Meet Metaphor Brown: Animation Storyteller

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

Hi Metaphor, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
Beyond being around my loved ones nothing brings me joy like creating for animation and the visual arts. I love the challenge of problem-solving. I love to experiment and discover. I love using visual imagery to tell stories, build tension and get a response out of my audience. I love thinking of interesting ways to say something. I also really like it when you can see the bones of the idea and re-arrange the fine details around the skeleton to make something exciting. Being a creative can be really hard, though. There are lots of self-doubts involved. That part can be deeply devastating, but the joy of creating makes it all worthwhile. Showing my work to others can be hard sometimes too, but there’s really nothing like getting into a good flow of creativity. It’s the best feeling in the world.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I love telling stories with visual imagery, and experimenting with visual metaphors to express ideas. I adore poetic narratives, and I like to build narratives using the unique capabilities of visual language. I am a director of animated shorts, including VR narratives. Beyond freelancing and making my own animations, I also love storyboarding and visual development. In my work, I like to utilize nature as a metaphor, as well as explore interpersonal relationships between characters. I also really like incorporating mixing media when I can, especially combining 2D and 3D animation. Currently, I’m working on a couple of personal projects, including a short film on mass extinction that I won a grant to create.

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.
Before covid, I loved seeing old movies at some of the vintage theaters, like the Los Feliz or the Vista, but many of them are on a hiatus until things open up again. The great thing about LA is there’s so much that is just an hour’s drive away. Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers and there’s a lilac farm north of LA that I like to visit when they are in season (Kilcoyne Lilac Farm). I also really love walking around in nature. There’s a lot of trails in the mountains or on beaches that are really lovely. LA also has some incredible gardens. We’d probably have to go see Vasquez rocks too, because I’m a little bit of a Trekkie.

There’s a lot of really cool markets and shops in LA. There are more amazing comic book stores than can be named, for example. There’s also a lot of really awesome book stores, flea markets, record stores, and just interesting shops in general. The libraries in LA are absolutely amazing too! And they do so much for the community, and everything they can to make them accessible to everyone. They’re a huge resource to a lot of folks. They have SO MANY BOOKS. I really love going to the libraries here, and I’d probably have to convince my friend to check out a book with me.

I personally really love all the museums we have in LA, such as LACMA and the Getty. There’s also a lot of fun smaller museums like the Museum of Jurassic Technology. The zoo is also really fun to go get some sketches of animals at. It’s fun to get a sketchbook and do some people-watching. It’s cliche to say go to a coffee shop and do this, but truthfully I like to go to diners bc there’s a lot of them in LA with outdoor seating, and they tend to be close to foot traffic. There is so much to explore in LA so it’s really a wonderful place to be a creative person wanting to draw or photograph things. There are so many creatives here that it’s really normal to see people making Tik Toks or doing an elaborate photoshoot, so there’s not as much embarrassment drawing people as there is in other places.

As for food of course everyone has their own favorites because there is so much good food in LA you really can’t do wrong. I really love the many incredible street vendors. I will have to do a shout-out to 23rd street cafe in University park because their food is delicious! I also really love Kop Jai Lai!