Career Area: Design

  • Nina Ita

    Nina Ita

    Alli Crandell  00:00

    My name is Alli Crandell, and we are talking with Nina J Ita, and she is a graphic design professional in South Carolina. And as we get started, could you just tell us your current career and where you’re from and where you’re currently living?

    Nina J Ita  00:14

    Sure, I’m a graphic designer at A&E Printing. That is my full-time job in Charleston, downtown Charleston. I grew up in Goose Creek, which is a suburb of Charleston. Everybody says they’re from Charleston, but it’s always like part of a – they’re not really from the city, and yeah, I grew up here. I still live in Goose Creek and went to college here, so just never left. But I love it; it’s a fun place.

    Alli Crandell  00:47

    That’s excellent. And so I know that you know graphic designer holds a lot of different, you know, like spaces. So what bucket? I know if you have had a chance to look through our Uncharted website, what bucket would you say that you’re in?

    Nina J Ita  01:00

    Um. Oh, probably. yeah. Just I’m really production designer a lot of the times just through the nature of my job, but quite often there’s some pretty fun creative jobs that come through where I get to start from the beginning. I’m really good at picking up where people have left off, or like somebody has started a brand guide, and then I just have to continue do a lot of researching. So like researching is real. Just seeing, you know, what have they done? Can I match the fonts? Can I match the colors for continuity? Their style, their design style. So it’s kind of different every day. I work for a medium-sized print shop in Charleston, so and I am the sole designer there. So I do a lot of file checking for people, their files that come in, and but I do a lot of design, mostly prepress too, and you get to see what people don’t know the technicalities, and it’s very important to know how to design for printing. But but yeah, I do a lot of everything. It just the date can differ. I can be doing a bunch of boring things, or I can be doing something hopefully that’s really cool that I get to do from start to finish. So that’s basically my job. Yeah.

    Alli Crandell  02:33

    yeah. And so I’m going to ask you to just kind of like revisit that a little bit, if you don’t mind, just because we talk with a bunch of middle schoolers and high schoolers, all who have no idea what you know a creative career set really looks like, and so when we say graphic designer, there isn’t like a strong like sense. So we have

    Nina J Ita  02:53

    this

    Alli Crandell  02:53

    kind of initiative that we’re calling One Career 60 Seconds, where I know where you describe your job to somebody who might not know anything about design or it’s like or what your work is, similar kind of to an elevator pitch. So would you like to give it a try?

    Nina J Ita  03:14

    Sure. Oh my gosh, I’m going to sound terrible at this. Okay, I’ll go. So basically, my job is I am given an objective of a message to send to somebody. Like there’s a sale. These are, or if it’s like a menu, this is what we are offering. So we have to match the personality of the business, the look that they have already presented, or sometimes we are creating a look that’s a brand for the company. So that includes colors, fonts, type styles. Are we left aligned, right aligned? Are we traditional? Are we a little bit, you know, more abstract, funky, you know, more feminine, more masculine in the middle, and designing a piece that can be usually for me printing printed. So there’s technical issues and a piece that the customer is happy with that conveys the message, and most importantly, that people can look at and understand because that is the whole point of graphic design. Graphic design should not hinder communication; it should make it flow. I always say, if you’re stopping and like, what in the world am I looking? I don’t even know where to start. It’s not in design. If you don’t notice it, it’s a good design is one of my things that I always tell people. That’s pretty much it.

    Alli Crandell  04:48

    Thank you. I want that on a T-shirt.

    Nina J Ita  04:50

    Yeah. Okay. I like to. Yeah. Yeah. I always tell people. I’m like, oh my gosh. Like you know, when people are stumbling like at a restaurant again. A menu, and they’re like, I don’t know where to start. It’s because there’s probably no hierarchy. It’s not organized well, and you know they’re just doing all kinds of things. Like they’ve got bullet points over here and a list over here, and you just don’t know where you’re going. There’s got to be a certain flow to things. So those are things that are important that you notice once you become a more seasoned designer, and you’re like, “Oh yeah. One of my favorite things at my job is to take apart what somebody’s done or try to do in programs that we won’t talk about, and put it back together in a better way. And that’s I always say like I’m just here to fix a problem, and usually the problem is either we don’t have something to design, so we need somebody to do it. Who knows what they’re doing? I tried and I failed. It’s not looking good. It’s not like what I want to look like, or it’s not printable. Can you make it printable? Doesn’t have bleeds, naked bleed, and all that kind of stuff. It’s missing the right bleed, so all this kind of fun stuff is basically a problem fixer, is what I. And so people

    Alli Crandell  06:12

    come to you kind of like in a panic, it sounds like. And

    Nina J Ita  06:16

    yes, yeah, and that’s in. So some of our business is just like straight printing, so people will provide files. They have their own designers, but there’s a lot of there’s a disparity between some designers who can make things look great versus they don’t know the technicalities of like you have to make the artboard the size, the final size. You have to add the bleeds. Like you can’t just plop it in the middle of a big artboard and then call it a day because printers, small printers or big printers, won’t take files like that. You have to have them a certain way. My boss always says design with the end in mind, and that’s one of the things. Not only your mission, but like your print specs, like I always ask in the beginning, like okay, what do they need so that I know, so I’m not doing anything, not having to you know work it back to fix a file later on. Yeah, but some people, I mean, I find it fortunate that this was my first job and well, real job and design was at a print shop. You learn all the technicalities, but then you also see what other people don’t know, and then you learn from their mistakes of what not to do, and then you also learn how to fix it.

    Alli Crandell  07:36

    And I mean, I find it really intriguing that like you’re from Goose Creek, and then you decided to stay in Charleston. So, like, yeah, what impact do you think that this, like, the peninsula and the Charleston region have had on your work?

    Nina J Ita  07:50

    It’s just, I was actually wanting to go to Clemson. I was expected to Clemson, but my mom was a little protective, and she wanted me to stay closer to home. So and Clemson has a great graphics program too. So I don’t even know if I would approach it because I was looking at computer science, honestly. And I did do that in at College of Charleston, but I could not. I was not hacking it, so I switched to business and found marketing. But yeah, it’s the you know the hospitality industry was huge. That was one of my first jobs. There’s a lot of great artists that came out of Charleston, and there’s just so much beauty around that. You know, I see water every day I drive to work, which is cool. It’s just a blip, and probably should be paying attention. But it’s over there, and it’s just nice, and I like being downtown. There’s like a different vibe. It’s changed a lot in the like I’m older, so it’s been 25 years since I started going to college. But yeah, it’s just as inspirational. There’s always something going on in Charleston. So, do

    Alli Crandell  08:59

    you ever encounter something like a project that you’ve worked on, like it’s since you’re.

    Nina J Ita  09:03

    I do all the time. Yes, I do all the time. I can drive up the street on King Street, and then I’m like, oh yeah, I did that. I did that sign. We did, you know, we worked on the lettering for that hotel or the window signage. So yeah, it’s kind of all over, honestly. Even like boring things like the you know real estate signs, you know like developers. I mean, it’s nothing big, but it’s like, hey, if it gets your your building sold or leased out, then then it’s effective. So yeah, that’s I’ve seen I’ve seen stuff, and you get to see

    Alli Crandell  09:42

    as you were saying like the design is communication. It feels just like you know you get to see the impact of what you do

    Nina J Ita  09:48

    exactly, and yes, for sure because I I try to you know educate people, you know like if I’m sending a proof for like a sight sign. And I don’t just send. I mean, I’ll send them the artwork, but I also put it in a mockup so that they say, “Okay, that’s what it’s going to look like from you know from the street. You know, or like people that are wanting to put QR codes on a sign that, and like there’s no space, and I’m like, they’re driving by, like they nobody is going to capture it at that speed. So maybe we don’t, and maybe we just make your name really big because people will have your name if they’re interested top of mind, and then they’re just going to Google it and then find you. So things like that are helpful for people and for me too because sometimes you just don’t understand the space until you mock it up and go, okay, yeah, that’ll work. So,

    Alli Crandell  10:43

    and so I was kind of curious, like with something that you said earlier. You know, it’s like we’re trying to like find. You know, it’s like if there was a moment of impact in your life, and you mentioned that like working within a print shop, like that your first kind of design job was in a print shop. You’re working in a print shop now. What was what was that? What impact did? And you kind of mentioned a little bit about the impact. Is that the biggest impact in your design career, or is there another moment?

