Ty, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.

Devision Lab Studios started as a simple graphic design portfolio years ago. As a graduate of The Art Institute of Dallas, we all had the dream of working for either Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) or Disney. As I patiently awaited the call stating “we’ve seen your resume so pack up because you’re moving to California”, the call never came.

However, my first 9-5 job, post-graduation, was in a small design studio in Dallas. To this day, I still joke about how my boss turned me into a creative Superman. Up to that point in my life, I considered myself “an artist”. I was hired as a Graphic Designer and thought I would be one for the rest of my professional career… but I was sorely mistaken.

One fateful day, my boss walked in and told the team “we just won a contract for a huge website redesign project. Ty, you will be taking the lead on design and development”. Thinking I was a rockstar designer at the time, I smiled and said “I’m a Graphic Designer”. In my mind, that was the end of the conversation. At that point, I swiveled around in my chair so I could get back to being an “awesome designer”.

My boss returned to the room with a book the size of a dictionary. He looked at me with a straight face, dropped it on my desk and said “you have the entire weekend to learn HTML so be ready by Monday.” This was on a Friday. As a reference for our younger readers, a dictionary was a physical book before it was an app on your phone. #shade

That moment in time taught me to be fearless and to be unafraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. My thinking was there was nothing I couldn’t do. There were only things I had not done -yet. After a few years of being a student of the industry, Devision Lab Studios was born.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an entrepreneur is hard work and it is not meant for everyone. The hours are long and there is always something to do and/or do better. You care about quality so you put in the time to ensure the smallest details are tweaked to absolute perfection.

Each industry has its share of struggles and the creative industry is tough. Some organizations lack an understanding of marketing/design. They view it as something they don’t really need, until they need it. When they do have a need, their mindset is “slap a template on it.” However, being able to educate clients on best practices typically leads to collaboration and strong, long-lasting partnerships.

Please tell us about Devision Lab Studios.
Devision Lab is an animation and design studio specializing in the creation of motion graphics, visual effects, and 3D animation. We merge technology with high-level professional creatives to deliver custom solutions. We are comprised of designers, animators, writers, video editors and licensed drone operators. Artistry is the nucleus of our team and mastery in our respected areas provides opportunities for us to push one another. As a company, we are proud of the work we’ve delivered over the years. However, we are most proud of our extremely talented team of artists and designers.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is sitting in front of the television every Saturday as I watched Kung fu movies and cartoons while drawing.