Artist Spotlight w/ Doug Alberts
Dec 20, 2022
First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a Director, Designer, and Animator living in the ‘burbs of Chicago and yikes, it’s getting cold here already, but our hearts are as warm as ever. I love spending my time running, playing guitar, cooking with my fiancée, and trying to keep up with my wins in Fortnite. I’m always drawn to projects that have an openness to explore design beyond current trends and prioritize how we feel. And of course, when there’s a chance to create funny, captivating, emotional animation beats, I’m all in. We have such an important role in creating “beauty” and I feel honored that God chose us to join in that.
I feel that our industry has this sort of loving, sibling relationship where we really care about one another and look up to each other. And because of that, I love working with not just “artists” but friends from all over the world. And funny enough, I’d consider everyone I’ve worked with to be one of them. I don’t think you can find that in a lot of other industries/professions.
Can you tell us about your experience and the role you are primarily filling?
I graduated from Ringling College of Art + Design in 2020 and amidst the pandemic, decided it was best to go freelance out of school. Soon after, I joined the Hornet roster and found myself doing a bit of juggling between Directing, Designing, and Animating on projects for clients mighty and tiny. I feel honored to have worked with these amazing people through the years at Target, Hulu, Apple, Spotify, and Netflix. These more direct-to-client jobs have actually led me away from being a “freelancer” and more towards direct-to-client jobs like a studio. So, Noodle was made.
If you could speak directly to the resourcing gods and powers that be, what would be your ideal project?
Oh gosh, what a great question. I feel like there are a couple of projects that would perfectly strike the balance of creativity and community.
One, would be a music video for a band I really admire. I know Aardman Animation did this insanely beautiful music video for Coldplay and sheesh, I sometimes still watch it on days I need some inspiration. It’s just so packed with practical techniques that can’t necessarily be done in CG and I just gush over it. It’s a reminder to me that animation can be done outside of the world of software and a project like this would be so fun to explore new techniques and really create something that feels bespoke.
Two, I think in the commercial world, I’d love to take on a project that’s just filled with my motion friends and a client that really admires experimentation. Ideally, it would be geared towards an impactful message for our social good/change. I recently wrapped up something that had a lot of fun animators and designers on it and how much I learned, grew, and laughed was too much to count. I love when I’m around these types of talented people in our community and it brings such joy to my animation curves and slack channels.
Do you have any dream clients?
I would absolutely love to work with places like Cancer Foundations, The Bible Project, and clients that admire experimentation and voice. Really any chance to create a 30-60 second short film into a spot feels like the perfect opportunity. Especially at this time when Noodle is new and sparkly, I’d love for a chance to see what styles we can discover in our infancy.
Lastly, do you have any memorable stories, life lessons, or tall tales you can share from your adventures as a freelancer?
I feel that our industry has this sort of loving, sibling relationship where we really care about one another and look up to each other. And because of that, I love working with not just “artists” but friends from all over the world. And funny enough, I’d consider everyone I’ve worked with to be one of them. I don’t think you can find that in a lot of other industries/professions. I think that’s something really unique, and freelancing has been a vessel for meeting new people in our motion community which has led to so many memorable moments on projects. And I’m also really thankful for the studios that have had me along for the fun.
Special thanks to Hornet, Ordinary Folk, Giant Ant, Gunner, and The Furrow and to the many people I’ve jammed with over the years.
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