    Nina J Ita  11:05

    That over the years, I as I, you know, freelance also it kind of has influenced that just education because you, I went to you know I went to school to learn how to use the back to school, rather, I tried in tech to learn how to use the program efficiently because I was like not doing it right. I was using Photoshop for no good reason, and just because that was all I had, and I was like, “What in the world is InDesign? Like, how this is insane! Like, I could not figure it out until somebody sat me down and learned it, but really, your real learning is in the real world in Google. And I mean, I you learn a lot of things in school. It’s important, I think, to go to school and learn. But really, when you’re out there and just kind of making a mistake or learning from, especially honestly, learning from other people’s mistakes has given me more of an education. Yeah, but like, thank goodness for Google. It’s just yeah, there’s so much that you can learn, and like, oh, I didn’t even know. In following, there’s started a tab on Instagram like Illustrator Tips, and it’s kind of just merged into Design Tips. And I’m like, oh, I didn’t know because it’s hard to keep up with all the new things that they’re adding, new features that they’re adding. So I’m like, oh, I’ll try to remember that that’s there. But I try and go through it every now and then, and then I’ve had to refer a couple times to some like new techniques, so the information’s out there. Is you just have to you know look for it and save it and hopefully remember it, but it’s out there. Yeah, I think

    Alli Crandell  12:52

    that that’s yeah. I mean, it’s it sounds like amazing, and it’s like in so many resources that are out there. And so, can I ask a little bit in terms of like, what made you make the decision to go back to Trident Tech to get familiar with the software programs?

    Nina J Ita  13:06

    Yeah, sure. Well, I was just getting frustrated without knowing because it’s really frustrating. I mean, there was like, was it lynda.com? I think that was, but I think you had to pay in the books. It was just kind of I don’t know. It was just frustrating for me to learn that way, and I just really wasn’t happy at my other job. It was it was fun. It was you know great benefits, but I wanted to do something. I always wanted to be a designer. I think, especially in when I was taking marketing courses and doing advertising, and I was like, “Oh man, that’d be cool! Like, you know, to come up with an idea. But I wasn’t like, I’m not an arty kid. I wasn’t drawing. I need to draw a little, but I was like mostly just. I remember drawing Fred Flintstone from scratch. I’m like, “Oh, pretty good. But it’s not. I wasn’t doodling everywhere. Nothing like that. But I did like things to look nice. I like things to look pretty. So, especially when I was we were doing the Asian Student Union, we were making those posters. You know, just oh my gosh, it was terrible. Like we would just photocopy them, you know, and just slap them all around. But I mean, it was something. But even then, I didn’t even realize I was, you know, doing the hierarchy of like big title, you know, like a subhead, and just I was like, I kind of had it ingrained somehow. I must have just picked it up from, you know, seeing signs elsewhere, but it was something I wanted to do. And I was like, I had taken like classes a little at a time, and the stumbling blocks in the beginning were like those beginning classes of like drawing and like color theory, because it was so it was. Pretty much foreign to me. It was as if I was taking like biology, in a way, and it was just we have to just get through it. And I’m glad I did. And then yeah, once we got into the nitty gritty of it, I was like, oh, this is cool. Like you know, this is oh that’s how you make shapes and Illustrator and you know the Bezier curve and all that. You know that stuff. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is so challenging! And then mesh, gradient mesh. Yeah, I was like, “Oh my gosh, that was tough. And my eyes, you know, were dead after that. But I did it, and then I just had to go full steam to finish, and I had to quit my job because the upper level courses were during the day, and I was like, no way I could. They were pretty strict about time off, so I was like, okay. So I just saved money and did it, and I was like, I hope I can find a job, and and also like networking helped because I just happened to go there and be like, hey, I need a job, and I think I was there to print my portfolio showpieces at Annie, where I work now, and then yeah, and then they called me a couple months later and like, hey, somebody’s leaving, you know. So that was great, and I got hired, and then I’ve been there ever since. So it’s been a long time. So it worked out, thank goodness. I’m sure it would have worked out another way, but I’m glad this was the route that happened.

    Alli Crandell  16:24

    And I mean, I think that you just spoke so well to like, you know, it’s like that kind of like fear, right? To like jump in, and I mean, that must have been a huge decision for you to be like,

    Nina J Ita  16:34

    oh yeah, it was. Yeah, my dad was like, “Are you crazy? Like, you have a job? Like, and I don’t even know if he fully understands like what I do now, but I’m like, I’m okay. I’m you know I’m doing the job I have benefits. You know I’m I’m good. I’ve kept clean shop for you know over 13 years, but yeah. And it’s also I’m Filipino, so you know I’m my brother’s software engineer. You know my cousin’s a dentist. You know everybody’s like has you know like fancy careers, and I mean I love what I do. It really is fun. It’s kind of what I dreamed of when I was a kid. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I just imagined myself kind of in a in front of a computer or sometimes you know, just taking stuff off, and every time like I put a folder up here, I have a proof folder, you know, so it’s out of my sight, but it’s done. I’m like, man, like I dreamed of this when I was a kid. It’s funny. I didn’t even know what I was dreaming of, but I was like, this is kind of what I wanted to do, so yeah,

    Alli Crandell  17:42

    powerful. Yeah, and I mean, and so you touch on this a little bit, but what does your family think of your career now?

    Nina J Ita  17:48

    Yeah, my brother thinks it’s cool. My, I mean, I’m sure I don’t know my dad. I mean, I’m just like, I guess I’m glad she has a job and she’s employed, but yeah, I mean, they think it’s cool. I mean, I’m, you know, I do things for them too, so I create stuff for them. So they, everybody’s like, “Hey, yeah, can you do this? But yeah, sure, it’s fun. So yeah, they like it. Yeah, I was just

    Alli Crandell  18:12

    thinking about because so many I we when we’ve talked with, you know, it’s like those emerging creatives that they may have that like a similar career where they’re like, I’m not entirely sure what I want to do, but I know that this is like my like exactly as you just said. This is my dream, and so I was just wondering if you had any like words of wisdom for how they translate that to their stakeholders, right? Like their people that are around them and supporting.

    Nina J Ita  18:35

    Sure. Yeah. I mean, just if if you’re happy, like see what what is their ultimate goal? I mean, I know your parents want you to be a doctor, a lawyer, and because it sounds good, but I mean, if you’re happy, you know you’re surviving, you’re paying your bills, you’ve got hopefully you know decent job benefits, and you’re just trying to make yourself better. Just be happy with that, and don’t compare yourself to other people because there’s always, you know, especially if you’re in a good place or be proud of what you’ve accomplished because there’s people who can’t or don’t or don’t want to push themselves. So you know, just do the best you can and be proud of where you are and always look to move forward.

    Alli Crandell  19:22

    And for folks that might be interested in joining the design profession, you know, it’s like maybe following your career. What what advice would you give them as they’re thinking about networking or places to think about? You know, it’s like in terms of looking for, like, just to get their foot in the door.

    Nina J Ita  19:38

    Gotcha. I would definitely, you know, if you’re in school, like talk to your professors and see, you know, who they know. I would, you know, I would recommend a print shop because you get so much hands-on information. You know, we’re not like a press that mixes the inks. And all that kind of stuff. We’re mostly digital. We’ve gotten into sign thing, sign shop, or sign. We do part of it signs, so we’ve learned like the large format latex printers and all that stuff. So that was a cool additional thing to learn. But yeah, even just see if you can intern somewhere and kind of get exposure. Don’t you know? Ask them like, can I just shadow the print production person and just learn about it? Because you’ll really see and start to understand. And I’m focusing on the technical aspect because it’s so important because it gives us a lot of headaches. You know, I mean, it’s either going to cost your client money, or you know, or take your time if they can’t do it properly. But it’s just so important. Like we can always, usually always fix it, but it’s just time and money that it’s going to cost. But you know, I would see what other organizations like you guys seem to have like a good thing going here. I wish we didn’t have anything like that at Tech. There used to be an advertising federation in Charleston. There’s a marketing association, American Marketing Association in Charleston, but it’s more toward like actual marketing, not design. I just went to a great conference, Creative South Conference, in Columbus, Georgia, last month, and they’ve been doing it for 15 years. And they have-it’s actually not very pricey if you want to recommend it to your students. The student rate is like really great, and it’s fun. It’s-it was-it was my first time going. I’ve been watching for a couple of years. The conferences are a great way to network and meet people, and especially if you’re young and ready and wanting to move, the people come from all over. So yeah, just get involved. You know, ask people because you never know. If I hadn’t told my boss like I was about to graduate and I’m be needing a job, do you know anybody? He wouldn’t have known that I was looking for a job. Two months later, I mean, he tried, and if I had a job, I would said no. But I was like, no, no, I don’t have a job. So thank goodness. Two months after I graduated, I got a job.

    Alli Crandell  22:22

    Excellent! You’ve given such amazing insights and advice just from everything from technicality.

    Nina J Ita  22:28

    Oh, good! I hope to help, buddy. Yes. Oh my gosh, the technical. Oh my god, I could go on forever, but yeah, it’s very important to know. Yeah, ask always ask when you’re sending a file to a printer. Do you have print specs? And I’m sure they do, or they will tell you this is what we need. And yeah, very important. Make everybody happy. Yeah, make it go smoothly. Yeah.

    Alli Crandell  22:55

    Well, thank you. Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you wish I had asked you?

    Nina J Ita  23:00

    I don’t think so. Oh my gosh, I’ve spoken a long time already. I think I’m good.

    Alli Crandell  23:05

    Yeah. Oh, excellent. Well, thank you so much for talking, you know, like with us today, and like in sharing these amazing words of wisdom for like our. Oh, good. I

    Nina J Ita  23:13

    hope. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. I hope I help. I hope you know you get some great designers out of your program, and yeah, it’s great. I love what you guys are doing.

