Meet Duncan Hatch | Animator and Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Duncan Hatch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Duncan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
After I graduated from art school with an animation degree, I got a job as a graphic designer, doing mostly UI design. It was not exactly what I hoped to be doing as a career and left me mostly unfulfilled, but kept me above water and working in the creative field. I thought about a lot about leaving but it seemed to risky to give up a comfortable position. My hand was forced regardless, when the company hit a rough patch and I was laid off. I struggled to find a new position in the highly competitive creative job market, and with impending bill payments looming overhead, I seriously considered leaving the field all together, in favor of a safer bet.

For sometime though, I had been doing small freelance projects on the side. After work and on the weekends, I’d do posters for small local bands, or short animated ad spots. To keep me afloat between jobs I decided to focus more on these projects. As I put more energy into the freelance work, I found I was getting more out of them, and gaining momentum. Pretty soon the freelance work was taking up so much of my time that I realized, I had stumbled into a new a career.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Most of my art is surreal, dreamlike, and psychedelic. It involves flowing motion, vibrant colors, and broad themes like time, death and fulfillment.

I think a lot of my success as a freelance animator and illustrator came when I started to let my personal artistic sensibilities inform my work more. Instead of simply trying to interpret a client’s Ideas with as much fidelity as possible, I trusted my own instincts and brought more of my personal art, into my professional work. I believe people can really sense when something is personal, made with authenticity, and a unique vision. When I started making more of the kind of art I wanted to make, more people saw that, and came to me looking for that kind of art. It was a kind of positive feedback loop, where I was both doing more of what I wanted to be doing, and getting more work because of it.

I also brought some professional sensibilities into my personal work. I started taking it more seriously, dedicating time, and planning ahead. I started work on my animated short film Cosmohedron, and it was a massive undertaking for a personal project, at seven minutes long, which is a very long time in the notoriously slow and laborious medium of animation. It took me years of plugging away at it in my free time. I treated it like a would a project for a client, only this time I was the client. I was persistent, I scheduled time for it, and I stuck with it, even when it seemed like it may never come together. When it was finally finished, I was proud to have seen it through, though I didn’t think it would amount to much outside of personal fulfillment. So when it garnered over 2.5 million views on youtube I was surprised to say the least. It opened up a whole new chapter for me, both professionally and artistically.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
After living in Boston for over a decade, I have recently moved to the suburbs, but it is still the city that has my heart. It’s a city fill of history, and walking the freedom trail is great way to see many of the historic sites while enjoying a beautiful day. Then you can take in some world class art museums, like the Museum of Fine Arts, and Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, before catching a Red Sox game at historic Fenwaya park. Then cap it all off by grabbing a pint at a small Irish pub and listen to local band play some traditional Irish folk music.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to give a big shoutout to my best friend, and loving wife Lily Hatch. We’ve been together since college and she has been right there by my side through all the ups and downs of my career to this point. With her support and encouragement I was able to follow my dream, even when it seemed very far away. If I ever need and opinion on if the colors in a piece are working , or if I worded and email correctly, I know I can always turn to her for an honest and measured take. I would certainly not be where I am today without her.

Website: https://duncanhatchart.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duncan_hatch/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-hatch-902769144/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@duncanhatch1