and get frustrated, exhausted and disenchanted with our art.
For me keeping my head above water involves a couple of things. First, I think its important to keep my interests broad and chase my curiosity. During my career as a creative director I would often find myself going down weird rabbit holes that seemingly had nothing to do with my work. I would often feel guilty about chasing these things, only to realize months or years later that those same explorations were actually super important for a project I just hadn’t started yet. My main source of income these days is working as a graphic designer and animator, but I’m getting much more creative satisfaction out of improv comedy, and software development, and so I make it a priority to work on those projects that inspire me.
Maybe the most important source of happiness for me is community. Creative work can be very collaborative or very isolating. In my past life I let my work be so important that all of my community came from people I was collaborating with. When my work situation inevitably changed, I realized how fragile that can be. Since then I’ve worked hard to build a community outside of my creative pursuits. I’ve learned to be more authentic and vulnerable, and in return I’ve discovered relationships that fill my cup both emotionally and creatively.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My professional work is a blend of design and technology. I’ve been working as a motion designer since 2007, and through that process fell in love with using code to paint on a screen. After Covid, I decided to take a break from animation to learn how to develop professional level web applications. I completed a development bootcamp at the end of 2022, and launched my freelance business vrb (like verb) motion.
Today I work on a wide variety of projects, from motion & animation to ux/ui to full on web development. I love helping bridge the gap between the way engineers and artists think.
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?
1. Don’t be afraid to make it up. I think this is my biggest tip for anyone just starting out. Invent new processes. Make up systems. Build step by step plans and execute them the same way you would if someone senior had handed it down. A lot of people expect there to be a “right” way to do things, but the most successful people I know are willing to invent a plan and attack it. The longer I’ve worked, the more I’ve realized that everyone is just making it up, even at the highest levels. Be methodical, but be bold. Think through your plan, but if you’ve put thought into your process, trust that work and don’t look back!
2. Study and break down references. Most of creativity is connecting old ideas in new ways. Whatever your discipline is, the best way to improve is to watch what other people are doing and really, really dissect it. Watch videos frame by frame. See the same movie 18 times. Try to understand WHY something is really working, and what all of the different parts are that go into that. When you can take enough references apart piece by piece, you’ll have an incredibly tool box that you can reassemble and repurpose for all types of projects that feel brand new.
3. Be open to opportunities. I once asked a director of photography that I respected what advice he had for me as a director. He told me that I should try to be open to exploration and embrace discoveries in the moment. It would take me years to really understand that idea. As creative director, I felt like it was my responsibility to be in control of every situation, and plan for every contingency. But not only is that an impossible task, it also leaves opportunities on the table. Leaving room to explore allows more voices into the work, and makes creative work more fulfilling and joyful in a way that can really show up in the final product.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Working across design and development, I’ve really taken huge strides in my ui/ux work this year. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in some User Experience testing where I watched real people interact with a web app without guidance. It’s amazing how differently people approach even basic tasks like navigating a site. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to design and develop a ui library for a healthcare technology start up, and I’m currently working with an agency on ui designs for an interactive experience that will play across six enormous monitors in an airline’s logistics control center!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stufleisher.com
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/stufleisher
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricSweater
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