28 - Laura Venditti
I vividly remember the first time I saw a stop motion animated film. I was probably 5 or 6 and it was ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’. I was completely mesmerized by the fantastical world that I was seeing and ever since then have always been a huge fan of stop motion animation. The time and skill that goes into making even a 60 second clip is incredible. Recently, I have discovered the work of Laura Venditti. The same mesmerizing feeling of getting lost in a fantastical world comes over me when I watch her work. Her characters are charming and fun and there is also a sense of whimsy that I get with the pieces she makes. I am beyond thrilled to have her as a featured artist on Quin and give you a little peek into the worlds she creates through her animations.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you do?
I’m a professional stop-motion animator and director from Montreal, Canada. Throughout my career I’ve animated on short films, series, advertisements and directed a few segments for an upcoming Netflix feature.
My favorite part of being a stop motion artist is just to be able to bring the weird little characters in my head to life!
And play with miniature stuff all day, of course!
What has your journey been into becoming a stop motion animator?
I became a stop motion animator very organically, actually. I never really had a plan for my future but I’ve always known I was an artist. As a kid I was already writing books, comics and making little movies. My parents are both musicians so I played music in high school. Then I studied photography before switching to visual arts. I made a stop-motion film as my graduation project and loved it, so I went and got my BFA in animation at Concordia University. And now I’m lucky enough to do this for a living!
Stop-motion is really a culmination of all the art forms I love (cinema, writing, fine arts, photography, music) so it makes a lot of sense that I ended up here!
Your stop motion animations are so impressive with these amazing sets. Do you make all the pieces that go into your animations? How long does it take you to complete an animation?
I do make everything you see in my personal animations, including sets and characters. It’s really hard to tell how long it takes to complete one though. It varies greatly depending on the animation, the amount of characters in it, how detailed the sets are, etc.
On my socials you will also see some posts from my professional work and because I specialize in animating, the sets you see are not made by me. Only the character animation is. I had the chance to work with very talented fabricators and I gotta say, I’m always impressed and excited to walk onto a new set, and get to live in a new tiny world for a while!
Is there anything that you are challenging yourself with currently?
I’ve been wanting to get back into writing, and that’s a very challenging part for me. Specifically, I’d like to write deeper, more personal stories to put to film. I feel like I have a lot to say, but am failing at putting it into words and images. But I am working on that. I do have a concept for a short series or film in the works, I just need to find the time and energy to do it.
How do you approach working on a new animation?
My main goal when creating a new animation is to capture a specific emotion. I want the piece to have a unique vibe, and I want people to feel something when they watch it.
Here’s a bit of the process.
It almost aways starts with a character, so I make a puppet first and then find out what it will do after.
Then I make very loose storyboards and plan the timing. More often than not, I edit my animations around music.
The next step is to fabricate everything, often while binge watching series, as one does. Recently, I’ve been very into felting! It’s fairly easy and the texture looks great on camera! Once I’ve fabricated everything I need, I’ll animate, ask my partner for any editing help and VFX (because I’m not great with technology), post the result and hope people enjoy it as much as I do!
How do you find inspiration? (Or How does inspiration find you?)
I would say that inspiration finds me, mostly! I’ll be doing something random, and then an idea just pops into my head. If it makes me laugh, I make it happen! I never question it too much or I end up changing my mind and not going through with it. With my short animations, it’s a lot of me entertaining myself!
Inspiration comes from so many places for me. Some of the things that inspire me the most are cinema, mythological/imaginary creatures, sea creatures, creepy things, vintage aesthetic and music.
I sometimes get inspired by materials! I have a soft spot for fur and felt. One fun story is how I created my Mr. Crevette character! I was shopping for fabric for another project one day, and I saw this coral pink sheet of felt. Immediately I thought, “that’s a shrimp colour”! So I bought it, came back home, and built Mr. Crevette. As soon as I made his face, his creepy yet seductive personality came out. Then it was really easy to find ideas for animations for him. Simple as that. I just really like him, and he seems to resonate a lot with people. All that came from a coral pink felt sheet!
My ideas also often come from music. When I create a new animation, the soundtrack often comes first and dictates the rhythm of the editing. That’s what gives the energy, the vibe, to the piece. I think I’d love to direct a music video some day!
What advice would you give to other artists?
That’s a tough question! Different things work for different people!
But I find that what has really helped me as an artist was to stop questioning every idea I have so much and just make it happen! When I started to work from my feelings and just sharing whatever the result was, that’s when people started relating to my art. I think they could feel that it came from a genuine place.
Probably good to note that a solid set of skills and experience was also a big help! I’m not sure this advice would have worked when I was just starting.
What are you currently working on?
I just finished a contract animating on an NFB short film by Clyde Henry Productions. I’m going back to making short personal animations until the next one. Currently brainstorming ideas!
Where can people find you?
On my socials. Mainly Instagram and Tiktok. You can find all my links and where to follow me on my link tree
