Meet Enzo Wyatt | Storyboard Artist

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

Hi Enzo, why did you pursue a creative career?
At its core, I think it’s really about the camaraderie and community you get working with other creative people. Good storytelling has this very unique way of emotionally connecting with others, and one of my favorite things about being an artist is sharing my characters and ideas with other artists, I think this is a major reason why I’m aiming to work in animation and entertainment, as it’s certainly one of the more collaborative artistic careers out there. With so many unique perspectives on a project, you have the ability to reach and inspire people of all ages and walks of life,

Art and creativity has been a passion for me since I was little, and that’s in part thanks to all the amazing comics and cartoons I grew up with. To have a hand in creating something that inspires others out there to the same degree is a really rewarding prospect to me, but achieving something of that magnitude is very difficult to do alone. I don’t think it’s meant to be done alone, either; I don’t tend to be fully satisfied with a project unless I can see the DNA of others I worked with or talked to during its creation. My career is only just beginning, but I’m very excited to work with others and create inspiring works of art and entertainment.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
So I’m primarily a storyboard artist, but I started out focusing more on comics and characters as a kid. Though I had a couple years where my focus was 2D character animation, I think I ended up returning to boarding because of that history in comics. Storyboards are like comics in motion, in that the focus is more on big-picture storytelling than the moment-to-moment minutia of acting, and I’ve always been a big story guy.

I generally use a really expressive, gestural style when I draw, and in turn my storyboards have a TV animation/cartoon quality to them. I like to focus on using storytelling and worldbuilding to strengthen characterization, and not necessarily in a deep or profound way; I don’t tend to have a whole lot of fun if I’m taking things too seriously, and in fact I find that the projects that start the silliest tend to end up being the most profound as they develop. I really enjoy probing silly characters and stories for their hidden depths, but I think it can be difficult to do that successfully if you’re being too serious and dramatic about things from the get-go.

I’m really proud of how much I’ve managed to storyboard over the years, both in terms of volume and in how much I’ve improved. Beyond that, however, one of my biggest projects has been my ArtCenter animated capstone film, Tim Sandal’s Side Project. This retro-vaporwave styled short about an alien coming to Earth, discovering both human culture and true friendship, was my first time directing on a project. It was a massively stressful endeavor, of course, but I learned so much during the process and had an absolutely fantastic team at my disposal. With all my team’s talent combined I think we created something really special over the course of two years,

I’d say one of my biggest challenges as an artist has been finding my own style. When I began getting into art, I had it in my head that the only way to be creative is to develop your style and voice from the ground up without any deliberate outside influence…which is objectively a bit ridiculous. Every artist is inspired by at least someone, and more likely a lot of someones. So for a few years my art just didn’t have a whole lot of direction to it. Towards the end of high school, however, I got really into Cuphead and that kind of old-timey Fleischer look, and for a few years that’s what my style became. It was definitely a big learning period, but I hesitated to return to or revamp my own personal style because I’d somewhat lost faith in it over time. Since then I’ve come back to my own personal style, and while I think it’s still a little hard to pinpoint each of my inspirations, I’m far more open to accepting influence from artists I admire and appreciate. While originality is still a huge value for me, good art can’t just be created in a vacuum, and it’s been a huge lesson for me over the years that it’s not a bad thing to be visibly inspired by the creativity of others.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m kind of a homebody, so most of my hot hangouts are over in Pasadena where I live; still LA county though!

My parents’ house is right across the freeway from the Norton Simon, which I think is a super cool space to just chill, whether you’re enjoying the art or sitting out back in their patio space. I’d also have to take them to my top café to work at, Jones Coffee; they have one of the nicest vibes of any café I’ve gone to to draw or write, and they’re also a super localized experience that my theoretical friend probably hasn’t had the pleasure of being introduced to yet!

Other spots in Old Town Pasadena I enjoy are Amara Café and the retro arcade across the street from it. Amara has amazing food and churros, and as someone who wanted to go to a retro arcade SO badly as a teenager the one in Old Town was an awesome discovery, even if I don’t have time to go too often. I also really love the Americana in Glendale. I rarely do any actual shopping there, but I can and have walked around the main outdoor plaza or chilled in the Barnes and Noble with friends for hours at a stretch; it’s just a really lovely vibe over there.

Finally, there’s quite a few places I really love but have only been a couple times for one extenuating circumstance or another. In other words, having a friend in town would be a prime excuse to go! Places like Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood or either of my local farmer’s markets are spots I would absolutely take a visiting friend to experience.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mom and dad, to start out with; I come from a very creative family and my parents’ support has been a huge factor in how far I’ve come in my education and career as an artist. I’d also like to dedicate it to the many amazing friends I’ve made in the past few years. Before college I didn’t have too many people my age around me that I really gelled with or felt supported by, but my time at ArtCenter College of Design has given me some of my greatest friends of all time. I’d be remiss not to mention my internet friends as well, who have stuck by me in my darkest times and inspired me to create some of the most rewarding art I’ve ever done.

I’d like to dedicate it to my best professors at ArtCenter, who really helped me strengthen my skills and go the distance in so many ways, and THG Creative, where I’ve just started interning for storyboarding and illustration! It’s really tough getting work in animation these days, and while I’m not as familiar with the themed entertainment design pipeline as of yet everyone there is already so kind and supportive in helping me learn.

Website: https://ewyattstoryportfolio.com/

Instagram: @wyattontheboards

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wyattontheboards

Image Credits
All images are mine! On image 7, character was designed by me but drawn by animator Kaitlann Silagann; on images 6-8, backgrounds were designed and supervised by Kylie Popa and Rachel Min.