    Alli Crandell  23:25

    Thank you so much, and thank you so much for all of your work in South Carolina and in Charleston, and so.

  • Bonnie Harris-Lowe

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe

    Audio

    Transcript

    Sarah Jane Thomas  00:00 

    My name is Sarah Jane Thomas, and today we are talking with Bonnie Harris-Lowe, a professional creative working from and within South Carolina. As we get started, can you tell us your current career and where you’re from? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  00:13 

    So currently, I am an instructor at the University of South Carolina, and I also have my own business, which is a combination work for hire and game development studio. I live in Columbia, South Carolina, currently. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  00:28 

    Perfect. Before we get into details, we have a brief section of the interview called “One Career 60 Seconds”, where you describe your job in 60 seconds or less, similar to a little elevator pitch. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  00:44 

    Go ahead and give it a shot. Sorry.  

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  00:47 

    Okay, no, you’re good. Basking Bee Games is a combination work for hire and volunteer game development studio. Since our founding in 2023, we have been hired by multiple clients, including Legend Stories Studios, and have released a game demo, which was showcased at DreamHack Dallas and the Southeast Game Exchange. We are currently working on a multiplayer party game called Wardrobe Dysfunction internally, while continuing to work on active external contracts. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  01:16 

    That sounds absolutely perfect. Thank you so much for playing our little game. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  01:20 

    Yeah, no problem. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  01:21 

    So, what would you describe your official job title as?  

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  01:26 

    Within Basking Bee, I’m the founder and sole full-time member. So, CEO, creative director, either of those would apply. But as far as oh, sorry, no, okay, I didn’t want to just like clarify. As far as the studio, I’m the creative director, as far as operations and everything, but when it comes to our internal projects, I do like to spread the responsibility around. 

    So, I wouldn’t say I’m the creative director for like every project that we’re doing. The development side is a much more flat structured collaborative effort. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  02:09 

    Okay, so as a CEO and creative director, is there anything in South Carolina or where you’ve grown up and lived that brings something new to your work that you think others in your field don’t necessarily have? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  02:26 

    Interesting question. So, I don’t think I said before–I live in Columbia now, but I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. So, I’ve been here most of my life. I went to graduate school in California and lived there for three years, where I studied. I got my master’s in game design and interactive media there, and what was interesting about that experience was they were kind of in… California, obviously, is a huge hub for entertainment in all sectors, including game development in the U.S. Whereas South Carolina, North Carolina has a few game studios, but South Carolina doesn’t really have that much of a scene in that in that industry.  

    So, I think as far as growing up here, I feel like a common theme with growing up in South Carolina is it gets you it gets you kind of underestimated, kind of labeled in some less than favorable ways by people who aren’t from here. I’ve seen through like mentorship opportunities that I’ve done at high schools and summer camps and things living here that there is a lot of creativity and a lot of thirst to work in these creative spaces, including games.  

    I just kind of want to not only put forth my own creative energy but also focus on doing it in South Carolina because I know that there are that there’s a lot of potential here, and I want to help kind of bring that to the forefront over the course of my career. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  04:06 

    Oh, that’s really beautiful, actually.  

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  04:08 

    Oh, thanks. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  04:10 

    Do you think that there was like a defining moment in your life that had a big impact on your creative journey, or a particular project? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  04:21 

    I can think of two big moments. So, the first one was when I was around eight years old. I was playing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and you know, prior to that, I’d been gaming for about three years at the time I started, when I was around five. There’s a character in Wind Waker who is a little girl with brown skin, and spoiler alert: later in the game, it’s revealed that she is the princess in disguise. And when that is revealed, she goes through a transformation sequence, and her skin turned white, which really messed me up. Because as I had noticed already, that there weren’t a lot of women, especially or brown women or brown people at all, in video games, unless they were villains.  

    So, seeing a little brown girl who looked like me was really impactful, and then watching that get washed away literally just really broke my heart and made me think, “You know, if I ever start making games, I’m gonna do something about this.”  

    Then, as I was growing up, I learned more about what working in the games industry traditionally is like with bad labor practices and toxicity from within companies and within the community at large, especially being a woman of color, which kind of gave me pause. But when I went to undergrad at the University of South Carolina, which is again where I’m teaching now, I took every single class on games that I could find while still trying to figure out which part of a creative industry I would, which creative sector I wanted to work in.  

    In one of the games classes I took, we watched a documentary called Indie Game: the Movie, which hasn’t aged the best. But at the time, watching it and seeing the stories of these developers, you know, struggling but ultimately meeting their goals, it kind of made me cry and just gave me the sense that like that’s what I’m supposed to be doing, regardless of all of the horror stories. I knew I had to at least give it a try. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  06:32 

    Are you? I’m assuming you’re happy that you did…. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  06:35 

    For the most part. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  06:38 

    Is there something particular that you felt showcased your creativity in a way that you’ve never been able to before? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  06:46 

    The biggest example is the demo that Basking Bee released in 2023 called Project Parallel, which started out as my graduate thesis project, but I was not able to finish it because my last semester of graduate school was Spring 2020. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  07:08 

    Oh. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  07:09 

    Yes, and that kind of threw a big wrench into my team’s productivity, and you know, totally understandable. And it took me a few years to get back to it, and by the time I did, I’d already founded the Basking Bee label, so I decided to release it under that name. And in 2024, that’s the game that was showcased at two different games exhibitions.  

    I remember I have a TikTok floating around somewhere of walking into DreamHack and setting up the booth and everything. And when I saw the name of the game on my empty booth, once again, I started crying. I’m a very teary, emotional person, but yeah, that was just a really amazing feeling. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  07:55 

    Yeah, this is something that you’ve kind of already touched on a little bit, but I think a more direct question would help. Before entering your field, did you have any fears about being a professional? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  08:08 

    Yes, numerous. So yeah, like I said, the games industry is not known for being a welcoming place for women and people of color or LGBTQ people, for that matter. Just I’m not really. I don’t really fall into that category, so I tend to focus on the other two when talking about myself, but I digress. A few, I think, a year at the year after I, the year I graduated high school or my first year of college, is when the Gamergate incident happened, which was a massive harassment campaign against a targeted select few female game devs, who you know they received death threats, rape threats.  

    They were doxxed. They had to flee their homes and things like that. One of them wasn’t even a game developer. She was a content creator who just talked about feminism and representation of women in games. Somebody actually made a game where the premise was just you get to beat that woman up. Yeah, it’s pretty dark stuff, and so that really like scared me. Like if I ever get too loud about what I’m doing, get too get too feminist, get too woke, as I think I would call it these days. Like, is that kind of thing going to happen to me?  

    And then on top of that, if I were to work at a larger studio, I learned about ‘crunch,’ which is when going back to the bad labor practices, the most infamous in the games industry is the idea of crunch, where people basically have to live at their jobs and work like 80-hour weeks, no overtime for months at a time, which just does not sound sustainable for anybody. I don’t know how people out there do it. I’m sure that I could not.  

    So, between those two things, just to illustrate in greater detail what my trepidation was, I was definitely frightened. But I’ve kind of gone down a path. Obviously, I’m not working at a big Triple A studio. I can set my own hours and kind of am in control of my own schedule, my own voice. And because we’re such a small studio, there’s also not much of a reason to target any of us at the moment, which is nice. I don’t know if that will last forever because I would like to have a bigger name out there.  

    But yeah, I’ve managed to squeak through all of the problems that I have described, and you know I know better now what I’m willing to accept and what I’m not if I ever were to pivot to working for a game studio again, and there’s one other thing I wanted to say on that subject, but I can’t remember, so I’ll stop there. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  11:13 

    Okay. Aside from, you know, you setting up your own company and being able to do all of this yourself, are there any other things that kind of helped you continue and push forward into this field?  

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  11:28 

    I would definitely have to shout out my two collaborators for that, Jessica and Pernima. Pernima is still a student and an absolute rock star programmer, and Jessica is a longtime friend. We met at what was my first industry job in games? I think it might have been her first job in games as well. She is a prolific 2D artist. She was also a bridesmaid in my wedding. So, we’ve known each other for oh my gosh, it’s been like six years now. But yes, they are working with me on our new game, Wardrobe Dysfunction, and it’s just really nice having somebody to touch base with every week. We stream on Fridays at 5:30pm on Twitch. The channel is called Basking Bee Games, if you want to check it out.  

    But yes, just having that time to collaborate with people who, while we’re all making something that we are excited about, because you know, working by yourself can get pretty lonely. It can be hard to motivate yourself, especially for like the internal projects. But the contract stuff, it’s easier because that’s somebody who’s hiring me and paying me to perform a service for them, whereas the internal development can get easily pushed off because it’s just like something I’m doing in my free time.  

