Meet Kat Messing

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

Hi Kat, what is the most important factor behind your success?
One of the biggest things that’s helped me grow as an indie animator is learning to separate my self-worth as an artist and storyteller from my career path. When I was just starting out, I really wanted to be seen as one of the best animators in the biz. I built my reel to impress big studios, made shorts designed to show off how clever I was, and took it pretty hard when things didn’t move as fast as I wanted. I had my sights set on working at Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, Cartoon Network (anywhere making the kinds of stories that moved me). At the time, I thought getting hired by one of those studios was the only way I’d feel successful. Anything else felt like settling.

But over time, I came to realize that assumption just wasn’t true.

Two things really helped me break out of the desperation for corporate validation and vanquish artistic insecurity. First, I just really love animation. Before I ever got paid to animate, I was making rough little shorts in my apartment, trying out new techniques and joining online challenges. That nerdy passion kept me going even when I wasn’t booking jobs. I learned a lot by experimenting! I had (and still have) a lot of gumption to dive into every facet of the industry and hone my skills. I simply can’t not do the thing.

The second was finding my people. The project I’m proudest of isn’t one that had a huge audience. It was the 2022 YouTube series for American Girl Dolls. The team I worked with was wildly talented, selflessly nurturing, and insanely fun to collaborate with. We had a sense of purpose, room to be weird and silly, and the chance to take ownership of our personal and thoughtful contributions. It taught me that real fulfillment doesn’t come from commercial street cred. It comes from creative chemistry and making something you care about with people you vibe with.
No shade to anyone working at the big studios (the production value, brand recognition, and the sheer scale of talent on those teams isn’t for nothing!), but I’d rather have a little more soul in my step than swagger.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always resonated with stop motion. Nightmare Before Christmas played year-round in my house growing up, and even as a tot I was drawn to series like “Bump in the Night”, Aardman’s “Ceature Comforts” and Will Vinton’s various claymation specials. I love the ingenuity of using found objects and adaptable materials and imbuing them with life and personality. There’s a thrill in conjuring practical VFX, applying character animation principles to puppets with limited ranges of motion, and working around the technical constraints of physics, all within a live-action cinematography setup. There’s also a certain magic to stop motion that other forms just don’t have. It’s inherently captivating to watching real things move around and become more than what they are as mere practical items.

Animation has always called to me, but I wasn’t the sketchbook-filling, classically trained type. Hand-drawn animation and storyboarding are honestly grueling for me. And although I initially pursued CG character animation, I found the process of translating movement through digital sliders and graph editors deeply frustrating. I remember wishing I could just reach through the screen and reposition the character how I wanted! So working with a physical medium for animation has been most accessible to me.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was letting go of the need to be “the best” and to refocus on being an effective storyteller instead. I’ve made a slight yet crucial adjustment to my definition of success. I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as being the best in any art form, too subjective. However, I am the best at being myself, and expressing that through my art. Because no one else has my exact perspective. Shifting from chasing accolades to seeking creative nourishment has been a real turning point for me. I’m really enjoying the process so far.

My style of filmmaking embraces imperfection and economical storytelling. It’s a little rough around the edges. It’s strange how often people assume stop motion animators are patient, because for me, as long as the idea reads, I’m ready to move on. Brands who utilize stop motion animation to sell their products typically want everything to look pristine and flawless. But in my personal work, I do the opposite. One of my favorite things about stop motion is being able to lean into imperfections. I’ve seen so much time and effort spent to hone minutiae that audiences never notice, so I’d rather spend my energy to make an idea/character read clearly than to make them read beautifully, if that makes sense. Always prioritize gesture over form!

I also endeavor to say something meaningful with my work. I’m not interested in making things with surface level cuteness or shock value. It means a lot to me when people engage with my stories. It’s how I connect with them even if we aren’t well acquainted in real life. I hope these connections can help pull the needle of humanity in a more positive direction. I’m currently working on a new short called Wolpie of the Woods, which I plan to finish by the end of the year. It’s supported by a grant from indie filmmaker collective Silverlake Shorts, and I’m honored to be part of their fellowship program. I’m using the opportunity to raise the production value and really push myself! I’m deep in puppet-making now, and we’re on track to shoot by the end of the summer. It can be overwhelming to figure things out as I go, but I’m definitely more excited than nervous to see how it all comes together. The story follows a frantic Wolpertinger who encounters other forest cryptids (folklore creatures) and realizes the every-beast-for-itself mindset is a trap meant to exploit them. He comes to understand that real survival comes from connection, not isolation. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!

If I could offer any pearls to my fellow creatives, I would emphasize being intentional about the artistic choices we make. It’s just as vital to know why you’re making something as it is to know how. That clarity of purpose and personal voice is what gives (y)our work its style and resonance. Paradoxically, it helps one’s art stand out while making it more relatable. (I learned this firsthand with Vermin Beings, a tiny short I made last summer mostly for myself because I loved the idea of these feral little rat-men fighting over hotdogs in a convenience store. It ended up winning the Grand Jury Prize for the 60-second film category at Slamdance, which was a very fun surprise. I’m very proud of it!) You can also shrewdly apply intentionality to the career side of art. Financial comfort in the entertainment industry is never guaranteed, so if you’re going to stick with it, make sure it’s for reasons that sustain you and inoculate you from professional burnout. Passion for the medium, a calling to be a catalyst for change, and the desire to connect with others are all more nourishing motivations than chasing clout or ego validation. Plus, people like to work with people they like. Care intensely, stay grounded in your purpose, and don’t be a jerk. That’s all, folks!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve actually already made a custom google map with every place in LA I’ve been to and loved for this exact purpose. This way I can quickly curate a week of LA tourism based on the interests of whoever was visiting and how much we’d have to spend. But generally…

Classic LA Food: Taco trucks, donut shops, burger joints, and Portos (duh)
A novelty bar (Scum and Villany; Idle Hour; Good Times at Davey Wayne’s; Tonga Hut/Tiki No/Brass Compass Cafe)
A market (Smorgasbourg, Los Feliz Flea, PCC Flea, Odd Nights Out at the Autry, Leimert Marketplace & Drum Circle)
Shopping: Catnip Coalition, Geeky Teas, Milt and Edie’s, Suay, Amoeba Records, The Last Bookstore, Stuart Ng Books)
A movie at a Laemmle/Vidiots/Chinese
A concert/show at the Wiltern/Greek/Bowl
Spectacle performances: Lucha Vavoom at the Mayan or The Magic Castle, Knotts Scary Farm, Disneyland if I can finagle free entry
Sightseeing: The Universal Minion, Bronson Caves, Griffith Observatory, cruising through Muholland Drive/Franklin Canyon, Union Station, Watts Towers, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, La Brea Tarpits
Museums: Museum of Jurassic Technology, Academy Museum, Brewery Artwalk, Skirball Museum, Getty
Outside activities: Ciclavia, picnic at Barnsdale Art Park, volunteering for Food Forward, Daytrip to wildflowers in Antelope Valley during superblooms, Point Dume, Huntington Gardens, Misha Mokwa hiking trail in Santa Monica Mountains.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The entire stop motion community

Sean Malony, Cami Kwan, Max Lopez of Apartment D

The Bogdanoves

Anya Belkina

Pete Chvany

Brickyard VFX Atlantic crew circa 2012-2016

Alex Kamer

Silverlake Shorts

Women in Animation

Joe Murray’s “Creating Animated Cartoons With Character’

All past and present loved ones

Website: https://www.katmessing.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kat.messing/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-messing-0b20b614/