Ummmm. *puts on music*. Wait, you can listen too, yes? WAIT. Better yet, watch and listen. Enjoy.
I don’t think we know each other. But, my name is Grant. I started Okalpha and I have no idea what I am writing. To follow the norm I’ll blast through how I ended up here, at a desk in my studio at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. We’ll just type from there.
Ok… Upbringing. Lucky, loved, Tamiya, The OC, World of Warcraft, Porsche, music, lonely, Formula 1, Motocross, bee stings, Landy, cameras, weird music, warm bricks, oblivious. Unique? Generic? Unique. I refuse to overthink any of that. Moving on.
College. Welllllll, I spent 2 years studying traditional 3D Animation at The Animation School. I also spent 2 years learning that I didn’t like all of it. I did like animation though. But more the 2Advanced type of stuff. I’d link their website but it’s all Flash. Those who know, will know.
Oh snap, career beginnings. *has vivid flash backs* Back in the day (12 years ago), there was this thing called a “Di-gi-tal A-gen-cy” and half of the planet had no idea what it meant. Luckily for me one of South Africa’s best ones decided to hire me. I still have no idea why. I truly felt that in my first week my Dad’s Border Collies could do a better job. But there I was, modelling a 3D brain for an image sequence for a website they were building. Cool cool cool.
The speed at which I learnt in those first two years working under two of the best creatives in the country will never be matched. The explosion of digital agencies and digital content creation was some baptism of fire shit that I am grateful to have been a part of. Everyone stumbling around trying to figure it all out as clients stood at the door, blindly nodding their heads at the Thesaurus of buzzwords post-it noted to the walls. Late nights, incredible work, breaking boundaries, hyper (read: high) talented people, accolades, stress, learning, breaking, relationship ending. I often think about whether it was worth it. I lean on the side of ‘Yes’. I’ll get back to you when I am 50.
Fast forward 8 Years and that small company had turned into one of 100+ people, and a completely different beast. I was in charge of a team of animators and a killer producer. My days were spent managing and motivating my team. My evenings were spent realising that I no longer enjoyed any of it. My Dad was ill and I was tired. So, one day I came into work before anyone else and sent in my letter of resignation, saying adios to everything that I had been working on or towards for my entire career. I had zero idea of what I would do next but I was happy enough that I would be just fine. Hell, at that point I didn’t give a shit. I had found a key to fresh air, and that’s all I cared for. No more submitting imperfection. No more award entries. No more pitch videos.
And suddenly I was alone. I ticked all the boxes I needed to for a little while. I made a Readymag. I rented a hot-desk. I was a consultant for an app company. Shit, I think I even bought airpods. I became a fully fledged freelancer with a box of dull knives, excited to self-define what I worked on, and whether or not it was ready to ship. Keep in mind there was a fresh transition to becoming a solo creative, something that really didn’t come up when I first left college. That pivot resulted in a bag full-o-dreams to be a CREATIVE POWERHOUSE. A SOLO ANIMATION GOD. Strangely that lasted all of one year until I hired someone and started a studio.
Look, I don’t know exactly how it happened but it did, and I was lucky for it. It was a new start. The first version of what I felt would become a simple, kind and good animation studio that would never put profit over perfection (please don’t ever quote this, future Grant may love money). The Alpha build that I knew would always end up being ok. An opportunity for me to still be able to show my Dad that I managed to start my own thing, like he always wanted me to. A chance to make beautiful work with talented people. Positive things.
And now I am sitting here. Look, that all happened 3 years ago but we have been really busy making things. But, at least we are all caught up? I do like writing, so as we start the next phase of the small studio’s growth, I figured it would be good to share it with anyone who is keen to read it. Things may get HOLY random, and there is not a chance in hell we will be sharing “10 Tips to launch your animation studio”, but we’ll be honest, and maybe that’ll help you do your thing, whatever it is.
Ok that’s it. Miss you Dad. Thanks for reading everyone. Look after each other and stay kind. We’ll see you soon. Bye!
Grant.
