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JIMMY CHEN, CLASS OF 2001
By Valerie Sarnicole

Jimmy Chen, a 2001 graduate of the Computer Art Department, has enjoyed success in a variety of film festivals with his exciting and well-executed thesis See You On The Internet. He first started drawing at 3 years old when his father gave him his first charcoal. As a child he became very comfortable with painting and drawing and won several awards.

The path to digital art came after he completed the required military service for 18-year-old males in Taiwan. "After I finished military service I tried to find a job. I noticed an ad for customer service/computer salesman and at that time I was not good with computers. So I learned by making mistakes."

“Different people need different things. Understand yourself first. If you don't understand yourself the computer will be difficult.”

Crucial concerns for artists are internal. "An artist needs to have faith and to believe in something. If the fundamental thing you try to do is to create art then you are wrong. The importance is in the idea you wish to convey. The action of art is not for art's sake. The action is to prove what you actually believe or want to show people and that process is called art. I wanted to collect my ideas together into a format and people call it art. Well, it is art.... but actually it is something that I believe."

“Even if your work is critiqued in a bad way it can give you all different kinds of ideas to create work in the future. Open your mind and your eyes and think about your response to the world.”

By junior year at SVA, Jimmy started gaining valuable professional broadcast design experience. "I started an internship at HBO. This real world exposure was a great opportunity for me to learn and it also helped me with my thesis project. I highly recommend students use the summer as a chance to learn and build a personal network.”

Part of that network is Daniel Lee, a digital artist who uses Photoshop to create very unusual portraits. "He gave me a lot of advice and now we talk all the time." Jimmy feels that Lee embodies an ideal way to handle success. "The most important thing is to have a good attitude. You can see the most successful artist who is so humble. It makes you realize that the world is so big and we are so small. Things that you think are important are not important. You have to really examine things. People are always afraid of something, which leads to the question: What is fear? You are afraid of something that you don't know. It becomes hard to see what you are afraid of, so you worry.”

“You must tell yourself--the thing you want will come. Do your best and prepare for what you are trying to accomplish. Even if something goes wrong you cannot regret it if you do the best you can.”

Jimmy starts his process of creation from the mind. "I do a lot of exercises first. Then I try to show something physically so I draw the line and add color to feel the emotion. Then I need a tool; people use painting or sometimes performance but right now I use digital tools to tell a story. Digital technology is just the tool to finish the work.” The next step is to present the work.

Reading is part of the overall preparation for working. "It is very simple to do it but difficult to make the time to read good books. I try and read something on the train every day --even when I am so busy doing commercial work. If you want to learn how to tell good stories you need to read.”

The day-to-day life of working in New York includes challenges. "The biggest thing is that I need to do is to get proper working status here which is a long and painful process. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to do it. I am still trying and not giving up yet and I appreciate everyone who has tried to help me. Hopefully I will get the freedom to do more work in New York City."

Future plans include telling great stories through film. A great influence is the Japanese animated director, Hayao Miyazaki whose credits include Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. "It doesn't just look beautiful, it has hidden spirituality in the story. The stories touch people hearts and touched my heart, too. I would like to tell a story in such a nice way to make everyone think about something important.”

awards

2002 Oct. 23-27 / See you on the Internet project /AUSFEST Digital & Video Film Festival 2002 / Brisbane, Australia.

2002 Sept. 19-22 / Group video art show in M3 Projects Digital Dumbo 2002 / M3 Projects/Mastel + Mastel Gallery, 70 Washington Street, #700, DUMBO - Brooklyn, NY, USA.

2002 Sept. 18 / Best of Creative winner at 4th National CG Animation Competition 2002 / Taipei, Taiwan.

2002 April 08-10 / Motion Graphic & Digital Video Demo Reel selected into Adobe Dynamic Media Sampler Reel 2002 / 2002 National Association of Broadcasters /Las Vegas, USA.

2002 March 05-10 / See you on the Internet, When Classical Music meets Visual Imagination project /Tampere 32nd International Short Film Festival/ Projects also selected for Micromovie competition / Tampere, Finland.

2001 Dec. 03-06 / See you on the Internet project /DV Expo Film Festival / Los Angeles, CA. U.S.A.

2001 Aug. 27-29 / Received the Best of Student Works Award, After Effects West Film Festival / Los Angeles, CA. U.S.A.

for more information:

Jimmy Chen
http://www.dvjimmy.com

Daniel Lee
http://www.daniellee.com