Meet Taili Wu | stop-motion artist, illustrator, and animal detective

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

Hi Taili, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started my company, Monster Shaper, back in 2011 initially to sponsor my own O-1 visa. So that besides my other O-1 visa sponsored by my employer (a full-time position), I could take on personal commissions and projects legally.

Having my own business has some other benefits, too. When a bigger project comes, I would be able to hire my friends as freelancers and team up together. There are so many cool projects out there, with a good schedule and budget management, getting a project fee makes more sense than a day rate since it could involve multiple production processes and teammates. Some of my close friends and I direct projects and collaborate frequently, we hire each other for projects and that makes the projects more fun than working solo!

Also, I’ve been planning to have an online shop for ceramics sculpture, drawings, t-shirts, prints, etc. Having my own business makes this easier and clear from the tax perspective. And yes, I know, I’ve been dreaming for too long about this webshop idea, time to realize and make it a reality 🙂

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.
Keep trying & playing.

I find that when I am excited about something and bring that energy into my personal work, the result is much better than cold emailing or sending a resume. Besides that, I get to experiment with new things and recharge myself from work. For example, the animal alphabet project in 2017-2018(https://monstershaper.com/Animal-Alphabet), started as a small exercise for me to practice stop-motion when not freelancing. This turns out to bring me many opportunities for projects and invited me to be a guest lecturer and share with other students. It wasn’t easy but it was fun! Sometimes I had so much fun, I couldn’t wait to finish it and stayed up late to do it. It’s the curiosity and persistence that drove me to overcome the challenges.

Deep down, I believe sharing the fun of play and love is contagious, and I would like to keep playing and spreading the positive energy to the world.

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?
Eat: • Vietnaam (https://www.vietnaam88.com/)
• Wa Jeal Sichuan Chili House (http://wajealrestaurant.com/) —>best veg fried rice and mapo tofu
• Veselka (https://www.veselka.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=gmb&utm_campaign=veselka) —>best pierogies
• SOBA NOODLE AZUMA (https://www.sobaazuma55.com/)
• Bubble tea —>many shops in NYC

Visit & Hangout:
• Central Park
• MoMA/The Museum of Modern Art (https://www.moma.org/)
• The Noguchi Museum (https://www.noguchi.org/)
• American Folk Art Museum (https://folkartmuseum.org/)
* The Met Cloisters (https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters)
• Broadway Show- Lion King
• Take the ferry on a sunny day and seat on the deck (https://www.ferry.nyc/)
• Dia (https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/main/beacon)
• Storm King Art Center (https://stormking.org/)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many! It’s hard to pick just one! I felt very blessed and lucky to be surrounded by talented and caring friends, teachers, and family along the way.

Some of the key influences I met through my internship at Suspect TV when I first step into the work field, who generously shared pointers and teach me how to find my way among so many different roles and styles. The team includes Hoon Chong (Creative Director), Keng-Ming Liu (Art Director, currently runs an amazing design studio in Taiwan called BITO), Frank Lee (Motion artist with killer hands-on skills), and my peers KK Lin & Makiko Fukaya! Both KK and Maki are an entrepreneur and starts their own business, too!

Website: https://monstershaper.com/

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

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