Meet Callie Wei | Concept & Visual Development Artist

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

Hi Callie, how do you think about risk?
Calculated risk is what got me to where I am today. In fact, it’s what continues to foster new windows of opportunity and growth.

Growing up I had expectations laid out for me. My options were to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. As a kid I had no idea what these titles even meant. All I knew was that my parents were extremely hard-working entrepreneurs who sacrificed everything to make sure I had a good education and diet. I grew up believing I needed to work hard to make them proud and not let their efforts go to waste.

In the middle of high school, some part of me woke up. Every day as I did my assignments and studied for tests to please my parents, I asked myself, “What is my purpose? Why do I take these classes, ace these tests, why do I even go to school?”

Just pleasing my parents wasn’t a good enough reason for me anymore. I needed a stronger why for me to seriously pursue any venture. You see, I never had one dream. I’ve always followed the path that was most fulfilling to the best of my ability. For me that meant a sense of ownership/independence, creativity, and community.

In sophomore year of high school, after 6 months of deep research, I decided my first long term goal would be getting a job in concept art/visual development for the entertainment industry. I tunneled visioned. All my efforts would go towards this goal even if it meant going against the social construct. I went from the overachieving teacher’s pet with an active social life and starter on my school’s basketball team – into a social recluse who skipped class more often than attended, rarely saw my friends and teachers, and spent most of my waking hours dedicated towards practicing my artistic skillset and building out a portfolio for the best reputable college I could find at the time: Art Center College of Design.

My parents were absolutely furious but after seeing my extreme commitment, they eventually came around and supported me fully even if it meant assisting me in my hooligan-like tendencies. It’s truly all thanks to them that I was able to pull off attending a full curriculum of outside art classes alongside full time high school classes at the same time. Eventually, after barely managing to graduate high school, my hard work and their patience pulled off and I received my acceptance letter to my dream college. We were ecstatic.

Art Center was a memorable, hardcore experience I’ll forever be grateful for. It quickly humbled me, teaching me how to manage my time and adapt my skillset as if I were in a professional work environment. Incredibly curated and experienced talent from all over the world became my friends, peers and teachers. However, just like my mindset in high school, I came into my dream college with the same goal of getting a job and focused on the fastest way to get there. It didn’t matter to me (or my industry) whether I graduated or not, I simply wanted the skills.

So after a year of channeling my energy towards the most essential classes, I left Art Center to do a year-long mentorship with John Park, co-founder of Brainstorm School and a veteran in the entertainment industry. The experience was transformative. Under him he taught me the importance of a work-life balance, gave me confidence in my skillset, and advised us on all issues freelance and business related. I made forever friends under his curriculum and it’s thanks to his guidance that I finally accomplished my long term goal and landed my first freelance gigs, started my first job working in film, was featured in a published book, started an online portfolio mentorship class for high schoolers, and learned the ins and outs of negotiation and professionalism at the age of 21.

Since then I’ve been incredibly grateful to have worked on multiple projects at some of the top animation companies such as Sony, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, and currently Marvel, and am now in the R&D phase of starting my own business venture in the near future.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My journey to becoming a professional was not an easy one and I believe pursuing an art job in the entertainment industry truly isn’t for everyone – you have to live and breathe art and it can be quite the lonely and financially-crippling journey. I’ve had to sacrifice my health pulling countless all nighters due to deadlines and OT, missing out on the college experience and not having the space to experiment with my art and figure out who I am as a person, and missing out on countless important events I could’ve spent with loved ones in order to get here. And it doesn’t stop after getting a job. Artists have to keep growing and marketing themselves to stay relevant and stay employed.

My first job working for film straight out of school I was spending every waking hour working, sleeping, or barely eating. I rarely took breaks, didn’t talk to anyone, and it took a big toll on my mental state. The pay was great but every time the check came in the mail, I took a quick glance and went back to work. At a certain point I reflected and asked myself, “I accomplished my dream. Now what?” I wasn’t spending a dime of my hard earned money on anything because I was working more than living. None of it made sense to me. Eventually I burnt out, stopped working, and my contract was terminated. I remember going to my local tea shop right after I got the call. It had been weeks since I last went outside during the day. The feeling of the sun on my face, the sound of the wind rustling through the tree leaves was nothing short of incredible. I reflected on the whole experience and finally understood I needed to take a real break and “find myself” as cheesy as it sounds. Afterwards I spent that entire year experiencing life as much as I could, reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, diving deep into my hobbies like film photography, and traveling all around Asia. On the last leg of my Asia trip, I was in Taiwan and got an unexpected message from Clare Sim asking if I wanted to work with her at Sony. The rest is history.

All that being said, I’m extremely grateful I was so privileged, so fortunate, and so lucky I had the opportunity to experience so much and meet my forever friends in so little time. I’m a firm believer in Stoic philosophies and believe that it’s only through suffering do we grow. Life is so short and all the challenges I’ve encountered and will encounter on my path make it all the more exciting. And if I’ve learned anything it’s to prioritize your health and happiness above all. Have integrity, don’t be a liar – especially not to yourself. Be a good person, work hard, and good people and good opportunities will follow. Like my friend Chase Conley would say, “I just want my respect.”

