We recently connected with Pinghsin “Sydney” Chen and have shared our conversation below.
Pinghsin “Sydney”, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
As a Visdev Artist and Designer, I am inspired by a variety of things. I hope to always stay excited about the future and I want to constantly stimulate my emotions. A lot of my creative ideas come from my daily life: the environment around me, people I know, places I go to, interesting stories I heard… Talking and communicating with people inspires me the most, I gain insights when they share what they are working on or what excites them the most recently. I love looking at artworks, films, or any other creative projects from other artists, I must expose myself to all kinds of media, learn to appreciate them, reflect on myself, and develop new thoughts on my work.
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?
Hi! My name is Pinghsin “Sydney” Chen, I am a Visual Development Artist, Designer, and an award-winning Filmmaker. I graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Animation and Digital Arts, I am now working as a Visdev Artist and Illustrator for the kids’ animated TV show, “Sadie”. Besides that, I have been a Freelance Designer/Illustrator for 5 years now, I have worked on many projects such as collaborating with YouTuber Amanda Lo on her YouTube intros and clothing brand and designing logos for local brands and start-up businesses. I am excited that the TV series “Sadie” I worked on now has reached 20k followers on YouTube and has 6+ million combined views, and my film was selected and went into Finalist at the Theta Film Festivals in Italy recently.
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?
I would say the three qualities that are impactful in my journey are dedication, a positive attitude, and an open mind. I decided that I wanted to be an Artist when I was 7, I made a wish that I would study Animation and become a Visdev Artist when I was 12. After that, I have been executing the same plan I made for myself with dedication and hard work, despite many challenges that came along the way. I am still on the way to reaching my ultimate goal, but I believe this quality would take me further. There are times I doubt myself too, and that’s when the positive and open mind comes in – even though I had the plan, things happen and life can’t always be like what I planned for. So, adjusting my attitude and thoughts when there are obstacles means a lot to me. Sometimes when you feel like you’re in a dead end, in reality, it’s just another route to the same future you wanted.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
When I first worked on “Sadie TV”, time management and communication skills were challenging to me. I work remotely and I communicate with my Producer and team members online. At first, I would sometimes underestimate the time on a task and find out later it took longer than I expected, or when some incident with the animation came up, I had to be very efficient to be able to make adjustments in a very short time. As I was still adjusting to this fast-paced TV environment, sometimes I would work on my task independently for too long without connecting with anyone, because I was hesitant to reach out for help, thinking that others already had lots of tasks to do, too. However, once I had this problem that urgently needed to be fixed, I messaged my producer and team members, and they were all very supportive and provided constructive feedback. That was when I found out that communication is so important and relieving when you are overthinking a problem. It doesn’t mean that you are unable to finish tasks, it could allow people to work together and come up with a better idea. So now, I am always responsive and asking for feedback instead of trying to figure out everything on my own.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koalarts_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneychenart/
- Youtube: Sadie TV: https://www.youtube.com/@sadietvofficial
Image Credits
All Rights Reserved by Pinghsin “Sydney” Chen
