Meet Nolan J. Downs | Animator & Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nolan J. Downs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nolan J., do you have a budget?
Generally, as an independent animator in the US, I start a project with the assumption that my budget is $0. I made what I consider my first short film in 2016. It wasn’t until 2020 I thought of spending anything other than time on a film. In undergrad it felt normal to trade favors and ask for a little help here and there. One time I traded animating a music video for the sound design of a film. Now, though, I’ve worked freelance for a while. I know the value of a working artist’s time. I know that if I need a hand with my films I should be willing to pay up. Luckily, I work alone most of the time – the advantage of being an animator, I guess. So, if work has been good, I set aside a chunk of cash, knowing that I’ll need a sound designer or mixer or musician at some point for my next film. If work hasn’t been good, then I’ll need to get clever with resources, favors, and my time. Aspects of a project may suffer because of it, though, and that sucks, but a lot of creativity can come from the limitations.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I’m an animator. That skillset pretty naturally turned to directing and filmmaking. I’ve been releasing my own short films pretty consistently for the last 8 years or so. It’s 2D digital hand drawn animation. On the surface, my work isn’t super different from what you can find on Cartoon Network or Adult Swim. But it’s mine so I imagine it has some quality of me that makes it slightly different from that other guy over there making independent animated shorts.

I will say that over the last couple years, I’ve been attempting to get more personal with my work – or at least more character driven. I figure I’m just gunna draw how I draw – time to hone my storytelling skills. So my next film is likely to have the most “me” in it than any of my work. I’m excited to get a little more emotional with my work. I might close back up after it, but I figure it’s time to give it a shot.

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 really like staying in, and seven days is a long time, so the first thing I would do is ask my fiancé for some suggestions. Then I would have her plan most of the week. I know it would involve a lot of food and drinking, certainly. Actually, mostly eating and drinking. I live in Burbank, so when we felt like staying nearby, we’d head to Casabel or Prosecco Trattoria in Toluca Lake for a good meal. Tony’s Darts in Burbank is great for some drinks. Depending on the friend, I’d take them to The Snug.

Also shoutout to Fat Dog in North Hollywood. I love that place and take almost every visitor I’ve had there.

Some other restaurants I like are Maestro in Pasadena, Mozza in Hollywood, Little Dom’s and Night Market Song in Silver Lake. Dan Sung Sa in Koreatown. There’s so much good food in LA it’s hard to mess it up.

If my friend actually stays for the whole seven days, I’d do the obligatory visit to the ocean via Santa Monica. Griffith Park is great for hiking or hanging out. I’d likely plan a few hikes to work off the food. I never remember the names of any of them though.

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

I owe a lot of my personal success to Sarah Schmidt. Sarah has been a champion of independent animation through her film festival Malt Adult. I met her at GLAS 2017 and we’ve been friends since. She’s introduced me to some really great artists through Malt Adult. That community has kept me motivated in making my short films and not feeling so isolated while I work independently.

There’s also a special place in my heart for a now defunct collective known as Late Night Work Club. The work of those animators really inspired me to take short films seriously as a completed art form and not something meant to prove my ability to work in an animation pipeline.

The faculty at DePaul, were I studied undergrad, was also very encouraging. I’m very grateful for my time as a student there.

Website: nolanjdowns.com

Instagram: instagram.com/nolanjdowns

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nolanjdowns

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nolanjdowns

Other: vimeo.com/nolanjdowns

Image Credits
Nolan J. Downs