Meet Zixin Yang | 3D Animator, Generlist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zixin Yang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zixin, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
When I came up with what inspired you as an artist, I thought about life, specifically those I meet as my guidance. I was studying in the US as an international student for about six years since high school. When I finished my college education, many people guided me through this journey. The funny thing is, I didn’t realize how much I took from those memories until I looked back and reviewed how much I grew from a girl to an independent woman. Often time I will start to miss them and then get inspired, no matter is a joyful emotion or something that I wish I had done a long time ago. Among them all, when I think about Professor Gary, who loves to show us some relaxing videos of those curtains being blown up by the wind that he found online, he taught me all the basics of animation during college and really guided me into this career. I miss him the most because I lost him during the pandemic. At our last meeting, I was trying to give him some masks during the pandemic, he left me nothing but encouragement and a warm caring message about how great I am gonna be. He said see you next semester but I never thought he’d break that promise… I guess what I got from him is way more than inspiration but a life guidance, mixed with slight grief. I guess with his encouragement, I will carry on with my animation career no matter what.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I dug deep into my passion. I had a great passion for story writing since I was a kid. Not a fantasy that I could escape from reality but something I want to transfer reality into. I always put a real person’s behavior into the characters I made, which may seem lack of imagination but I think it’s where my passion came from. I linger on those beautiful or bitter memories that I had and I want to give those souls (people), or myself a different journey in my world of animation. Maybe just to remind myself not to forget. Surprisingly, my imagination will follow when I start from the real.

I think I am not one of the best drawers among my classmates or colleagues and 3D animation allows me to just bring the characters that I love to life. And I am still on the way to becoming a better drawer and an animator. Most of the time as an animator though, you only got to animate one moment of this one character you got assigned with. It was never easy to just sit in front of the computer for hours and hours, and drag all the controllers of the character to make them move smoothly and vividly like a real character. You have to emerge yourself into the world of this character do your best performance and consider the subtext of what they want to say.

I was having a hard time because I thought I lacked life experiences or passion or was not loose enough to emerge into the world of animation. After all, I doubted if I could make it good enough, until one day I heard something from my other mentor Justin Farris, “when you see the unperfections in your work, you are improving, plus, you haven’t even animated for 10000 hours yet.”

So I guess, the real challenge is always whether you want to give up or not. I won’t because I don’t want to let those who guided me and pushed me down. I learned so many lessons by thinking about what they said to me, and If I want people to know something about me, maybe I will say I expect to meet more lovely souls and hopefully I will say something lingering in their memory that will make them feel good.

I also did some teaching jobs as well, which is a little sideway from my career but I was teaching animation so I guess, not so dramatically off the road. When I was with these kids and teens, I might learn more from them. Youth brought something so pure and innocent into my life again, then I realized my works could also carry more information that I hope they could enjoy or remind them of something. I sense responsibility from teaching and want to add that to my work as well, as artists we never just want to present pretty pictures, we carry messages.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I could probably cook for my friend first, then the next day I want to take her to Sarasota where I spent my four years of college life. I want to take her to this place where you can swim with manatee, I went there when I was a junior. Manatees are so mild and fun to swim with, they swipe through the river bed like a vacuum and you can pat them, hug them, and they just let you relax with them. I think that will be a great start. You don’t even have to know how to swim, they will give those long plastic noodles to hold your balance and float. After coming out of the water, they even give you hot cocoa to warm yourself up.

Then I want to take her to this restaurant where I had the best soup and Gin Tonic ever, it’s called Sage right in downtown Sarasota. I think she will have a great feast there with me. Afterward, we can go to an ice cream shop near the beach, they have over 20 flavors of ice cream. She will get one she likes.

I think I will take her to Orlando next, she always loves Disney Land and I tell her that Disney Land in Orlando has much better fireworks than the one we had in China. I want to take her to the future world first for that thrill ride, cause I love to see her hair get a little messy, and the most important thing is, I want her to get excited first, then we can just laugh and wander around like kids.

We probably gonna spend a couple of days in Orlando because they just have the best amusement parks. She hates Haunt House but always wants to try one, if we could get to Universal Studio during Halloween, she is gonna be so fun to watch.

To compensate her for the haunted house trip, I will take her to Santa Monica as our last stop, where I lived for one year during my high school. I want her to see the sunset at Venice Beach and teach her how to skate, and then, I want her to meet my high school friends from the church, I believe we will have a lovely night at Mrs. Hagasik’s yard, just talking and laughing to end our trip.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my thanks to Gary Schumer, a mentor and friend who played a pivotal role in shaping my journey as an animator. When I was in college, unsure of my path in the world of animation, Gary stood by me with unwavering support and encouragement.

Gary’s humor, kindness, and belief in my abilities were a guiding light during a time of uncertainty. I was lack of motivation due to my fear of facing all the brilliant classmates around me. Then, he just encouraged me with all the strict requirements because he thought that I could do it. With his humor as well, he always says, “if you don’t finish this, you know I am gonna haunt you in your nightmare.”

Then I’ll never forget the moment when he watched one of my hard work hand-drawn animations and emailed me, “You’re going to be a star.” I never expected that. His words ignited a fire within me and fueled my determination to succeed. I wanted to prove to him that I would not let his expectations down, but then I lost him during the pandemic.

At our last meeting, I was trying to give him some extra masks I got when the pandemic just started. I remember the blue polo shirt he wore that day, his white hair, and his smile when he saw all the masks and asked me why I thought about him, I said, you remind me of my grandpa. I didn’t realize that he was the one sending me to my journey of animation. We walked together and his last word to me was, ” See you next semester.”

Two months later when I received the email about his death, I was crying so hard and didn’t want to believe it.

Despite facing adversity and doubters along the way, I’ve never wavered in my pursuit of a career in animation. Gary’s belief in my potential gave me the strength to persevere, even when faced with obstacles. His memory serves as a constant reminder of the impact one person can have on another’s life.

Website: https://zixinyang1022.wixsite.com/zyang

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zixin-yang-18951022skl/

Image Credits
Zixin Yang