Meet Sean Willets | Stop Motion Animator, Director, Comic Artist

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

Hi Sean, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
Growing up in LA, being surrounded by artists and having the accessibility to one of the most creative cities, I haven’t taken it for granted. I was homeschooled so I was able to focus on my crafts at home, my mom used to host art classes once a week at our house for a while and we’d have our friends over, those times reinforced my love of making art and doing it with others. I love collaborating with other artists so when I’m working at studios animating for stop motion shows/commercials, it’s a great joy for me. It can be hard work, but I love the industry I’ve found and I’m blessed to work in it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think the most attractive types of art to me is what takes the most effort and discipline, I do my best to put in the most effort and always give it 110%, I hope that it shows in the end products. I also prefer to work as analog as possible, stop motion is a great practical form of animation that can create the most stunning results with the right time and skill. As far my artwork, I do draw digitally on my tablet and work in Photoshop/Procreate/Adobe Animate, but I think my best work is usually done with paper and pen. So even though I’m well versed in the digital world, my preference is more practical.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a nerd so I love taking my friends to comic book stores and other book stores in Pasadena. I love helping people find something exciting to read that really speaks to their interests!

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 want to thank Paul Hollingsworth for the continued support and work over the years at his studio Digital Wizards, we’ve been consistent collaborators from the start of my career, and we’re still working together today! My pal Forrest Whaley and I also started up together, he helped me land an awesome gig at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, where I worked as an Animator for 5 years. Incredibly fun time and will still always be friends with my coworkers from there. I helped Forrest with animation for his videos on his channel ForrestFire101, where he’s famous for The Duck Song and his Lego Batman series.
I also want to thank my friend Elisha Cecil for sparking up my interest again for comic books and my love for drawing them. We recently collaborated on an original comic book where he wrote the story and I’ve drawn the art. That should be releasing soon! See the last two images for a sneak peek at the book.

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

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

Image Credits
Photography by Zachary Goldman Insta: @zac4goldman