Today we’d like to introduce you to Rafael Aguinaga.
Hi Rafael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the country, a small city outside of Houston called Danbury. I grew up very close to my mother, a fantastic painter; she’d often work on art projects around the house and at the small school that my brothers and I attended.
Watching my mother create art inspired me to get into art as a hobby, and with the help and support of my art classes teachers, they helped developed my skills even further. I learned about a school in the Houston area that taught 3D animation, and I saw this as an opportunity and a challenge.
During college, I set a goal for myself to graduate a year early. I stayed late at the school learning additional skills and trying to render my projects in the labs, and when I wasn’t at school or work, I was in the shared living quarters having LAN learning parties with my peers. I accomplished my goal of graduating a year early and quickly started working in the advertising business for a large agency in midtown. Nearly 9 years later, and after working for some of the world’s largest brands, I left the agency to begin a new journey in my career.
My soon-to-be wife and I started Control Shift Video. It’s been a wild journey, but we’re so happy to celebrate our 4 years in business this month. We’re thankful for all the support from our community, friends, and employers, so sharing in this dream with us.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This industry can be extremely difficult to be successful in. As a friend likes to put it “You have to pay your dues.”
During my first 9 years in the industry, I worked about 3 years’ worth of time over time. I began to develop stress issues that took a toll on my heart, my hands, and began losing my hair in my 20s. I tried to offset this stress by religiously working out at the YMCA downtown, and made a new goal of eventually getting in Ninja Warrior. The Ninja Warrior thing never happened, but I’ve never stopped working out to help keep my mind clear.
Thinking back, I wouldn’t change anything. The time I spent on the grind helped me master my craft and become the powerhouse animator I am today. However, knowing the full effects of working long hours put on the human body, we try to keep overtime as minimum as possible at our studio.
We’ve been impressed with Control Shift Video, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Control Shift Video is a video production studio. We create all things that are videos, such as motion graphics, 3D animation, VFX, and videography. We specialize in the tech industry and have done work for MINI, OtterBox, NOV, and others.
What sets us apart is our mission and sense of empathy. We’re driven to support our community by hiring local talent and we play a big role in Motion Pixel Association, a non-profit educational community for the motion industry. We don’t think you need to work an insane amount of overtime to get better in your craft, but have access to resources and peers to connect with and learn from.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
In a constantly evolving industry, learning on the job is part of the job. I’ve had to go from basically no character animation skills to rigging and animating over 20+ people in a 90-second animation. It can be very tense to learn something new and meet an approaching deadline, but this is a fairly constant risk animators take to grow. Try new things and push the limit of your creative abilities!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.controlshiftvideo.com
- Twitter: @motionRaf
