Meet the Animations Guru- Soyeon Kim
Soyeon Kim has been producing films since 1993. Soyeon combines her background in both painting and filmmaking to explore themes, using various shapes, patterns, textures, and colors to build unique visual worlds. Currently, she teaches filmmaking at the California State University Long Beach, while working on various projects in her studio, ‘Yellowshed’.
1010 Coding’s Enrollment Officer, Favour Alilu got the chance to interview her after winning an award at The Lagos International Festival of Animations.
Ms. Kim grew up in Asia, specifically in South Korea, and developed an interest in Animation at an early age, her interests ranged between painting, drawing, and music and she picked up Animation as a career based on her interests.
After studying painting in college, Ms. Kim explained that she made a career switch from Painting to Animation because she has always loved how Animation helps bring images to life, with its interdisciplinary combination of Sound, Motion, Graphics, and Images.
Soyeon is largely motivated by nature and the entire world view, She believes that “Whenever you see something that inspires you, pick up a pencil and draw”.
Her Journey into the Animation industry began when she moved to the United States, “the plan was to study more and to meet more people with a different culture, and learn how they are approaching other concepts,” she said.
Soyeon Kim made the big move by relocating to the United States at 25. While this was not comfortable for her, she needed to take this step because of the presence of limited opportunities for Animators in her home country. She commends the Co-Founders of 1010 Coding, Azeezat Otulana, and Vikrant Lakhanpal for bringing international opportunities to Nigeria.
She described her move to the US as revolutionary, although she experienced culture shock within her first few months of relocation, As the study of Animations in the US is more advanced than in her home country. She didn’t let these challenges deter her as Ms. Kim studied diligently and made significant progress in her career.
The trajectory of Soyeon Kim’s career progress is rather impressive as she has worked as Director, Art Director, Designer, and Animator in different fields and other different fields. This gives credence to her belief that
“An animation is an interdisciplinary form of art and you get to work with so many elements.”
“Absolutely anyone can get into the Animation industry. Animation is a part of life, you can be inspired by nature or personal experiences.” Ms. Kim explained. What Ms. Kim loves about Animation is the fact that it is open to anybody, as long as you’re willing to enjoy the creative process. Animation allows her to connect with everybody with her stories, this is her motivation, She says.
“There is so much potential/opportunities to get to use your mind in Animations.”
Ms. Kim’s award-winning project, Yellow shed, is inspired by how she wants the world to be, “Yellow means Moon and both my husband and I love nature” She said. We’ve always dreamed of having a small shed under the moon and being in nature, that’s the meaning of Yellow Shed.
Soyeon Kim also highlighted the challenges of starting a career in Animation, however, she believes there are challenges across different industries, and challenges are bound to make us stronger. She highlighted financial constraints and less frequent paid projects as the major challenges she has encountered in her career.
She also believes that challenges give us the opportunity to be more creative. The secret to tackling challenges is by understanding your vision and knowing your “why”.
Interested in getting into a career in Animation, you were not left out of the Conversation?
Soyeon Kim emphasized the need for creatives to take note of the “You” Factor, by focusing on what “You” are able to do “Now”. “When I started Animations in Korea 30 years ago, there were a lot of companies but not enough creative content. They were working for Companies in the United States to do some labor but that has changed drastically within the last 20 years. A lot of young artists really wanted to start something, they developed their own art and promoted their content across continents”, She explains.
She further emphasized for Nigerian creatives to embrace the peculiarity of our environment and let the creative juices flow, “Nigeria has so many talents but may not have the structure to promote their Animated Creative contents. The good thing about this is that you get to be the pioneer, you get to create history and start a revolution with your content. The first generation is a lot more passionate and they are in charge of what they can really build together.”
