Meet Rémy Poisson | Storyboard Artist & Writer

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

Hi Rémy, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I always knew I wanted an artistic career and that I wanted to draw for a living. Both my parents are artists; my mom is a graphic designer and my dad is a toy designer, so I always knew a career as an artist was possible. They both went to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and I grew up taking classes there as well. I would draw all the time as a kid but when I got to high school I focused more on my academic courses. I would take some RISD classes in the summer and I did the RISD Pre-College program the summer before my senior year of high school. When I was applying to colleges, I knew I wanted to do art as a career generally but also wanted a program with strong academics to keep my options open. I was accepted into the 5-year Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program, where students could major in two different subjects at Brown University and RISD. I quickly realized I enjoyed my RISD studio classes way more than my academic classes at Brown and that solidified my goals of becoming a professional artist. After participating in the student film making club, Brown Motion Pictures, I realized an artistic career in film was what I wanted most and settled on becoming a storyboard artist.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Once I discovered storyboarding was what I wanted to do in life, I committed myself to it entirely. After graduating from college in 2022, I moved to LA to try and find a job in animation. It was a tough time though, coming out of the pandemic and a lot of studios were cutting back on their staff or just hiring internally. For the first year after graduation I couldn’t get work as a storyboard artist. I had gotten close to a few opportunities, taking a few tests and being told I was the perfect fit for an upcoming show that ended up being cancelled. I think the thing that had helped me most during this period was keeping a consistent schedule and routine. I would continuously work on my storyboards, trying to make a new sequence each month and then sharing it with friends and connections to get feedback. My school didn’t have a super strong animation program and I had to learn a lot of the ins and outs of the industry on my own or through classes at Concept Design Academy (CDA). I also supported myself by working as an academic tutor for high schoolers and doing freelance graphic design.

Almost a year after I had graduated from college, I got accepted into the Pixar summer story internship program. It was my dream program and I honestly never thought I would get the chance to participate in it. During the internship I learned as much as I could from the super talented people at Pixar and felt grateful everyday for being there. After the program, I started doing freelance storyboard work for a French gaming company, Homa Games. It definitely wasn’t easy getting these opportunities and I’m grateful to all my friends and family who helped support me through my year of chasing my dreams in animation.

As far as what I’m most excited about, I think now is an amazing time to be in animation. Films like Across the Spiderverse have shown we are still just scratching the surface of what is possible with the medium. I’m looking forward to being a part of productions that push what is possible, experiment with visuals, and try new things. For my contribution, I also want to make it funny and memorable.

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’m constantly trying to get my friends and family to come visit me in Los Angeles. The first place I’d take them, ideally after their flight, is to In-N-Out burger. I’m from the east coast and I had In-N-Out the first time I moved here and it’s honestly the greatest hamburger I’ve ever had. Then the next day, assuming their flight got in at night, I would take them to Porto’s bakery for brunch and pastries. Then I’d probably take them to the Academy Museum or to the Getty to see their amazing exhibits. For lunch, we’d come back to Burbank and go to Basecamp Dinette for some açai bowls and thin cut french fries. Then maybe we’d play some pickleball at the Olive Recreation center pickleball courts or go for a swim in the Verdugo Aquatic Facility pool. Then for dinner we’d go to Bacari in Silverlake and then see a film at the New Bev theater. The itinerary is kinda all over the place but this would be the perfect day in LA I think.

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?
Oh man, I have a lot of people to thank for where I am today. I owe a lot of my successes and breakthroughs to my friends, mentors, family, and partner. My mentor growing up, Nathan Jurevicius, was a major creative influence to me and has played a supportive and guiding role model as I start my career. My mentors at RISD, professors Lenny Long, Nick Palermo, Antoine Revoy, and Eric Telfort helped me realize my passion for animation and helped push me to grow and learn as much as I can. I owe a lot to Kevin Jankowski at the RISD Career Center for always being supportive of my professional goals and for introducing me to RISD alumni to help start my career. After moving to L.A., Trey Buongiorno’s class in TV Storyboarding at Concept Design Academy (CDA) taught me everything I needed to know about storyboarding. In that class I also met a group of other similarly driven storyboard artists and our Discord group, Pitch Party, has helped keep me focus and disciplined about storyboarding the year I was trying to break into the industry. My two roommates in L.A. have made living here possible and have been pillars of support throughout the ups in downs of the industry. I owe so much to my mentors at Pixar as well, Michael Daley, Hyein Park, Derek Thompson, and Xavier Riffault, who gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to learn from them in Emeryville and have continued to be friends and offer their support and guidance. My partner, Hana Flaxman, has been the greatest source of support and inspiration to me and I don’t think any of my accomplishments here would have been possible without her.

Website: https://remypoisson.com/

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/r%C3%A9mypoisson/

Image Credits
Rémy portrait shot by Angie Kang.