Meet Lumi Chang | Freelance senior motion designer

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

Hi Lumi, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I think work life balance means very different things to me as I go through my 20s and 30s. I’m currently 32 years old and work life balance has never been more important to me, yet it was not even in the back of my head just a couple years back.

When I was in my early to mid 20s, first entering the creative industry, I was thirsty for work and recognition as a young motion designer. I was aspired to be a “sponge” in whatever position I was in. Not only did I put myself out there and focus on getting my hands on as much projects as possible, I also very much welcomed every opportunity to work late as long as it means gaining more work experience. As a “sponge”, expending my capacity and knowledge in the industry was one of the most significant drive I had. It didn’t matter to me that I had to work over weekends or late nights at the studio, all that I truly cared about was being seen and being recognized as a skilled artist.

As I turned 30, I started to realize that as crucial as my career is, meaningful life experience such as being fulfilled in my personal life and showing up for my loved ones are some of the things that I completely overlooked when I was busy being a sponge.
The life that I’ve had created in my 20s is looking less promising now that I’m in my 30s. Ever since I started freelancing about a year ago after being employed full-time for the past 6 years, I’ve found myself having more down times than I ever had before, and this change of lifestyle has made me question myself for the first time that wether it’s a mistake or not that I’ve centered my self-esteem and identity around the occupancy that I took? Even though I’m immensely grateful for all the incredible job opportunities that I’ve had in the earlier years of my career, the lake of work life balance eventually became hard to ignore.

At this stage of my career, as a more senior member of the industry, I’ve graduated from being a sponge/junior and now started to focus on different aspects of my role as a freelance senior motion designer, I’m now more selective as to the type of project that I’d take on in light of wanting to be available for my loved ones’ important moments. It’s a constant learning experience! I think it’s important to always be honest with your goals. Wether you are young and wanting to be recognized by the industry or you are an established art director looking for a place to raise a family, there’s a long way to go.
The career path that an individual choses to go down is ever evolving and the relationship one has with oneself also would be constantly shifting. The definition of the perfect work life balance varies through time but what’s important to me is that when I look back at different stages of my life, I’m happy with the choices and mistakes I made knowing that I’m evolving into something greater and more sustainable, and the learning curve would most likely looked very different from person to person, there’s is no right answer to this question! So just do whatever is right for you in that very stage of life and make a most out of it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am currently a freelance senior motion designer with a focus in 2D animation. I’ve been freelancing for a year and was previously full-time as 2D animator at Buck and prior to that I worked as a freelance motion designer at BLOCK&TACKLE.
What I’m most proud of about my professional life was the input of all the talents that I’ve had the privilege to work with. The creative community is massive yet incredibly warm and welcoming in my experience, it was not easy to be a successful artist as a foreigner who didn’t have any background or connection in the industry to begin with, but I can easily say that I’d not be where I am today career-wise without the colleagues that I’ve encountered and been lucky enough to call friends.

Most of the challenges that I’ve experienced at work were met with encouraging and friendly guidances, my instructor in school became my supervisor at work at BLOCK&TACKLE, where I was so able to ease into the professional challenges at work with the very best mentor by my side. I had a privilege to work for clients like HBO, National Geographic, and FX to create dynamic motion design, and seeing the projects that I’ve worked on being played out on tv for the first time was absolutely a moment of excitement for me.

when I first started as a 2D animator intern at Buck back in 2019, it came to me as a huge surprise that the team that I was working with was such an amazingly humble and talented group of superstars, not that I expected anything less but the community that I got to grow with was so much more than what I’d imagine. I’ve learned and acquired most of my professional knowledges through the people around me, there’s of course a lot of up and downs in this competitive professional field, but I always felt the support of my community and talents that I’ve met throughout the years. One of the most amazing projects that I’ve touched on at Buck was Netflix We The People, which was made in collaboration with the Obamas. The amount of creative freedom I was given during the process was one of the highlights of my years at Buck for sure. It was hands down the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on because it was such a huge collaborative effort and the result was so rewarding for me and for the studio as the episode took home a status for Outstanding Short Form Program at the first annual Children’s and Family Emmy award show in 2022.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to be a nice person, a nice person to work with and to be around.
It might sound very easy but when it comes to times in need, I think of all the positive experience and relationship that I was lucky enough to have, I’m proud of the friendships that I was able to uphold through my professional life so far. Attitude is the key, I want to be the type of person that I’d love to work with, and a lot of times being a nice person is not enough at all, but I believe that being kind would always always be the best mindset to have wherever I go.

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?
There are countless amazing spots to visit in Los Angeles, I’d always recommend people to go to the beach. Santa Monica and Malibu are two of my personal favorites if you like the surf culture. Being in those areas always slows me down and unwind some of the stress in life and makes me feel recharged afterward. Make sure to visit Malibu seafood fresh market for some of the best fried shrimps if seafood is something you like! There is also Malibu country mart to shop and have some coffee and for a nice sunset walk around the area. Another personal favorite spot to dine in is Pine and Crane, a Taiwanese restaurant in Silverlake, as a proud Taiwanese I can vouch for their food, it is authentic and wonderfully delicious if you like dumplings and fresh noodle soup, it is my go-to for a hearty meal whenever I feel a bit homesick.

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?
I’d love to shout out to the very first place that I worked at after graduating from SVA – BLOCK&TACKLE – a creative studio based in New York.

In my senior year in School of Visual Arts, one of the most important classes was a portfolio class in which each student would create a body of creative work that would eventually be the most crucial aspect in securing a job after school. Fortunately, Adam Gault, the creative director at B&T, was my instructor in the portfolio class, he was a very strict, aspiring and sometimes tough teacher, who brought me into B&T soon after I graduated from SVA as freelance motion designer.

During my time at B&T I was able to work on pitches, animations, design, concept arts and even help create holiday gifts in the name of the studio. The learning and growing experience at B&T has shaped the way that I think about the industry and also opened many doors for me after I left. Adam was my instructor in school as well as my mentor in the work space, being able to learn from him and the amazing team very closely was an eye-opening experience for someone who’s so fresh out of school. I felt incredibly honored to be entrusted with many responsibilities that seemed challenging to me at the time, I was humbled yet also thriving to be part of the team for as long as I did.

Being brought in to BLOCK&TACKLE as Adam’s student, I definitely felt the need to prove myself worthy, it could be stressful at times yet most of the time I was just having so much fun with the projects that I came across, it was empowering. This work experience really showed me the magic and the sweat that I was dreaming about before graduating and entering the creative industry. I am forever grateful for Adam for showing my the ropes in both the school and the industry. The changes in me during those time being under Adam’s wings are the most positive and long-lasting impacts that I’ve experienced to this date.

Website: https://lumichang.work/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pu.pu.chang/

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

Image Credits
My cat potato & my home office Me at an art exhibition: Meow Wolf FX – American Horror Story Apocolypse DIRECTED BY BLOCK & TACKLE Netflix We The People Produced by Buck Let’s Revolution! Buck’s debut video game