    Doing contract work and now teaching–it’s exhausting. So, definitely having people who are willing to come along on this ride with me, and who have been so instrumental in you know the process of brainstorming, creating this idea, and now building this game has been lovely. So big shoutouts to them! 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  13:23 

    Oh, good! I’m glad you had people to come alongside of you. Do you have any advice for young adults or students who have an interest in pursuing a similar career path? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  13:35 

    Yes. So, I think the games industry is in a weird spot right now. So, another problem in the games industry is layoffs are rampant. Oh, I remember the thing I was going to say earlier. There are starting to be movements towards unionization in games, especially in QA (quality assurance), which is one considered a lower rung or lower tier job in games, even though it’s extremely important. So, I’m optimistic about unionization efforts for the future of games.  

    So, if you want to work at a big studio, know that I would say keep watch on those kinds of efforts. See which companies are supporting those versus which ones are trying to suppress them. But the future of the games, I think, right now is pivoting towards indie studios, independent development, because in 2023, the layoffs we experienced were in historic numbers.  

    I think there’s a whole Wikipedia page just on layoffs in 2023, even though it’s always been a common thing. And since then, there’s been a big upswing in people who are working at indie studios, starting indie studios like what I did, or even forming volunteer teams, which is essentially what Basking Bee is as far as the internal development part, like with the contracting. Obviously, we get income from that, but the internal development, we are all volunteering our time for that.  

    I had the good fortune of meeting Alla Derrick at a game jam in 2023. I want to say, or yeah, 2023 or four, and she shortly after that started a company called Cave Bear Games, which is now a nonprofit volunteer game studio. Their whole mission is to connect small studios to each other, to aspiring talent, and just help people find other people to make games with. That’s how I found Pernima, who is the backbone of this organization’s programming, so I think being willing to volunteer your time and look for those opportunities to collaborate with people who can fill in the gaps in your skill set and who can motivate you to continue working and whom you like working with is a big first step.  

    Even if you do want to transition into working at a more traditional studio, the best thing that you can have in your portfolio, if you want to be a game designer and apply to game design companies, is a game that you’ve already finished and released. So, I think looking for those volunteer opportunities and those collaborators that you can be close with and maintain relationships with, and you know ideally keep working with, is a critical first step. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  16:37 

    I guess along the same lines of finding people and continuing with people and finding those opportunities to volunteer your time, are there any particular skills you would suggest refining before stepping into the career path? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  16:52 

    I mean, it’s never a bad idea to learn to code. That’s one of the most in-demand and secure career paths in game dev. I personally am not a programmer. I have tried to learn several times. I know enough to do basic things, but it stresses me out so much. I have not been able to breakthrough that barrier to doing the more advanced things. But knowing at least how to build simple things with code will help you contribute. It will help you contribute to volunteer projects.  

    It might not get you a job unless you are really dedicated to learning the more advanced stuff. But if you do want to go down that path, again, it’s very secure. The two big game engines that I would recommend are Unity and Unreal Engine; they’re both free to download. Unity is much more common at small indie studios. A lot of big studios have their own custom engines, but if they don’t, a lot of them will use Unreal because it’s a bit higher fidelity. It’s got a lot more bells and whistles than Unity.  

    Other than that, learning the basics of game design, game theory can help if you already have some creative background. It can help you learn how to pivot those skills into games because let’s say you’re coming from television or you’re coming from music or something, the skills that you have in those fields are transferable, but they do need to be tweaked when you are incorporating interactivity into the medium.  

    So, learning how interactivity can change and augment the skills that you already have is also a great step. So, the last thing I’d say on that is, if you want to work at a larger studio, it’s good to specialize in something. Whether that’s programming, whether it’s animation or character rigging, that’s a big one. If you want to do 3d characters, a lot of people can animate and model, rigging is a bit more of a specialized skill set, but if you want to work at a bigger company, specializing in one thing and showcasing that a lot is a good idea. Whereas if you want to work at an indie studio, it’s generally a good idea to develop and showcase multiple different skills across your projects because at indie studios, it’s much more common that you will have to do multiple jobs because the teams are smaller. So yes, I’d say tailor your skills to the kind of studio that you want to work at. Does that help? 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  19:43 

    Yes. Okay. I just want to thank you so much for talking with me and taking the time out of your day. Out of your day, would you be willing to talk to one of my team members again? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  19:55 

    Sure. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  19:56 

    Well, I will take that off. I have a personal question. I would like to ask you. Okay, have you ever read the book, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow? 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  20:05 

    I have not. Let me look it up really quick. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  20:07 

    It is. I think it takes place over the span of like 25 years, and it’s about these three people who go on to develop these games. I haven’t read it in a few years, so I can’t remember like all the specifics. But just hearing you talk about the Unreal Engines and stuff like that just reminded me of it, and I feel like it might be up your alley a little bit. Yes, but it is a really good book. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  20:36 

    I’m skimming the Wikipedia right now. It does look very interesting and super applicable to what I was talking about. That’s why check this out. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  20:43 

    That’s why I wanted to ask because hearing you talk about all of this, I’m like, I have read a book about this stuff.  

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  20:49 

    Yeah, there you go. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  20:51 

    Well, it was wonderful to meet you. Thank you so much for talking with us. We will get a transcript of your interview, and I believe the video clips to it, and your profile all sent to you, so you can check over that. Thank you. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  21:05 

    All right, thanks so much. 

    Sarah Jane Thomas  21:06 

    Have a good rest of your day. 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe  21:08 

    You too. Bye. 

  • Michelle Iannantuono

    Michelle Iannantuono

    Interview

    Transcript

    00:00 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Alright, hello! My name is Ryleigh and today we are talking with Michelle Iannantuono as a professional creative working from and within South Carolina. 

    As we get started, can you tell us your current career and where you’re from? 

    00:15 Michelle Iannantuono 

    I am from Charleston, South Carolina, in the north area suburbs. I am a filmmaker and have been for 10 years. I am making a little bit of a transition into the games industry, I think. 

    00:29 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Very cool, very cool. 

    00:30 Michelle Iannantuono 

    I’m kind of between this career nexus point right now. 

    But yeah, the majority of what I’ve done and still continue to do is film and video. 

    00:40 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Very cool. So, before we go into the details of your profession, I know you’re talking about a little bit of a career transition right now. 

    We have this brief section of the interview, and it’s called “One Career, Sixty Seconds,” where you describe your job in 60 seconds or less. I know you kind of briefly discussed about it in the previous question, but this is similar to an elevator pitch. 

    Okay? Alright. Are you ready? 

    01:07 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Oh, I’m actually being timed. Okay, great. 

    01:10 Ryleigh Kelley 

    I have a stopwatch ready. 

    01:12 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Alright. Yeah, let’s go. 

    01:14 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Okay. You’re on the clock. Let’s start. 

    01:17 Michelle Iannantuono 

    I am the creative lead and owner of Octopunk Media, which is a film and video production company located in Charleston. I am a sole proprietor, so I do a little bit of everything above the line and often below the line. So that includes direction, writing, producing. 

    I run a streaming service called Octopunks.tv, which is for our fan community to enjoy exclusives that we produce, as well as our entire backlist library of VODs, films and shows. I’m most known for the feature films Live Screamers, Live Scream, and Detroit Evolution, as well as over 7 or 8 short films over the past few years. 

    I also take client work on a per-project basis for editing, post-production, that sort of thing. 

    Or I’m a bit of a Swiss army knife, so whatever you need to put me in, I’ll do. 

    02:08 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Okay. That was really great. 

    You had six seconds left. 

    02:12 Michelle Iannantuono 

    I also do Unreal Engine. That’s the other thing. 

    02:15 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Yes, yes, yes. I know that. That’s another kind of thing that another part of your background that you do. Obviously we’ll talk more a little bit about that. But yeah, thanks for playing. 

    So as the director of Octopunk Media and especially with your background in working with Unreal Engine, is there anything South Carolina, or your region in South Carolina, or city in particular that brings to your work? 

    Does it have a unique influence on you compared to people in the same profession in different states? 

    02:51 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Oh, that’s a really interesting one. 

    So, in terms of film, I think we have a really good community here, especially because of Trident Tech. I have a lot of admiration for Trident. I’ve worked with a lot of graduates from Trident. 

    My mother actually graduated from there in graphic design 20 years ago, 30 years ago. Then I also have gone through their animation program when the COVID stuff and when the tuition was free. 

    And, yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to make my SC Indie Grant film, Lotso, without them as well because they fronted a lot of the bill of that film and let us use their motion capture volume and stuff for free. 

    We also ran an animation practicum for an entire semester where a bunch of students worked on the film. So yeah, I think that that’s probably one of the major places that Charleston has, and South Carolina has that other places may not. 

    I would say  Rough House, the Danny McBride, David Gordon Green stuff is also pretty significant. They kind of have staked their claim on a lot of the film industry in South Carolina. For better or for worse, I think that they do a lot of good for giving opportunities to new grads from Trident and stuff to get on a real set and make union money and that sort of stuff. But I also think that they hire a lot of above the line from out of state. 

