Meet xun hu | Animation Director and Studio Founder
We had the good fortune of connecting with xun hu and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi xun, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I created my own studio when I was a third-year graduate student at the Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University. My idea was influenced by two factors. First, the creative environment in China at that time was subject to government censorship. The animation market would produce creative constraints due to these unreasonable censorships, and this constraint would have a “reverberation” effect after the market, making the already elusive censorship rules even more complicated and unreasonable. In order to have a predictable and free creative environment for my animation career, I began to plan to create my own studio. Another factor is that the economy of the animation market is not an economy that rewards animation producers and creators. The internships I came into contact with and the animation creators I knew at that time all experienced very difficult lives financially. I think that as a creator, I should earn a good life through my own creations before I can use the satisfaction I get in life to feed back to creation. This is the second reason why I created my own studio. My studio was established in Beijing and also received entrepreneurial support from the school. It won the second prize in the entrepreneurial competition that year. All this made me feel that my work and efforts have positive feedback, which is also the motivation for me to persist.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I used to be a storyboard artist, an independent animation producer, and a TV animation director. Now I am the founder of an animation studio in Beijing. At the same time, I have returned to my student status and studied computer art in the school of visual art. The only difference between me and others is my patience. From the age of 18 to the current 30, I have been on the road of animation creation and production and have never left. The point that I am most proud of is that the employees of my studio can rely on the production and salary of the studio to live, and we can do the career we love together. The key to achieving success in the profession is almost the same for everyone: face your shortcomings and make up for them with thinking and patience. My long-term patience may be related to my persistence since childhood. I will achieve the goals achieved through my own efforts no matter what. This is not easy. Sometimes deep self-doubt will break my belief in the current path. When I face these problems, I often get firm spiritual support from my friends and material support from my parents. When I think clearly about how to overcome them in order to answer this question, it doesn’t seem very difficult. The lesson I learned along the way is: don’t be afraid and don’t do it. Finally: my story: a madman who escapes from a comfortable life in order to find opportunities for creation. Because you can’t really create anything in China, but you can live comfortably.
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 live in NYU,if my friend come vist I take them to some small special bar for the begining in the night like nuyrican cafe I think some of the poet performance would be a good begining.next would be the Neighborhoods and Galleries,after that I think he would have a feel of the city’s culture,sand after that I would take him to the fish market in the downwtown,i think a city’s life is tightly bound with the food,and since it’s spring I’ll take him to the small parks on the corner with tulips in full bloom,those parks spread among the city’s neighborhood we can feel the atmosphere of spring in NYU.and third day should be a big sleeptill later afternoon and them hangout for a good restaurant, rest of the visit shoube the museum and sunshine on beach,that would take 3-4 days .that’s all
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?
Of course, I believe that my parents are the first people I should thank, followed by my teachers in middle school, high school and university. At every stage, I was lucky enough to find a teacher who understood me, encouraged me and taught me. I believe that I am lucky. These kind people around me gave me energy and allowed me to grow into who I am now. My mother is a Chinese teacher. She can always patiently convey to me the beauty hidden in words and poems. In my ignorant childhood when I didn’t even know words, my mother allowed me to experience a lot of beauty from warm communication. The leaves were rustling in the wind, and the sun shone through the pond to see the shadow of the fish. My mother told me that it was the fish flying. The shadow in the pond is the same as the shadow cast by the bird from the sky. I can feel and understand beauty thanks to my mother’s help. The math teacher in elementary school, the Chinese teacher in junior high school, and the physics teacher in high school all made me experience the beauty of knowledge and the care that is not suffocating in learning. With the company of these people, I gradually became familiar with the world. When I was in college, the information in the world began to explode. I began to know that there are so many different human beings besides the village where I was born. In addition to the animations of Studio Ghibli, there are directors like Michael Haneke who can shoot. “Love” Iranian film “Little Shoes” I even know that some people can make a career out of what they like, such as flower arranging, and persevere in it. I like movies directed by Japanese directors. I can be deeply touched by the delicate beauty. Japanese directors seem to be using all their life force to study the beautiful form of movies. I also love French and Spanish movies. Their works let me know that as an earthling, I can also strive to think like alien creatures. What I have seen made me experience the process of change from excitement to confusion to surprise to determination. I am sure that I love animation. I hope that one day I can make an animation like “One Hundred Years of Solitude” written by Marquez. I hope I can do it, and I know that I can do it. I only have a little bit of persistence left in the torrent of fate to repay the gifts I received in fate. My university and graduate life are all attributed to the mentor who loves me. Even three years after I graduated, the teacher still told me that my recent paintings have become more beautiful. She said that I was indeed her favorite student back then. I like what Chizuko Ueno said: “You are lucky enough, because there are people in the world who cannot get rewards even if they work hard, there are people who cannot work hard even if they want to, there are people who are frustrated physically and mentally due to excessive efforts, and there are people who lose the motivation to move forward because they are ridiculed by others “you can’t do it” or fall into self-doubt “I can’t do it anyway”.
Please don’t work hard just for your own win or loss. Please don’t use the superior environment and abilities you have obtained to belittle those who are not as lucky as you, but use them to help this group of people. Finally, please don’t be stubborn, bravely admit your weaknesses, and support each other to survive.” I am deeply influenced by this sentence. I have read many useful words. Hegel talked about the basic principles of understanding the world, Plato described the ultimate paradise of mankind, Marx revealed that the bloody hands of economic laws whipped the backs of mankind, and Hayek told the truth I experienced, but none of the words are like this lady’s words. When I am a little proud, I don’t forget the sincerity of others, and when I am extremely frustrated, I can understand my powerless tears. I hope that one day my work will have this power.
Website: https://xunhu0203.wixsite.com/huxun-portfolio
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heysoleil_?igsh=cDV3Nmhna2Zqbzhm&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
XunHu/ Ego studio
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
