The creator of Catino World’s bouncy, orange meme cats shares how COVID lockdown unemployment led him to social media success, allowing him to be a self-supporting full-time artist.
Check out Terry Ibele’s Animation Industry Podcast, featuring a new podcast every week focusing on the stories of today’s animation professionals - how they got to where they are and what they learned along the way. Now home to 248 episodes, the podcasts cover all areas of the industry, including storyboarding, writing, animating, directing, visual development, and game design. Guests have included returning guest Aaron Augenblick; the notorious JJ Villard; Spike & Mike’s Spike Decker; Disney Director John Musker; Sony Lead Animator Humberto Rosa; Frederator’s Fred Seibert; Tumble Leaf’s Scarlet Nelson; and many others from major animation studios all over the world.
Podcast EP 248: Catino World & Animating Cat Memes as A Career
This episode features Alec, the creator of the bouncy, orange meme cats featured on social media in Catino World. In this chat, Alec discusses Catino World’s growth to nearly 100 million views across social platforms and how that success has enabled him to support himself while working as a full-time artist.
Tune in to Ibele and Alec to hear:
- The number one thing Alec sells that gives him a stable income.
- What Alec does to make sure his posts always go viral.
- Which social media has been the most profitable.
Ibele has begun to publish the interviews as videos as well – you can find previous interviews here!
Social Links:
- Check out the Catino World website
- Follow Catino World on Instagram
- Subscribe to Catino World on YouTube
Ibele, himself a stop-motion animator (see AWN’s Fresh Takes piece on his whimsical short, The Silly Duck Wizard, deftly digs into all manner of topics, encouraging interviewees to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics like pitching shows, marketing your work online, key skills studios look for when they bring on talent in storyboarding, vizdev, character design, and animation.
In 2018, Ibele, who lives in Toronto, decided to quit his career as a marketer and pursue his love for animation. Since then, he’s become well known for his viral animation productions, which include the previously mentioned Silly Duck Wizard, which is how AWN first came to know him and his work.
Learn more about Ibele’s work and podcast by visiting terryibele.com. You can find all The Animation Podcast episodes on his Soundcloud site: https://soundcloud.com/animation-podcast.
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