My work has changed a lot over the course of my career. I started very design-focused, creating worlds in a realistic, live-action fantastical sci-fi style, then transitioned to stylized animation with a more painterly style and a focus on color, light and story. For me I realized I found more meaning in art when I focused more on the emotion and storytelling – finding beauty in the everyday and mundane.

I feel like a bit of a unicorn because I have passions outside of what I do for work and try to incorporate them into my personal taste and vision. I have a passion for film photography and cinematography so I enjoy experimenting with various styles and techniques to create provoking images or videos. It’s most definitely still a work in progress, but it keeps me eager to continue growing as an artist. Being able to switch styles and vary up the type I work I do professionally also keeps things interesting.

I’m very lucky that every project I’ve been on has thankfully been super interesting and exciting for me stylistically. At the moment I’m very happy and proud of my current team over at Marvel Studios. They are the dream team and I love everyone on the show, especially my phenomenal boss and Production Designer Anthony Wu and my shining star coworker Amanda Grose. I’m currently painting backgrounds for the newly announced Xmen ’97 TV animation for Disney Plus, and I can’t wait for the world to see everyone’s hard work once it’s complete.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a bit of a foodie so a lot of my recommendations center around food, views, and aesthetic interiors.

For locations and iconic landmarks to hang out at, I’d take my friend to the Getty Museum, LACMA, Griffith Observatory, Malibu Beach, Little Tokyo, and Grand Central Market.

For food, theres a caveat of deciding between amazing food or a beautiful venue. I admire places that have a fine balance of both. For incredible brunch spots, I’d highly recommend Yang’s Kitchen and Gozen Shun for a traditional Japanese inspired balanced meal, Sushi Enya for excellent sushi, Izakaya Tonchinkan for quality small plates, Mendicino Farms for delicious sandwiches, Bavel for an out of this world Middle Eastern food journey, Perch at sunset for an incredible rooftop view of LA with the occasional live music, and Hanshin Pocha for authentic korean fried chicken and late night soju/beer.

For coffee I’d be delighted to take my friend to the newly opened Rykn Cafe with the most stunning mature japandi aesthetic, Blue Bottle Coffee, Philz Coffee, La Colombe, Stereoscope, and Coffee MCO. For those that prefer tea, I’d love to take them to Steep LA or Sunright if they fancy boba.

For the most authentic French bakery, I’d take my friend to Le French Rooster to grab their phenomenal Le Nordique sandwich as well as a couple of their best-selling raspberry tarts to share.

For desserts, I’d take this friend to Carrara’s for some delicious gelato and beautiful cakes, Bottega Louie for brunch as well as a vast selection of beautiful desserts, and Go Cakes for the cutest and not-too-sweet tarts and cakes.

For bars, I’m a fan of Death & Co and The Cellar – A Wine Library, a hidden gem serving excellent charcuterie boards and wine.

For more activities, I’d try in advance to see which artist is playing at Greek Theater for a beautiful concert venue. For a lovely open-air movie experience, I’d take my friend to L.P. Rooftop restaurant, or the El Capitan Theater for a slightly more special movie experience and sit on the second floor.

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?
My parents, my mentor – John Park, my close friend – Clare Sim, and my incredible support group of friends and mentors are the main reasons I am where I am today.

My parents are absolutely the main reason I had the privilege to choose what I wanted to pursue in life. They set the example for me early on when it comes to hard work, humility, independence, patience, business sense, and understanding what really matters in life. They laid the healthiest foundation for me to thrive and carve my own path, and for that I’m forever thankful.

John Park, cofounder of Brainstorm School and a veteran in the film and games industry, was the first mentor I met who set the example of what it meant to be an excellent teacher. He was the first I knew to be completely transparent with all his techniques and knowledge about the industry so that his students could drastically improve at a professional level and in turn, would force him to innovate and set the bar even higher for his own techniques. In my humble opinion, he set a new bar for art education in LA so that it could be affordable and high quality for future generations. I’m extremely lucky and grateful I was able to learn under such a humble yet relentless mentor who guided me through my rocky first steps in the industry.

Clare Sim, visual development artist for film at Netflix, is my old coworker from Sony and is now one of my closest friends. I met her in Art Center but we had only exchanged a few conversations. The story went something like this: I was traveling in Taiwan on the last leg of my month-long Asia trip when I receive a DM from Clare. She asks me if I want to work with her at Sony on a new Boondocks TV reboot. I say, “Yes, of course!!” and the rest is history.

Ever since our Sony days, Clare has showed me through example how to be an incredible leader, a better friend, a better speaker, and a better person – her presence is truly a force to be reckoned with. It’s thanks to her I got my first foot in the animation industry, and I’ll forever be grateful to have such a badass role model and forever friend by my side.

These are just a few of the many outstanding friends and mentors I’ve met along the way who have taught me so much and have provided space for me in their lives. I’m truly honored to know them and will continue to appreciate every memory together, no matter how small.

Website: https://calliewei.com/

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calliewei/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/callie_wei

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/callie.wei

Image Credits
Gavin Tsang and Anda Sung