Meet Ariel Alter | Motion Graphics Designer and Illustrator

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

Hi Ariel, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I pursued a creative career because I literally can’t do anything else. It’s something I’m naturally good at, perhaps coming from an artistic family that nurtured it. Sometimes I find myself asking myself if I should have pursued a more “useful” career path. But that would have probably would have involved taking more math classes.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In my personal work, I like to explore where humor and graphic art intersect. Henri Matisse said “art is a good armchair” in which to rest from fatigue- I would add a whoopie cushion. My personal style is brightly-colored objects and characters forced through a filter of geometric shapes. Instead of creating idealized versions of worlds, objects, and characters, I prefer representation with subtle cracks. I’m interested in looking past anodyne surfaces and getting closer to something that feels true to actual experience. At first glance, my drawings are bright and poppy, but if you look closer, there are hints of something sinister. I love playing with that tension.

My career has been a constant balance between the practical and the impractical. During the Great Recession, it was a bad time to graduate as an art student with an experimental portfolio (one could argue it’s never a great time). Since the economic situation was so extreme, I decided to go in the complete opposite direction of the work I’d done in college and instead pursued clean, useful, commercial work. It took me a couple years to get up to speed on digital tools and to build up my portfolio to get more commercial jobs so I could ultimately support myself doing something that was practical but still creative.

Luckily, I had employers who allowed me to explore my creative side in addition to more bread-and-butter commercial projects. At my first motion graphics job, an Ed-Tech company, I art-directed a Les Savy Fav music video that promoted their course about accounting. At the company Vertical Networks, I animated an interactive video about safe sex in an 8-bit video game style. At Netflix, I made a hand drawn promotion for a podcast featuring Natasha Lyonne. I appreciated that there were people at these places that wanted to carve resources and time out to experiment creatively.

I guess what I’m trying to say with all of this is there are different types of work that sustain an artist. There is always going to be more work and money in commercial projects. And that’s okay. It’s satisfying to be part of a team and playing your part to solve a visual problem. I’ve met the most incredible people along the way, which would not happen if everything I made was my own. But if you have ideas of your own, it’s important that you carve time out to express them. It can be as simple as journaling or doodling in the morning for 10 minutes. Or spending 3 hours each week on a personal animation project. I believe if you constantly straddle the edge between your professional work and personal work, one informs the other, and both become stronger.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Hike up to the Griffith Observatory early in the morning on an “off day.”

Grab a meal at Sage Vegan Bistro and walk around Echo Park Lake with a buddy to look at water lilies and turtles and birds.

Get dim sum in Chinatown and walk around the Central Plaza.

Walk down a vintage-street light Carol Ave in Angelino Heights and look at some cool old Victorian Houses (best around Halloween).

Take the Metro to Pershing Square in Downtown LA and grab a drink at a rooftop bar Perch.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents were the first people that encouraged my creativity. My mom is a career painter, and her commitment to her vision is truly awe-inspiring. My dad has the enviable talent of wit and business sense, so he is my main inspiration to survive in this intensely competitive field. My sister is my muse and my comfort.

Many thanks to Ariel Martian, Todd Dever, Margaret Ratliff, Jon Moy, Aygul Idiuatullina, Karen Jaimes, Stephanie Truong, Reiko Napier, Joel Hanek, Anica Douglass, Dawn Chanette, Joe Dressel, Steven Kane, John Crump, Michael Weinrich, Ko Maruyama, August Frierich for being incredible supervisors/ co-workers/ producers and teachers!

Shoutouts to Lena Valencia, Devon Daniel Green, Marina Valentina, Kristin Cofer, Veronica Shirley, Derek Gauvain, Liz Eldridge, Sonia Kiran, Selby Sohn, Leland Frankel, Margaret Murphy, Ariel Hart, Sarah Roussin, Ravi Kiran for constantly creating and sticking to their wild, irreverent and original visions.

Website: https://www.arielalter.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_axehat/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-alter-6471ab31/

Image Credits
My portrait was taken by Margaret Murphy (https://margaretmurphy.xyz/)