Today we’d like to introduce you to Cole Funck.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Cole. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was growing up, I was obsessed with video games and comics. I used to draw and animate things based off of the stuff I loved to watch and play. As I grew older, I came to develop my drawing skills by drawing kooky cartoon characters and animation skills creating stick figure animations on my parent’s laptop. I never really took art as a career seriously until senior year of high school when I was considering where I wanted to go to college and what I wanted to do for a career. I came to Chicago as part of my pursuit of my goal of becoming an animator. Since then I’ve worked as a part of an animation collective called Loose Change. Through this, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really cool musicians as well as make art with my friends. I think my experience living in Chicago has really opened my eyes to the vast amount of opportunity there is for me as an artist in this big bad world we all live in.
Has it been a smooth road?
Animation and art creation often has a very huge downside of being very time-consuming. I often find myself sitting in front of a computer for the vast majority of the day. It makes you feel really isolated, and for someone who also has issues connecting to other people in the first place this kind of behavior can be a really self-destructive spiral. There’s also a very real feeling that you’ll never get good enough to compete in the highly competitive job market that lies out there in the industry which kind of leaves no light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve had many times throughout my college experience where I really questioned my ability to turn art into my full-time job. With all that said I’m still here with my nose to the grindstone anyways, because I feel like this is really something I want to go for even with the negatives. I feel like when I get to the other side of this grind, it’ll be far better than giving up now.
What else should we know about your work?
I think as an artist my main draw is honestly my dedication to getting a job done right and done to the client’s specifications. I’m incredibly flexible and I can fit whatever style and whatever schedule the client needs. I also try to bring my best communication skills to the table to keep the client informed as well as process any feedback a client gives me. I have a lot of experience in many different mediums. I’ve done work in 2D, 3D, and stop motion animation. I have a strong understanding of what makes animation tick as well as a keen awareness on how design affects the way a viewer will view art and animation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://defuncktstudios.com/
- Email: defunckstudios@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/defunckt/?hl=en

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