Studio Smokescreen

Had an amazing time with an amazing group from the #LBX2024 panel "Insights from Studio Owners"! Loved hearing your stories, and Kris was honored to be part of the group. Left to right: Robert Kondo Alex Woo Maureen F. Kris Wimberly Chris Prynoski Michael Uwandi

Join us on October 26 from 10:30 am - 11:30 am at LightBox Expo for a deep dive into the world of animation studio ownership with a stellar panel, including Kris Wimberly of Studio Smokescreen. Hear from the industry’s best—Alex Woo (Kuku Studios), Maureen Fan (Baobab Studios), Mike Uwandi (9B Collective), Chris Prynoski (Titmouse), and Robert Kondo (Tonko House)—as they share their unique journeys in growing successful studios. Whether you’re looking to start your own studio or just want to learn from the best, this session will be packed with valuable insights. #LightBoxExpo #AnimationIndustry #StudioLeadership #StudioSmokescreen

ADULTING HAS 3 DAYS LEFT! 🎉🙌🏾 Huge thank you to everyone who's backed us so far. We're sitting at $16k and we couldn't be more grateful! With just under 3 days left, let's go over some of our big news! 📢🙆🏾♀️ We're partnering with Women in Animation!💓 In alignment with Steph’s vision for elevating women in animated comedy, Studio Smokescreen is proud to announce our commitment for women to comprise at least 70% of our entire "Adulting" production team and are working with Women in Animation (WIA) - the gender justice organization focused on gender equity in animation, VFX, and gaming - to solicit feedback and source talent throughout the development process. 📢📜 Rachel Van Nes is joining the team as a writer! ✏️ Our hilarious friend Rachel Van Nes has agreed to join us as a writer for the “Adulting” pilot episode. Rachel's a comedy writer and cartoonist who's written for amazing projects like Inside Job and Pencilmation. We're so excited to have her on the team! 📢🗞️ We were spotlighted by Kickstarter! 🎉 The amazing team over at Kickstarter featured us at the top of their "Projects We Love" newsletter. Adulting is our crowdfunded animated series pilot that follows the story of two codependent sisters as they try to find themselves in a world where every other person over 30 seems to have their sh*t together... If you want to learn more and support our campaign, check us out here: https://lnkd.in/e9zdqbEC!

We’re pumped that so many people are talking about "Adulting"! We knew this show would hit home for anyone who’s had a meltdown over assembling IKEA furniture or are still Googling “are you supposed to wash your butthole or is it just kinda like a trickle down economy situation?" We’re thrilled to bring this messy, millennial cringey, oh-so-relatable journey to life. We’re listening, laughing, and loving every second of this wild ride, so thank you so much to those who support and believe in our project as much as we do! We heard the feedback for our Collector's tier! That tier has been removed from the campaign. Once again, thank you so much for everyone's support for our project that we love so much! You can support our project here: https://lnkd.in/gSRNCSff #adultingkickstarter #indieanimation #2Danimation #animator #artist #artwork #sketch

🎉AMAZING!! 🤩 thanks to everyone showing Steph support for her Kickstarter! The ball is rolling and we’re so exited to bring you some strong hilarious female-led ORIGINAL content! Help us cross that $10k mark today and keep us on track! #Adulting https://lnkd.in/gFftzyXh

Adulting is officially live on Kickstarter! 🥂🎉 Written by the creative genius Steph Kowal and produced by our very own Kris Wimberly, Adulting is Studio Smokescreen's newest comedy animated series that follows the story of two absurdly codependent sisters as they try to find themselves in a world where every other fucking person over 30 seems to have their shit together. In a world where everything feels so far out of reach, Adulting is a light-hearted series that paints a picture of how shame can shape the choices we make and how our mistakes are just as valuable as our successes. If you're interested in supporting our campaign, please consider resharing this post or backing our crowdfunding campaign directly via https://lnkd.in/eqmXE6QN 🎈

We're hiring a 2D Animator to join our team asap! Won't be open long, so please submit your application! If you're interested, apply here: https://buff.ly/3NuILUN

With all of the hiring freezes and layoffs going on in the industry, we wanted to make a post that instead offered some guidance to all aspiring artists looking to build a long and fulfilling career in animation!  Here are three tips from our very own Founder, CEO and Head of Creative, Kris Wimberly. 𝗧𝗶𝗽 #𝟭: 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 🧠 You need look at yourself from a third person point of view. That way, you see what other people see about you. Every moment is an opportunity for you to make progress towards a bigger vision. For example, if you know you don’t have good attention to detail, you probably don’t. AND THAT’S FINE because the way you improve is by recognizing your weaknesses and working to improve them. If you really want to be the best, you should want to know what you’re missing out on and how you can get better! 𝗧𝗶𝗽 #𝟮: 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 ⁉️ Go ask the people around you what you can be doing better and where you can improve the quality of your work. People will be so impressed that you even asked because most other people won’t! It’s embarrassing and awkward to admit that you’re not strong at something… but it’s not a weakness- it’s a strength! You know you can be better, so you ask, and you improve. As Kris says: “I would rather you ask me 10 times so that I can just tell you rather than you think you know and do it wrong.” 𝗧𝗶𝗽 #𝟯: 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 ✨ The moment you think you have it all figured out is 100% the moment you are definitely going to miss something. Be open to the idea that you don’t know everything and be ready to take advantages of opportunities to grow. The only way to beat everybody who’s currently better than you is to have an open mind. Chances are, you actually don’t know everything and could always be learning something new. That being said, it’s still important to acknowledge your achievements! These are ideas we really live by at Studio Smokescreen, so we hope you find them useful as growing artists in your own careers! 🔥

HEY YOU‼️ Take a break. It's perfectly normal to feel moments of fatigue, frustration, and dwindling motivation. To help you not feel as guilty about it, we talked to our Founder, CEO and Head of Creative, Kris Wimberly, about the importance of taking breaks in a creative industry like animation. Here's what he had to say: "You have to take care of you" 🫶🏾 That's the bottom line. "Chase after what you find important" 💨 If that means leaving your studio to take on a new role, then so be it! Follow your passions and chase your dreams. That said, if you've started a new job, you've given them a commitment for a chunk of time. Make sure you do that job well before hopping ship. Be mindful of both yourself and others- respect the balance! "Life is about taking breaks" 💤 On days where we're feeling uninspired or just don't want to work on anything, it's alright to take a break. Just like storyboards, not every moment needs to be fast and crammed with information and jokes. A pause at an important moment gives you room to breathe and reset your pace. Sometimes, you just have to say: "okay everybody I just need to watch Netflix all night then wake up early tomorrow and deal with it." "Give yourself time away" ✈️ The more you push yourself, the more fatigued you're going to get, which means the more mistakes you're going to make. Give yourself the time remove yourself from your work so that when you come back, you can hit the ground running. Take care of your mental wellbeing, it's the fuel that your body needs to maintain a long and healthy career! 🔥

THURSDAY 6:00 PT — STUDIO SMOKESCREEN x ROBYN PALMER Free job application workshop for marginalized professionals. Hosted with animation industry recruiter Robyn Palmer – past: Netflix, DreamWorks & Disney 👊🏾 Event details: ✏️ Get tickets here: https://lnkd.in/e44FPUUF ✏️ 100 tickets available (free Eventbrite limit haha) ✏️ Thursday, March 21st @ 6pm - 7pm PT ✏️ FREE & FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE The first of many. Told you we put our money where our mouth is 🤫