Career Off Roading

IAN: I’ve always been a fan of music, especially recorded music. I had been learning guitar since age 10 and started writing and recording music in my teens, first with a Radio Shack mixer – bouncing tracks from cassette to cassette until I had something resembling a multi-track recording. Later on I got a 4-track recorder, which was a small step up in fidelity. When it came time for college, I decided on a Sound Recording Technology degree at Umass Lowell. The great thing about that program is that the requirements include music theory and history, performance, and lessons on your instrument of choice. We also learned basic computer programming, electronics, and physics.

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Ryan Dunlap on the set.

MICHELLE: This year, I sent a question out to people I’ve interviewed, “Do you have a New Year’s Resolution?” Here’s one answer from Ryan Dunlap, filmmaker and author.

DUNLAP:  I think my current resolution is to ensure that I’m not constantly reading books to better myself only under the guise of putting off getting creative work finished. Since December I’ve spent a lot of time with my nose in a number of business and strategy books about efficiency and creative development… but after a while it starts to run together and I realize I’m only making excuses from sitting down and doing the scary work of creating… and without that momentum, I can find myself dead in the water.

WHALEN: What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

MEL: Have more fun than last year (in business and personal life).

How long have you been blogging? What are your websites? Do you call yourself a freelancer, entrepreneur, or something else?

I’m Steff Metal, a New Zealand-based freelance writer, blogger and heavy metal maiden living with my cantankerous drummer husband and our medieval sword collection. I’m the author of five ebooks, including the Gothic Wedding Planner, and the Grymm and Epic Guide to Blogging.

I run four websites of my own: Grymm & Epic Copywriting – where I write a small business blog and take on writing clients, Steff Metal – a heavy metal music and lifestyle magazine, Gothic Wedding Planner – advice and inspiration for dark couples in Love, and Corpsepaint Kitty – a webcomic and art site for heavy metal cat lovers.

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Mel Rainsberger gets ready for a day at work.

How long have you been in animation?

My name is Melinda (or Mel) Rainsberger, and I’m an animator/designer/videographer. I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in FAV, which stands for Film, Animation and Video. I specialized in animation, but my business lets me work in a few different creative fields. I graduated in 2004, but I didn’t really start doing any freelance till 2005, and I didn’t use the ‘They’re Using Tools!’ company name I have now till 2009. But, overall, I’ve been in business for myself for about 6 years.

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The FaLLEN Tribute Art book features new art by Brooke, character profiles, guest art, and sketches of the FaLLEN characters.

Brooke Stephenson is a self-publishing Manga artist living and working in Japan. I met her in 2003 through a mutual friend and have admired how she has always pursued her art. Her pen name is Ogawa Bukurru.

I know you draw manga, but can you give us an intro of yourself as an artist?

First of all, I never intended to come to Japan permanently until I realized I was out of options as a sequential artist in America. I wanted to work for Disney and had made several powerful connections at their 2D animation department, but while I was in college they shut down their studio. I was devastated.

It has since re-opened, but by then I had already moved to Japan to pursue a degree in sequential art at the Nippon Designer Gakuin in Tokyo in 2004. I worked off and on as a professional comic assistant for two separate mangaka (comic artists) until 2010, when I got serious about publishing my own work.

In 2009 I had an editor show interest in me over at Kodansha’s Shounen Magazine (one of the top three best-selling weekly manga anthologies for boys in Japan), but after a year I felt it wasn’t working out and left. Sometimes I regret that decision, since even though my artwork has gotten better I have not had any luck with new publishers.

I decided to try the self-publishing route this year, hoping I can get a feel for my target audience by seeing what titles sell better and to what demographic. Test marketing at it’s finest!
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Erin O'Neal is an event planner and owner of Finealta Events.

Erin O’Neal is an event planner and the owner of Finealta Events. She plans weddings, events, and runs a blog where she writes tips for brides on a budget.

You’ve been in wedding and event planning for several years now, but you’ve recently moved. What’s it like to transition from Fort Worth (population 741,000) to Granbury, Tx (population 5,700)?

I thought it would be easier. There are fewer brides around, but there are also fewer wedding planners. For starters, it’s been difficult to pinpoint where brides are looking to find their wedding vendors. Granbury, TX is a big bridal destination for the Fort Worth brides, so it’s hard to determine how to reach these brides. I’m also working to grow in understanding of this niche market.

I think there are actually two different niches here, the local citizens of Granbury who are getting married in their hometown, and then the destination brides coming in from the Metroplex, that’s Dallas and Fort Worth, because they like the small, lake-front town feeling.
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Amy Monteith is a plushie maker, small business operator, and sometimes traditional artist. Her online name is Jefita and she’s agreed to be my first interview.
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