Stuff, a great word we all know well enough, but never actually know what it truly means. What Stuff exactly? We need to put a label on stuff, we need to classify, group and sort. We need to know what stuff someone does, what stuff someone has, or what stuff someone has to define who stuff they are. I discovered at one point I hated labels.
I became the StuffGuy 20 years ago in 2003. After several years of random freelance, I found myself at a bar one night with a bunch of fellow local designers and coders, and artists, debating what best defined what some of us were. I put thought into having recently taught class at a local college, written an article for a CG magazine, animated some characters terribly in flash (let’s never speak of that again,) some digitial Ink and paint for a christmas special, some basic logos and promotional imagery for a healthfood website, and started the templates in Indesign for a book I was starting to write. Was I an author, a designer, an animator? I was a true generalist, master of none, and surely after a pint too may, I just blurted out “Stuff… I just do stuff, whatever stuff needs to be done, I do it.” Of course one of my friends had to jump in with a whimsical rhyming nickname:
“Kai the Stuff Guy”
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I am currently a CG supervisor in Vancouver Canada, working with an innovative studio called Mindshow. I’ve worked professionally In VFX and animation studios for the last decade, and various CG or teaching related jobs for the decade prior. My current focus is on work/life balance and putting the same dedication I put into learning cg for the last 20+ years into learning various other skills that bring me joy, and of course teaching others as I go.
I learn best by sharing and teaching others. The StuffGuy monker applies now more than ever. This is a site about sharing a passion for stuff.