Today we’d like to introduce you to Andres Soler.
Andres, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
It all started in the early days of the internet. It was a time before Youtube when internet cartoons could only be viewed on sites like Stick Slaughter, Stick Figure Death Theatre, Albino Blacksheep, and the holy grail of all flash cartoons, Newgrounds. I was about 13 years old when I came across a video online called “Xiao Xiao.” It was an Internet flash cartoon by animator Zhu Zhiqiang, featuring stick figures performing choreographed fight scenes. This sparked my interest in animation. I searched around the community forums and discovered a program called Macromedia Flash MX, so I downloaded a trial copy and the rest is history.
“Flash” forward (pun intended) to my community college years, I began to lose interest in animation altogether and found a new passion for music and audio production. I decided to transfer my credits to the Art Institute of Houston to pursue my career in audio engineering. While looking for internship opportunities, I met the owner of a local multimedia recording studio who was looking to hire animators. Desperate for experience in a recording studio, I sent a few of my old animations. Three months later, I was promoted to a full-time staff animator where I rediscovered my love for animation and refined my craft.
Since then, I have animated for YouTube channels, musicians and start-up businesses while expanding my interests in web design, content creation, and video production.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a content creator. This means I create all sorts of things such as 2D animations, cartoons, social media content, graphic design, website design, audio/music production, and video. I use almost every app in the Adobe suite to create my work.
I’m greatly inspired by stand up comedy. Growing up as an introverted kid with social anxiety, I would dwell on every negative aspect of my life. Stand up would always help pull me out of my head and focus on the bigger picture and realize that life in retrospect is actually kinda funny. Sometimes, we are too self-absorbed and fixated on the details of the moment, we forget to see what really matters. #cliche. Look, all I know is I like creating cool and funny things that make me happy and I hope they make you happy too, even if it’s just for a moment.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
I think the fundamental idea of an artist uses his/her medium to express emotion or convey a certain message. In that sense, no I don’t think it has changed much. The starving artist still very much exists today and now more than ever because of a highly saturated market. Getting paid for what you’re truly worth can be tough out here. I think a lot of people fail to see how important art can really be for business through branding and marketing.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can see a full scope of my work by visiting my website.
You can support me by following me on Instagram and liking my videos:
@theandressoler
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andressoler.io
- Email: andressoler89@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theandressoler/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andressoler
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/THEAndresSoler
Image Credit:
Andres Soler
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