Artist Spotlight w/ Carl Johan Hasselrot
Apr 25, 2023
First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hej!
I’m Carl Johan Hasselrot - a 2D animator and designer with a strong passion to create smooth and seamless animations based deep within the woods of Sweden.
My journey started back in 2016 when I lived and worked in New Zealand at a Studio called Bunker. There I met a guy named Joren who told me he was going to make something every week to improve his skills. I got really inspired by that and ended up doing an animated loop every week for a year from 2017 to 2018.
Now many years later I still do these animated loops on a regular basis. I’ve done almost 130 loops at this point and they still keep coming.
This has resulted in me going freelance, getting to work with companies such as Apple and studios that I never imagined I would get to work with.
Instead of doing something that you know isn’t going to further your development, do something productive instead. This will get the ball rolling and you’ll become more and more motivated.
Can you tell us about your experience and the role you are primarily filling?
After my motion graphics education at Hyper Island in 2011 I worked at different studios to do animations for digital signs (DOOH), explainer videos and character animations. Later I transitioned to do more motion design rather than character animation. Now I do animations for apps, bigger screens, branding and lately I’ve been creating motion systems which has been a lot of fun!
If you could speak directly to the resourcing gods and powers that be, what would be your ideal project?
My ideal project would be to do an animation that would be seen on a big screen in a big city. On a screen in Times Square New York for example. That would be amazing!
Do you have any dream clients?
Not really. As long as the project is fun I’m all in! :)
Lastly, do you have any memorable stories, life lessons, or tall tales you can share from your adventures as a freelancer?
Instead of doing something that you know isn’t going to further your development, do something productive instead. It doesn’t have to be something huge. Start sketching an idea, open up Illustrator or After Effects, and create a project. This will get the ball rolling and you’ll become more and more motivated. I know it’s tough right now but this might lead to you getting that job that you always wanted in the near future that you otherwise wouldn’t get if you decided to play video games instead.
Lifestyle also effects your work for sure. Especially what you eat! I noticed I performed way better when I started paying attention to how I took care of my body. Especially my diet. I became more driven and more productive. I believe I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t improve my lifestyle the way I did.
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