“It is what it is” might be the most dangerous
sentence in the English language.

Angie Jones | Director | FY!C

ABOUT ANGIE JONES

I’m fascinated by why things work. And why we accept the things that don’t.

I think about aesthetics more than is probably reasonable. Why one culture sees something as beautiful, and another sees it as strange. Why something ugly can become adorable. Why breaking an aesthetic can sometimes make it more beautiful.

I read research papers for fun. I love math and poetry.

I’ve never been very good at staying in my lane.

I’m much more interested in what happens when the lanes intersect.

I’m not particularly interested in “the way things are done.” I’m interested in why they’re done that way, whether they still work, and whether we can do them better.

A CAREER BUILT AROUND CURIOSITY

I’ve worked in nearly every seat in animation, from junior artist to C-level leadership, working in feature films, games, commercials, emerging technology, and original IP.

I’ve consulted with studios since the early 2000s, taught more than a thousand artists, developed hundreds of lectures, and written three books on animation. I also earned an MFA in painting and maintain a fine-art practice alongside my filmmaking.

I don’t see any of those things as separate. Painting, animation, teaching, technology, filmmaking. I’m looking for patterns in all of them: how people see, how people perform, how systems work, and how ideas become things.

I LIKE MAKING THINGS BETTER

I’m obsessed with getting results and getting them fast.
Not because faster is automatically better.
I want to see what happens.
Make the thing.
Break it.
Push it.
Change it.
Find out what works.
I’d rather have something in front of me to react to than spend forever talking about what might work.

TOO MUCH TO DO TO BE BORED

I have never understood people who say they’re bored. How?

There are too many things I haven’t learned yet.
Too many things I want to make, question, see, read, paint, write, build, and figure out.

When something grabs me, I disappear into it.
I take the work seriously.
I don’t think that means the process has to be miserable.
If I’m not curious anymore, something is wrong.

FUCK YEAH

I take the work seriously. I don't think that means we have to take ourselves seriously.

I like curious people. Kind people. People who give a shit about what they're making.

And if something can be better, I want to know why it isn't.