Meet Gizelle Orbino | Storyboard Artist

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

Hi Gizelle, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’ve always been attracted to the arts ever since I first came upon my grandpa’s comic books, back when I was 5 and living in the Philippines at the time. From there, I eventually found anime, video games, then, when I moved back to California, western comic books and cartoons. Thanks to a fourth-grade classmate bringing in a “mature” comic book (‘Spawn’), it opened up a new place for me to explore: drawing. I wanted to emulate the pictures I saw in those panels, and pretty soon, I was making my own cheap comic books.

However, it wasn’t an obvious straight path to where I am now. It took some time for me to realize that there is a whole industry in the US where it consisted of drawing and coming up with new worlds and characters to inhabit them. Before that, I wanted to be a manga artist (even planned on moving to Japan), then I went to study game design, then eventually found myself in the animation program at SJSU.

Fortunately, my family had the privilege to send me to these schools while I found my way, and I do not take that for granted.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m currently a storyboard revisionist at Netflix, helping out with clean ups and plussing up acting in the storyboards. It’s my second creative gig after being in animation production for the past six years, and I am excited to be continuously learning the art form.

As you can see, it took me a while to breakthrough, and there were multiple points in time where I thought about quitting. The only thing that pushed me to keep going was the question, “If you quit pursuing this, what will you do then?” It sounds like I took it from a show but it was a legit thought in my head when I felt things weren’t looking up.

Outside of my regular job, I work on personal storyboards to upkeep my visual storytelling skills. These storyboards are usually me trying to make the audience to feel a variety of emotions while they’re watching, whether it be a ‘HELL YEAH!’ after watching a dope fight, or a slight tear that escapes from their eye after an emotional beat. To me, animation has no limits or boundaries, and can be a wonderful playground where we can see another’s perspective on things, and teach empathy to both children or adult. A lot of American people seem to think the animation medium is for kids, but outside of this country, animation is a respected story-telling medium.

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.
First place I’d take them to will be in SGV and introduce them to the best spread of different types of Chinese food they can experience, and then take them to my favorite milk tea spots, like Twinkle Brown Sugar. Then the next day I’ll take them to Sasabune in Glendale for their great lunch combo, or to Little Tokyo. If they’re craving tacos, I feel like I can toss a coin anywhere and we’d hit a good spot. Outside of food, if they were up for a nice chill walk, I’d take them to Huntington Gardens.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to first dedicate this shout to my hometown friends, aka The Midnight Judges, who have had my back since we all first met each other at the corner of the middle school cafeteria. Without them, I would not have been able to embrace my nerdy and weird side.

Secondly, to my peers/mentors in the animation industry that I have been blessed to have on my side. Thanks to them, I was able to find my footing as a newbie production assistant and into becoming a storyboard artist. I cannot think of enough words to show how much I appreciate the help and support from my Tea Time girls and my TMNT production family.

Then to my fellow animation friends – Cat, Melvin, Dou, CT, Jake, Crystal etc – who also watched me grow and pushed me to become the artist I am today.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family with their endless support of my endeavors.

Website: https://gizelleorbino.wixsite.com/website

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jillsanvich