    So, I would like to see more opportunities for directors and writers and department heads to be here in the region as well, particularly from these bigger productions like Outer Banks and Righteous Gemstones and other stuff that’s kind of come to the area. I do think that is a struggle though, even in Atlanta, even in Georgia, they like outsourcing or bringing in from out of town, those department heads and stuff. 

    We have talent in South Carolina, and I think that we should be given a shot as well. But, yeah, in terms of other influence on the region, I mean, I’ve lived in Charleston for 25 years. I was originally from Wilmington, also a film town. So, it’s kind of just always sort of been a thing for me.  

    I think that my latest film, Lotso, which was the SC Indie Grant film, takes place in Charleston. It is a cyberpunk Charleston. It is like 2059. King Street’s flooded. It’s all built in Unreal because it’s a fantasy world, but I still sort of am recreating my hometown in there, which is really cool to be able to combine real life references with this sort of sci-fi vision of the future of this town. 

    As well as the FC&D grants, I should mention as well, that’s another unique opportunity that South Carolina has. You can get up to $45,000 for a short film, and they do that every year. A lot of places don’t have, a lot of states don’t have anything like that. 

    So that’s a really cool opportunity for short filmmakers to be able to have a significant budget for a short and have access to festivals that they wouldn’t normally have access to and resources and department heads and stuff as well. 

    06:02 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Speaking of real life, was there a defining moment in your life which had an impact on your creative journey? I know you talked about how your hometown or Wilmington, or Charleston means a lot to you and is featured in your work. 

    Was there a particular project or something you produced which showcased your creativity in a way you never had before? 

    06:26 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Oh, so I’ve had a lot of big moments. In terms of, I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller since I was four years old and I’ve always wanted to be a filmmaker since I was 8. So that was always part of me. 

    But I actually went to school for chemistry. I went to the College of Charleston and got a chemistry degree. 

    I graduated high school in ‘09, so right in the Recession. I was like, “well, I’m going to get a pragmatic career and then this film stuff will be kind of like the plan B, I guess.” It turns out I did some cool stuff as a scientist. 

    I was an intern at NASA, I was an intern at MUSC, and I was a chemist for four years, but I was kind of lousy at it. It was very clearly for somebody who’s actually passionate about this and was good at it could do it better. 

    I remember I was stuck on this project in summer 2015 at that job, and I was really, really miserable in that job. I remember I just turned to my spouse, and I was like, “I can’t do this anymore.” I was like, “I have to do something.” 

    This job is destroying me. 

    I just had a vision board, and I started just writing down a plan. I was like; I’m going to make a videography company. I’m going to be self-employed. I’m going to climb my way out of this job. 

    Within a year, I had started an LLC and started taking clients. Then a year after that, I quit my job and was full time in just corporate freelance video editing. Never did super well at that either. 

    I did okay, but I was not making a lot of money. I remember there was sort of another defining moment in Summer 2018 after I’d been doing the freelancing for a year or two, and it was not super lucrative. I was doing okay. But I had just completed my first feature, Live Scream. At that point I was making movies because it was fun. 

    I didn’t really have any sort of intention to do it as a career. I remember I was part of a female networking group called Elevate, which was all online. There was a life coach, business coach lady who was giving free consultations as part of our group. 

    She gave me a personality quiz or something and told me what category I fit into, what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, whatever. She’s like, “your strengths are power and excellence, and your weakness is discretion.” I’m like, “oh yeah, I have no poker face at all.” 

    That doesn’t surprise me, but power and excellence. I was like, “so what is that?” 

    She’s like, “you’re committed to quality, and you have, you can command, and you can lead, and you have the ability to be able to get attention.” 

    I was like, “what do I do with this?” 

    She was like, “so you just put out this feature film. What have you learned?” 

    One thing that’s surprising to me, as I go to festivals and stuff, is how much it connects with the audience to where they actually want to see it again or they want to buy it. They want to watch it. I’m, for the first time realizing that, as an independent person, I have the ability to get fans. 

    I have the ability to actually get an audience interested in my work beyond other filmmakers supporting me and being a peer-to-peer thing, but actually getting an audience interested into my stories. She’s like, “okay, so act like that is possible.” 

    I started doing these live streams called Octopunk Live on Facebook Live, where basically it was State of the Union for Octopunk. 10 people showed up, mostly my friends, but it started to build a brand. 

    It started to build the identity of my films and my company as beyond just me, but actually a brand. 

    I made a fan film called Detroit Awakening, which is in the Detroit Become Human Universe because I was obsessed with that game at the time. Within 8 months of that, I published that movie, and it kind of blew up on YouTube and connected with the fandom. I was having 70, 80, 90 people watching my Twitch streams to talk about my movie. 

    Long story short, over the next year or two, I leaned more into that fan film thing and built an audience. That audience ended up crowdfunding over $100,000 of other original projects and provided the basis for what Octopunks.tv is today. I had a Patreon with them for six years, and then Octopunks kind of replaced the Patreon. 

    I’ve basically been able to finance my film career all in crowdfunding and audience building from the last six years. 

    So, I would say deciding to actually do it and take the life less ordinary. Then also realizing that fans can come. 

    Like you, even as an independent, even without a publicist, even without a studio connections in finance. If you can find a niche, you can find an audience; you actually can find other people like you who are interested in the stories that you have to tell. You have to believe that. 

    You have to get over that kind of imposter syndrome of like, “who’s gonna pay attention to me? Aren’t they gonna watch Disney movies instead?” 

    11:37 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Yeah, yeah. 

    11:38 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Are they gonna pre-judge me? Some will. There’s a lot of audience out there for people who, like for me particularly, like the queer community really latched on to our work. Even specific niches within the queer community have latched on to our work. They’re like, “well, we don’t see like this sort of representation in movies, in Hollywood movies.” So, this means a lot to them. 

    12:04 Ryleigh Kelley 

    That’s really beautiful. 

    So, imposter syndrome, before you entered the field, when you were having these conversations with your spouse about like, “I don’t want to be a scientist anymore. I don’t want to live this kind of life, something needs to change.” 

    Did you have any fears about becoming a creative professional? What inspired you to continue beyond them? 

    12:32 Michelle Iannantuono 

    I think the inspiration was really my spouse being a safety professional, talked a lot about the burning platform. 

    You’ll be on a burning platform and then there’s shark-infested waters, but the platform ain’t gonna last, so you better take your risk with the sharks. That’s kind of where I was with that chemistry job is like, “well, I can’t stay here.” 

    I don’t have to go home, but I can’t stay here. So, I have to find something else. Actually, within three months of me quitting, I do believe I had a performance review where my boss was just like, “hey, so, we don’t know if you’re gonna be here in six months, you know?” 

    I think I would have been fired from that job, had I not quit. What inspired me was necessity. I had to do something else. 

    Did I ever have doubts? I mean, yeah, it was scary. Luckily, he made enough money to where we could pay our bills. We would not be destitute so long as he had his job.  

    So, we could live on one income. So, we were never going to lose our house or anything. I was still kind of like, “all right, well; I have a decent amount of savings. I have a 401k. I’ve lived pretty frugally these past four years as a chemist, and I made decent enough money to where I was able to build up a bit of a safety net.” I wasn’t super worried again about that, but I definitely didn’t want to fail, and I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. 

    I was hoping to have big contracts and stuff within a few years, and it was really hard for me to find work. It was really hard for me to find clients. I actually have to think back on it now. I was…24? I was a kid. I didn’t know anything. 

    Now that I’ve, looking back on it 10 years later, I’m like, “oh, one of my prime issues is that I kept saying that I was a company and that I was a business.” I don’t like the word freelancer, but I still behaved like one. I still conducted my searches like one. 

    Now, going into the game stuff and thinking about starting new businesses and structures and what do I do, I have a much different mindset about it. It’s like, “oh, I actually know how to think like a business.” 

    I know how to think like a studio. I also have the network and the connections and the partnerships to be able to make a structure like that from the jump instead of doing everything myself and pricing my stuff per hour instead of per value. 

    I also just understand now that people got money. They do, it exists. Companies will write a $50,000 check and not think about it. You just have to know where to look and also understand that writing down that number is not insane. 

    And it’s still to this day something I have a hard time wrapping my brain around because to me $50,000 will never not be a lot of money. That will always be a lot of money. 

    It is actually pretty standard if you’re working with a certain level of client and working with a certain level of partnership or sponsorship. 

    15:49 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Do you have any advice for young adults or students who have an interest in pursuing a similar career to yours or pursuing a career in the creative world? Are there any particular skills one should practice or have before entering the industry? 

    I know you talked about when you’re writing that $50,000 check as a director of a company, they don’t blink twice. If you could maybe speak a little bit more about that, especially particular skills that young adults or students may want to think about before or develop before entering the field? 

    16:22 Michelle Iannantuono 

    The biggest thing that I see in young people that I always sort of shake my head at is scope. Know what you know and realize that the dream project is gonna take time to get to. 

    Don’t try to drink from a fire hose and learn it all at once. It’s impossible. 

