Meet Grey Rui Han | Story Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grey Rui Han and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grey Rui, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Ever since starting my path in the animation industry, the concept of work-life balance has become quite vague as animation has famously been a career path where there is no stop for an artist’s personal growth. I started my journey in animation two years ago when I first started grad school. Since I did not come from an animation background, spending much time and effort in catching up with the knowledge and skills in animation was my priority back then. Though I was working hard, I was still able to maintain a relatively healthy lifestyle. Going into the second year, I started to dive deep into storyboarding as my future focus and started to build my portfolio from scratch. Along with a heavier school workload as well as portfolio building and internship applications, I barely paid attention to work-life balance. I then got the opportunity of a story internship at Pixar, where I got to spend the summer experiencing a real working environment, working as a story artist, and elevating my skill set. The internship marked a milestone in my journey in animation so far, but it also reminded me of the importance of work-life balance. I am currently working on my thesis film to wrap up my three years in animation school, but maintaining a good work-life balance is part of my focus now. Having seen and experienced physical and mental burnout myself, I would say only by keeping a good balance between work and life can you go far in the creative field, as life is where creativity is nurtured, and only by taking care of it can you retain the freedom to keep your passion thriving.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a story artist, and the part that I’m most excited about being a story artist is that I get to tell stories visually and bring the audience the movie experience. During my first year of exploration in animation, I gradually came to realize that the part that excites me the most is the story experience that I could bring to people rather than visual design. I then started to entirely focus on storyboarding in my second year in animation, and after a year of study and practice, I built up my storyboard portfolio which got me a position as a Story Intern at Pixar, where I got to study their secret ingredients of storytelling from the core. It has definitely not been an easy journey, as being a good story artist requires a combination of skill sets including good draftsmanship, a sense of cinematic camera, and good character acting, which all require enormous amounts of practice to master and improve on top of my already heavy school workloads. The way that I have been coping with the challenges is to find a balance between professional improvement and schoolwork and paying a ton of time and hard work into storyboarding. I might have been a crazy hard worker in other people’s eyes as I have barely taken a break for the past two years, and my work time would even intrude on my time to rest, but I would say it has been worthwhile. By saying that, I would still say that the biggest lesson I have learned so far is that overworking and not being able to find a balance between work and life is harmful to artists who would like to sustain a long and healthy career, as creativity comes for the nurturing of life.

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 would first bring them to the beaches for sure! My favorite one so far is Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica is also pretty cool. Maybe they would want to visit the touristy spots? Would definitely take them around Hollywood, Griffith observatory, and some other famous spots that have appeared in the movies. West Hollywood has all the fun places, maybe we’ll just drive around that area and be spontaneous!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Where do I even begin lol! Firstly I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my mentors and friends at USC who have supported me professionally and emotionally. Shoutout to Brandon, Katie, Zilai and many more for helping with my work, and to Fiona, Chenchen and other friends who would listen to me talking about Story. I would also like to Shout out to my mentors Daley, Hyein and Hannah and every artist at Pixar, they have helped me become a better artist and a better person. Also shoutout to my fellow interns, I have learned so much from them. There have been so many more great people during or even before my journey here that have inspired me and supported me, and I would like to give all of them a huge shoutout.

Website: https://greyhan.weebly.com/

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grey-rui-han-2052221b7/