{"id":624,"date":"2025-06-11T11:57:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/?p=624"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:39:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:39:59","slug":"life-is-a-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/11\/life-is-a-highway\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Is a Highway (and I Got on the 101 Instead of the 405)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I always mean to check in on the old blog more than I do. I get caught up in day-to-day activities. <\/p>\n

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It took them a week, but they figured it out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lately I am amused by the tenacity of a pair of American robins that decided to build their nest in my carport. There are plenty of nooks and crannies for nest-building in there, but this couple decided to build their nest on a narrow ledge that I was sure could not hold a nest for a bird that size. And yet. Nature, uh, finds a way.<\/p>\n

I have such a backlog of things I should be posting, but I was thinking I haven’t really talked about what’s going on with me, career-wise, and work is such a big part of my life that I figured I should talk about it.<\/p>\n

I’m working on books, of course. Graphic novels, mainly. Creaky Acres<\/em> is out in the world now<\/a> and having a great season (buy at your favorite local indie bookstore or on bookshop.org<\/a>!). <\/p>\n

But I also have a day job. For two years I’ve been a storyboard revisionist on Disney Junior’s Ariel<\/a><\/em>, but my time on the show is coming to an end. Starting in July, I’ll be a free agent. <\/p>\n

I’ve been anticipating this moment for a few years. When I left Los Angeles in 2020, I knew I was severing my connection to animation. I moved to LA in 2011 to dedicate all my efforts into working in an animation studio. I consider myself very lucky that physical distance was not a hindrance to Wild Canary. They embraced me as a remote worker, and I was able to be a part of the Ariel<\/em> crew from 2700 miles away.<\/p>\n

The animation industry is in a tricky spot these days, though. Many people are out of work. Studios are not greenlighting new productions. <\/p>\n

And so, I’ve been thinking about my next moves. I am trying to discover the post-Los Angeles me.<\/p>\n

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A friend encouraged me to read The Design of Everyday Things<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For now, I’d still like a day job while I work on books in my spare time, and that means a career switch. I’ve been thinking about the skills I have and which industries and roles where they would be best applied.<\/p>\n

My mother, in her practical wisdom, encouraged me to figure out a “Plan B” before I fully commit myself to the life of a working artist, so I first got a degree in communications and worked for a while as a journalist, then a marketing writer. I also have years of experience in creative software suites. <\/p>\n

I’ve landed on storyboarding, copywriting, and graphic design as my principle skills, which I can use to transition into marketing, creative direction, or user experience (UX). <\/p>\n

Funny story, though: all these things require portfolios.<\/p>\n

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Don’t you wish this was a real bakery?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, my next course of action is to build a body of work. I’ve started with some graphic design exercises, like the logo concepts above. I’ll probably spend the rest of the year working on portfolios and a website to house them. I’m applying to jobs in the meantime because I will need some sort of income, but I know developing a new body of work will take some time.<\/p>\n

It feels strange, building new portfolios. It has been a long, long time since I’ve been in the headspace of being an entry-level candidate. For years I’ve been laser-focused on becoming a storyboard artist for animation. Now it’s time to laser focus on something else.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I don’t want to cut myself off from animation completely. I’m still open to drawing and writing in that space, though I do think I need to find a new balance so that potential animation work doesn’t compete with my books. I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out for a long time. I’m always doing so much. In this next phase, I want to scale back. Fewer tasks that get more time and focus, and time to rest, as well.<\/p>\n

I’ll be honest, life didn’t turn out quite like I expected. There have been a lot of twists and turns, but I think the uncertainty has also made me nimble. When I can’t be confident in stability, I’m confident in my ability to adapt. <\/p>\n

Well, the rest of the summer is going to be really busy! I will try to post a garden update soon(ish). In the meantime, be good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always mean to check in on the old blog more than I do. I get caught up in day-to-day activities.  Lately I am amused by the tenacity of a pair of American robins that decided to build their nest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"Life is a Highway: Nilah Ate the Blog","bgseo_description":"Nilah talks about switching careers from animation and building a new portfolio for graphic design, copywriting, and user experience.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,42,18,54],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-as-usual","tag-animation","tag-books","tag-just-things","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilahmagruder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}