    I actually have an apprentice right now in Unreal, and I’ve sort of had to navigate this a little bit with him, and he’s just like, “well, I want a job in six months.” I’m like, “we’ll try, buddy. I’m gonna try my best.”  

    He’s a very hard worker. He’s a very great learner and he’s becoming very good at something, but in order to achieve his goal, we’ve tried to niche down just into animation. 

    I’m like, “I’m gonna make you really good at animation and you can maybe get a job in that. There’s still gonna be a ton of other stuff that we’re gonna learn over time that I know that I can share eventually, but we’re putting on the shelf for right now because I’ve been doing this for the better part of a decade, depending upon what we’re talking about, whether it’s Unreal or editing and stuff and I’m still learning all the time.” There’s still certain things where I know a little bit about that, but I’m not an expert at it. 

    I’m kind of a jack of all trades. I think that that’s something I definitely didn’t do well when I was younger. I also see it in other people all the time. I see kids graduating from film school at 21 and they’re like, “I’m gonna go make a feature film.” 

    I’m like, “buddy. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You will regret that because it’s not gonna be what you want it to be.” 

    You’re gonna be like, “man, I failed my passion project or I’m gonna be apologizing for this movie two years later when I’m publishing my second feature film,” and all the press are gonna be like, “well, we really hated his first one.”  

    No, you move in silence. You only get one shot to be able to move in silence and build yourself up. Fail in private. Don’t fail in public; you can’t come back from it in a lot of cases. I see this a lot as well with crowdfunding. 

    I see a lot of people who say, “I’m gonna crowdfund $25,000 for my first project and I don’t know anybody.” Then they make 500 bucks, and then the Kickstarter fails. No, you have to have an audience before you can try and do that.  

    I kind of worked myself up to that a little bit because I crowdfunded Detroit Evolution, which is my second feature. I self-financed Live Scream. That was $1,500. 

    I just paid for it. Detroit Evolution was about $17,000. That was more money than I had. I was like, “I’m not gonna do a Kickstarter for this because this is still a little fledgling.” 

    I’m gonna do a Patreon, I’m gonna do Ko-Fi, I’m gonna do Twitch, I’m gonna do a merch store and just any money that I get from that over the next nine months, I’m gonna put towards the movie. That’s basically how I financed the film. 

    Then after that was a success, I was like, “okay, we have the audience now. Let me see if I can make another one and we’ll do an Indiegogo.” We set the goal at 10,000. We achieved that in 3 minutes. Then ultimately raised $50,000 in that campaign because our stretch goals were doing an event in Europe and doing an event in New York. 

    Over a month we were able to raise $50,000. And so, I was like, “okay, now I understand crowdfunding.”  

    You have to have the audience, you have to have the people who are eager for what you’re selling because otherwise it’s really, really hard. I’m really glad that I didn’t try to do a crowdfunding campaign when I was nobody because that sticks with you forever. It’s always going to be on your page that like, “oh, they got the failed crowdfunding campaign. Nobody wanted this project.” 

    Unfortunately, a lot of it’s about appearances. It’s funny how people who just know me through social media or just know Octopunk through social media perceive it. They perceive it as so much more successful than, maybe it is financially. They’re like, “oh, can you hire me?” I’m like, “I don’t have money for that. I barely pay my own bills. What are we talking about?” 

    I would say that young people fail in private, move in silence and work yourself up. I know it sucks to basically be like, “oh man, I have all these big ambitions.” I’ve spent maybe my entire life. I mean, I spent my entire childhood in high school and college, wanting to make movies, wanting to write. By the time I finally was an adult and had the free time and the wherewithal to do it, I’m gonna go out there and do it. 

     Those first projects were not good. They weren’t. They weren’t very good. Luckily, I didn’t spend a lot of money on them. Luckily, I didn’t spend a lot of time on them. I learned a lot. Luckily, a lot of people didn’t see them. 

    Then by the time I actually did have something that people liked, which was Live Scream. I still made a lot of mistakes on Live Scream, but it was good enough. I was able to be proud of the work that I was putting out and be able to look back on it years later and be like, “oh, people still watch that movie. People still like that movie. Cool. It’s something that I don’t have to apologize for.” 

    21:37 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I really resonate with your advice about failing in private. Move in silence. Take your time because especially with the kind of work that you do. That does take a lot of time and learning. 

     I’m curious to know more about your work with Unreal Engine, which is a 3D computer design software developed by Epic Games. I’m curious to hear more about your experience with that and how you came across it. What was your experience with that? 

    I know that you mentioned you have an apprentice learning skills in that. Could you speak a little bit more on your work with that and just the experiences you’ve had with Unreal Engine? 

    22:24 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Yeah. 

    I’ve been into the games sphere since 2014. I didn’t grow up with video games. They just were not a thing in my house. I had a couple PC games, but that was it. 

    Then I won a PlayStation 3 at work in a raffle at Christmas in college. So I had that and my then-boyfriend, now spouse, was really into games. He grew up with games, and he’s like, “can you use your PlayStation 3 as more than just a Blu-ray player, please?” 

    So, I was like, “okay, well, what should we play?” 

    And of course, Portal 2 was my gateway game, as it is for 25% of my generation. And then I played Heavy Rain. That I would say was such a life-changing game for me in so many, so many avenues. It introduced me to Quantic Dream, the studio that made it, which later made Detroit Become Human, which later I made fan films on, which later changed my life. 

    It introduced me to the fact that motion capture could be used in games, and you could make this sort of photorealistic-like story that wasn’t high fantasy, that wasn’t Beowulf or the Polar Express or anything that had been used in Hollywood. Like a gritty David Fincher crime thriller you could do with mocap, and you could tell a story through it. 

    Also, it was my gateway into video games at large, which again has completely changed my life. Actually, I interviewed at Quantic Dream last year, which was really, really cool. I applied to be a writer for one of their games, and ultimately, I didn’t want to move to Paris full-time. I was like, “I would love to work for you guys, but yeah, if we can’t do this remotely, this isn’t gonna work.” 

    That was such a watershed moment for me because I was talking to the interviewer, and I was like, “literally, you guys are responsible for my entire life right now.” 

    This is big for me. So Heavy Rain was kind of my gateway. From that point on, I started learning more about motion capture, and I started playing more games like Life is Strange, Tales from the Borderlands, a lot of those Telltale games, interactive games.  

    I was also watching a lot of Let’s Play culture, watched a lot of Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, that sort of thing. I was absorbing so much about games history and games culture, game news, how games are made.  

    I saw that a lot of people were using Unreal Engine to make little games. It’s free, so these people with no experience were just downloading the engine and just building things in it, putting it online for free, and these streamers would play it. Some of the games were good, some of them were not very good, but it was a tool that I learned about through absorbing, over the course of five years, the game industry. 

    As I got into film, I was thinking about maybe doing some animation stuff. I downloaded Unreal and just played around with it for eight hours. I was like, “oh, this is surprisingly user friendly. This is very intuitive to me and easy to learn.” There’s a lot of documentation about it, so, I kind of had that on the back burner of my mind. 

    Then when I had the idea for Live Scream, which essentially is a found-footage movie. It’s a real time found-footage movie. It’s like a screen capture of a Twitch stream as an uninterrupted webcam for 70 minutes of this one actor reacts to gameplay footage that is happening on screen and there’s a chat as well with narrative characters who come and go. Basically, if he dies in the game, his followers start to die in the chat. So, it’s like a high-stakes horror film that I had to build nine fake games for in order to achieve the concept of the film. 

    When I had the idea for the movie, again, having watched Let’s Play Culture for so long and understanding that world in and out. I was like, “I got to make fake games for this.” 

    Unreal it is. I was able to pick it up really quickly and by using assets that I was, because I wasn’t a modeler, I couldn’t like square the circle of like, how do I get the stuff to put in the game? All that is available for purchase or download or for free. There’s a lot of assets out there. 

    If you need a door, if you need a monster, if you need animations, you can find that stuff online and then just cobble it kind of together in Unreal and do some visual scripting and make it work. That was my first intro to Unreal, and this was in 2018. This was at a point where like nobody was using Unreal for film short of James Cameron and like the Mandalorian, maybe. 

    Over time, I revisited Unreal in 2022, when I was making the sequel to Live Scream, and that was when Unreal Engine 5 came out. Lots of new features, incredible new features. Unreal and Epic Games are starting to get more into the film industry at this point in time. They’re doing a lot of virtual production. They were also doing a lot of like in-engine animation and that sort of stuff. 

    They were starting to realize that like, “oh, there’s more people who could use our tools than just game makers.” I actually went to the AFM, the American Film Market, in 2023, when I had finished Live Screamers and was pitching it. 

    I remember seeing Unreal Engine logo everywhere and I just had to laugh. I was just like, “yeah, I knew it. Yeah, right? Yeah. 

    I was like, “hey, I just made a movie with this.” 

    They’re like, “oh, virtual production.” 

    I’m like, “no, not quite.” I was like, “I’m doing a hybrid live-action game capture cinematic thing. I don’t really know how to describe it.” I really dove into Unreal in Live Screamers. Just working on it for months and months and learned the cinematic creation tools really, really deeply. Then the SC Indie Grant(s) thing happened because I have, by sheer happenstance, met an OptiTrack rep and OptiTrack is a motion capture company. 

    They’re like, “oh yeah, we have a system at Trident Tech.” 

    I’m like, “that’s in my backyard. I can walk there.”  I knew that Trident Tech and the Indie Grants were tied together. They like to put Trident Tech students in the Indie Grants projects. 

    I wondered if they would go for a pitch where I use their volume because the OptiTrack guy was like, “yeah, they don’t really do much with it. I think that they would like somebody to come in and use it.” 

    I wrote a short film that was completely animated, completely actually CGI-animated in Unreal, and would use motion capture. Through my Detroit movies, I also got to know Neil Nubon, who is Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3. He’s one of the best motion capture artists in the world. 

    I was like, “hey, would you like to come direct my mocap?” 

    He agreed. 

    Through him coming on to the pitch and us having this interesting concept, I think the Indie Grants went for it. We were able to shoot on their volume at Trident Tech and then use their animation program as well to get some students on the project. I’ve spent the last two years in post. We’re really close to finishing. 

    That’s sort of my journey with Unreal Engine. 

    Ultimately, my thesis on Unreal Engine is that it’s the most democratizing thing for indie filmmakers since the DSLR. It is a free program. It is easy to learn. You can make anything in it.  

    I’m not going to say it’s easy. I’m not going to say it’s going to be quick, but I would never be able to make cyberpunk Charleston in real life. It would always look cheap no matter what, if we had a low budget for that, even with VFX workflow. For me to be able to build that completely from scratch in Engine and also have photorealistic versions of our actors who are able to come to life, who are very, very high fidelity of what they look like in real life, all due to free tools that came with Unreal Engine. Yeah, it’s really cool. 

    I remember Neil; I was showing him how we were capturing facial mocap on an iPhone, literally just right here beside me. I had my actor sitting in front of an iPhone, and they were doing their facial capture. 

    He was like, “it captures the neck movement? That’s insane. Like we can’t do that on these big stages.” 

    I was like, “yeah, man, it’s the future.” 

    31:05 Ryleigh Kelley 

    It’s the future. 

    31:09 Michelle Iannantuono 

    Yeah, and completely marker-less on the face, which he was telling me is actually pretty normal now. It’s pretty old fashioned to do the markers on the face, although some people still do it. To be able to even introduce some of these tools to a seasoned veteran in this technology and in this world, who’d been doing it for 10, 15 years himself was really cool. 

    I think that just goes to show how powerful this resource is. It also has so many, if you want to go get a job in it, you could do arch phys, you can do automotive, you can do, the military actually has a lot of applications for Unreal as well. I know that from my mother working for the Coast Guard. So yeah, it’s not just for games and film and television. It also has like wide-ranging applications that anybody can pick up and learn.  

    32:06 Ryleigh Kelley 

    Yeah, that is just really so fascinating and thank you for speaking more about that. I know that’s one of the key tools that you use in your work. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. 

  • Aldrena Hicks

    Aldrena Hicks

    Interview

    Transcript 

    00:00 Victoria Bartolotto

    Hello everyone. My name is Victoria, and today we are talking with Aldrena Hicks. She’s a professional creative working from and within South Carolina.

    As we get started, can you tell us your current career and where you’re from?

    00:13 Aldrena Hicks

    Yes. So, my name is Aldrena Hicks, as she said. I am a maker, artist, creative director, and founder of Only Lovely Creative. So, I’ve spent the last 20 years working across higher education, nonprofits and cultural organizations, leading design work that blends strategy, storytelling, brand, and design thinking.

    My work ranges from large-scale public projects like the Briggs v. Elliott case. That’s a case that led to the big paved the way for the Brown v. Board of Education. Then to editorial work, like the stitch cover I did for Louisville Magazine, honoring Breanna Taylor.

    At the core of it, I’m always making, and it’s through Only Lovely. I do design weddings and experiences that feel personal and lasting. It’s things that people actually want to keep.

    So one of the things that is near and dear to my heart is also making sure I care deeply. I care deeply about who gets to be in these rooms. So, making sure the next generation of creatives, especially those that look like me, see a path forward and know that this space is a viable career.

    01:32 Victoria Bartolotto

    Wow, that’s awesome. That’s amazing work.

    Before we go into the nitty gritty details, we have a brief section of our interview called “One Career, Sixty Seconds,” where you kind of describe your job in an elevator pitch style.

    01:47 Aldrena Hicks

    Oh, that’s what I just did.

    01:49 Victoria Bartolotto

    Oh! Oh! It’s okay. If that was your script, that’s totally fine. We can continue, but that was great. I didn’t know if you had anything else.

    02:00 Aldrena Hicks

    No.

    02:01 Victoria Bartolotto

    No, okay. That’s perfect. Thank you so much. So as a graphic designer, as a maker, is there anything about South Carolina or your region in particular that brings some uniqueness to your work?

    Does it have any kind of influence on you?

    02:18 Aldrena Hicks

    Yeah, that’s a great question. So of course, I grew up in South Carolina, Somerville, Charleston area. Everybody knows Charleston, right?

    I come from a long line of makers. So, my grandfather was a brick mason. He’s actually paved some of the walkways with brick work in some of the plantations when they’ve needed somebody to redesign some or fix it up. Then also some of the walkways in the downtown Charleston area, I remember going. My dad would take us to visit him while he was laying bricks on those special pave ways and stuff. So that was nice. My grandmother was a seamstress, very well-known and well respected. Then of course, a family of musicians. All of that I bring into the things that I do.

    I’ve always been around creatives growing up. So just having that flair. What I try to do is then incorporate that identity into little nuggets here and there in the work that I do. But that’s why I’m hyper focused on when I’m doing stories, especially when I’m working with brides or organizations. I want to hear the story because that’s important, incorporating that into whatever we’re going to create for them.

    03:43 Victoria Bartolotto

    Definitely. I feel it really depends on who the person is in order to continue the project.

    03:48 Aldrena Hicks

    Yeah.

    03:50 Victoria Bartolotto

    Was there a defining moment in your life that had an impact on your creative journey, whether in education or just personal life? Was there anything that kind of marked that?

    04:00 Aldrena Hicks

    Oh, there’s so many. Which one do I choose?

    04:06 Victoria Bartolotto

    Any one! Any one!

    04:08 Aldrena Hicks

    I will probably say my experience with my graduate work. I am a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, and I majored in graphic design. That was my concentration, of course, the MFA in graphic design. When I started there, I applied sight unseen.

    I was already in some other graduate programs. I bounced around a little bit, but nothing felt personal. Nothing felt like this is what I want to do. There was nothing wrong with those other programs, but I didn’t want to lean into the corporate world like that. I’ve already felt I was losing a sense of self because, as you know, when you’re designing and you’re doing work, it is about who you’re designing for. So, you kind of lose that, and I didn’t want that to happen.

    When I got to VCFA, I immediately fell in love because the school focuses on the work, the creative, who you are, and then that comes through. That typically doesn’t happen in this case, in cases of grad school work.

    So, the probably the pivotal moment is when, I was in a two-year track. Probably after my year and a half review, they’re like, “Aldrena, listen, girl, we love you, but we don’t see you. We don’t see, you’re giving us all the polish and that’s cute, but we’re here to discover the messy and you know, who are you?”

    After that little talk, I had my little cry and all that stuff. I realized, “Okay. This is the time where I need to shine and show and dig deep into who I am, my roots, my culture, and be proud of that.”

    From that came my thesis work, which has paved the way for other things that I’ve done since then. I will say that was probably the most transformative experience. I’m very proud to be a part of that legacy.

    06:08 Victoria Bartolotto

    That’s amazing. So, speaking of your thesis project, was that something particular that you produced that maybe showcased your creativity in a way that it never had before? What about it was different compared to previous work?

    06:28 Aldrena Hicks

    Yeah. So, I took the approach. I did weave in some research because that’s part of the requirements. I took the approach of creating a storytelling experience, because I told you storytelling is part of my thing. What I did was I explored how the media portrays black women and how we’ve influenced the media and culture. I wove certain pieces of history and then turned it back on to how it affected me personally, how it did as a creative.

    I studied and talked about hair, respectability, politics, and then skin, colorism and all that stuff. I then found ways to remember how those things affected me growing up and how I now advocate for, especially young black women and my daughter, to be proud of who they are.

    So yeah, the approach was different because I did a personal narrative, but I wove in some history and some research in that. It has won a few awards. I’ve written a children, a self-published children’s book out of that. So yeah.

    07:56 Victoria Bartolotto

    That’s really awesome. Especially just seeing that I’m a writer too. A lot of the times that I’m working on projects, it’s like seeing something grow from a tiny little seed into this huge thing. You have to step back and be like, “Wow. I did that. You know?”

    08:14 Aldrena Hicks

    Yeah.

    08:16 Victoria Bartolotto

    So before entering your field, maybe in your education process, did you have any fears about becoming a creative professional? If there were some fears, what inspired you to keep going beyond them?

    08:30 Aldrena Hicks

    I knew I wanted to do creative work. Like I said, grew up with musicians, makers and all that stuff. I never knew graphic design was an actual thing. I’ve been doing that, just didn’t know that’s what it was.

    So, I was at my undergrad, working at Columbia College, SC, not Chicago. When I discovered graphic design, I was like, “People make money doing this?” They’re like, “yeah.”

    So, I don’t think I was ever afraid of being a creative in this space. It was more of finding the right place to let that talent grow. Of course, through trial and error and all the careers and stuff, I quickly found out that advertising work is not my scene. I met some wonderful people and did a lot of things. But again, going back to the why behind things, the history behind things. So, then I veered into the nonprofit world. Now what’s scary now is that I’m doing this full time. So, it’s more like, “who’s going to get these invitations? Who wants to have brand work done?”

    09:53 Victoria Bartolotto

    Oh, wow. Do you have any advice for young adults or students who may have an interest in pursuing becoming a graphic designer? Are there any particular skills that you think someone should practice or at least have before entering the industry?

    10:08 Aldrena Hicks

    Yeah. One of the things I want to say is that, and I know people have different networks and all of that, all of that is great.

    I read a book along, I think I might have mentioned in my pre-interview, one of the books I recommend is reading is Talent is Not Enough, because a lot of people think talent will get you all the places, but it really is the soft skills, building these connections and learning how to relate with folks. It will show up in your work. So, make as many connections as you can.

    I know it’s hard because a lot of times you feel like people aren’t going to respond to you. But there are a lot of us out here who really love and want to reach back and help. I mentor. I’m still in touch with many of the students that I taught during my time as a professor.

    Do not discount your people skills. I know it’s hard when folks like love the internet, love being on Chat and all that stuff. That’s great. Still learning how to write with and without AI. Learning how to write, learning how to speak, learning how to read the room, that will get you further than just having a talent because you can be the most talented person in the

    world. If you don’t know how to relate to folks, you don’t know how to talk with them, get with them on a personal level or at least be professional about things; you won’t last long.

    11:45 Victoria Bartolotto

    Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. This has been an amazing interview. Have a great day.

    11:51 Aldrena Hicks

    Thank you so much. You too.

    11:53 Victoria Bartolotto

    Bye.

    11:53 Aldrena Hicks

    Bye.

  • Rachel White

    Rachel White

    “Don’t be afraid to pursue your dreams!” 

    Quick Facts

    Education: Coastal Carolina University Undergraduate degree 

    Years of Experience: 16 Years

    About

    Rachel White is a designer, writer, publisher, and storyteller who provides affordable marketing and administrative solutions to businesses through social media, graphic design, and copywriting. She is also a visual artist and photographer, managing her business at her local farmer’s market. For Rachel, “finding work in a creative field where you enjoy what you do is the ultimate fulfillment!” 

    Throughout her life, Rachel had always been an artist and a writer, from creating paintings as a toddler to writing stories in second grade. Within her career, she has turned her love of art and creative writing into a skill she has utilized in her professional life. Rachel recognizes the importance of everyone’s differences and emphasizes the importance of finding what makes you unique. 

  • Lindsay Swinford

    Lindsay Swinford

    “Don’t jump the gun! Knowledge is power!” 

    Quick Facts

    Level of Education: 2-year Technical College

    Years of Experience: 20 Years

    About

    Originally from Alabama, Lindsay Swinford has loved flowers since she was a child. In her 20s, she started out by doing small events and proms, eventually landing herself a professional job. From there, she gained knowledge, experience, and mentorship. Today, she strives to create unique and beautiful floral designs, insisting by doing so, “you are creating a memory!” 

    Lindsay believes flowers are special because they are ephemeral, and she prides herself on keeping healthy flowers to enhance customer experience. She tends to favor lines, asymmetry, and movement, saying “the crazier the idea, the better!” 

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  • Aldrena Hicks

    Aldrena Hicks

    “Build your connections and your network. No one works in isolation especially creatives.” 

    Quick Facts

    Education Level: Graduate School

    Years of Experience: 20+ Years

    About

    Aldrena Hicks is an artist and designer whose work spans cultural storytelling, visual design, and event stationery. As the founder of Only Lovely Creative, she creates meaningful visual experiences that connect people to their stories, whether through design projects, cultural initiatives, or personalized celebrations. 

    Her journey into the field was shaped by a lifelong connection to creativity. Growing up within a family of artists such as makers, musicians, and fiber artists, creating was always a part of her world. She shares that, “An art class in high school first sparked my interest, and I went on to study Studio Art at Columbia College SC. During my second year, I took my first graphic design course and realized that design was the lane where my love of art, storytelling, and problem-solving all came together.” 

    Aldrena prioritizes time and research on the story behind her current projects, whether it is an organization, cultural initiative, or a couple planning a wedding. This allows her to understand the depth of the client’s story and helps her unique creative process. She explains that “Understanding the people and context helps guide the creative direction. I also still build paper prototypes and explore ideas by hand before moving fully into digital design. That mix of research, storytelling, and hands-on experimentation shapes the way I approach every project.” 

    Storytelling and cultural identity are central to her work. As a South Carolina creative, she explores how design can help people celebrate who they are and the moments that matter in their lives. Her graduate thesis, “Little Brown Girl,” focused on identity and representation in design and later evolved into her self-published book, “You Are a Queen,” which speaks to young Black girls and the young girl within about identity, worth, and self-definition. 

    Aldrena emphasizes the importance of collaboration, connection, and understanding the business side of creative work. She encourages emerging creatives to build strong networks, seek feedback, and recognize that sustainable creative practice requires both artistic and professional awareness.  

  • Nina J Ita

    Nina J Ita

    “Don’t wait for someone to give you a manual. Be the person who solves the problem.”

    Quick Facts

    Education: College of Charleston and Trident Technical College

    Years of Experience: 13+ Years

    About

    Nina J. Ita is a Senior Graphic Designer at A+E Printing in Charleston as well as a freelancer based in the Low Country of South Carolina, specializing in print design with over thirteen years of professional experience. By her own admission, she was never the kid who was constantly sketching in a notebook. Design found her through direct purpose and a willingness to raise her hand when no one else would. That combination became the foundation for a career built on solving problems. She describes her discovery as “the thrill of creating something from nothing was addictive.” 

    Her first real taste of design came in at the College of Charleston, where she and a group of friends founded the Asian American Student Union. With only MS Paint and Word at their disposal, they created poster campaigns and event programs for fashion shows featuring local Asian businesses and student work. With a formal background in Business and Marketing, Nina’s path into design is a classic case of the right place, at the right time, and a willingness to say yes. After college, she landed an internship that grew into an entry-level marketing role with a local restaurant group.

    Despite having a comfortable but routine corporate job where “the most fun I had all day was making my Excel spreadsheets look pretty. That’s when I knew I had to commit.” she took a leap of faith. She began taking night classes at Trident Technical College, saved every penny, quit her job, and completed a degree in Graphic Design. Two months after graduating, she landed a position at her present company, the printing press she had been a client of during her restaurant days.  

    As the sole graphic designer at A+E Printing, Nina’s days are defined by variety and velocity. She might open the morning with a menu update for a long-standing restaurant client, shift to a corporate business card order, then pivot entirely to a brand-new client with a detailed, multi-part design project and a tight deadline. She has developed what she calls “rapid context switching”, which is the ability to move fluidly between different brand voices and industries without losing the creative thread.  

    Most recently, she led a full brand refresh just in time for A+E’s 30th anniversary in 2026. She balances her own client relationships with her day-to-day internal marketing and design responsibilities, a skill which has kept her versatile and sharp. For emerging creatives, her advice is direct: lose the fear of doing it wrong. You just need the drive to solve problems and the courage to say, “I can help with that.” 

  • Bonnie Harris-Lowe 

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe 

    “Learn as much as you can online” 

    Quick Facts

    Education: University of South Carolina

    Years of Experience: 6 Years

    About

    Bonnie Harris-Lowe is the creative director of Basking Bee, a gaming company dedicated to collaboration and self-determination, as well as a full-time instructor at the University of South Carolina. Her studio works to produce independent games while taking on freelance work for interactive projects. Bonnie has a passion for making the gaming industry a space for girls and people of color, and she is determined to change games for the better. 

    Bonnie has been playing video games since the age of six, but she felt a sense of hostility toward her race and gender. After experiencing the “Gamer Gate harassment scandal” in high school, she took classes in multiple forms of media production and decided she wanted to change the world of gaming, starting with creating her own company. She highlights the importance of “learn[ing] as much as you can,” especially to be able to “meet likeminded creatives.” 

    There is more than what meets the eye at Basking Bee Games. While most gaming studios choose between creating content or doing contract work, Bonnie’s does both.  Bonnie proudly states, “Basking Bee was designed as a hybrid studio with the goal to build a collective portfolio for industry newcomers through independent games,” while working as a full-time instructor.