Cat Owens
Creative Director / Motion Graphics Designer
Los Angeles, CA
catowens.com
instagram @versaceversace_firecrotchy
Q What do you do?
“I’m a creative director and multidisciplinary motion graphics designer with a music industry focus. ”
I do a plethora of things, but most often, I design and animate content for music artists.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I grew up in a creative household where anything and everything was a creative endeavor, from designing my 70's themed bedroom to designing mixtape covers for all my friends. I explored all of the analog techniques: drawing, painting, digital & film photography, collage, ceramics, etc. Then jumped into digital design and headed to art school in New York to major in graphic design. There I found a deep interest in motion graphics, 3D, and augmented reality, always centering my projects around music or humor. I worked at Atlantic Records for a few years as a senior motion graphics designer, I left to lead a creative team of motion designers and augmented reality designers at an AR startup, and now I've taken the plunge into the freelance graphic design and motion design world.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
My personality and style can be eccentric and unconventional, but at the end of the day I'm very punctual, organized, and really easy to work with.
Q What are you working on right now?
Right now I'm freelancing for a variety of brands and companies, mostly in the music industry, creating animated and static content such as visualizers, album artwork, event flyers, logo animations, merch, gif stickers, etc. I'm focusing on bringing more analog techniques into my work, so I'm painting, drawing and building things with my hands then translating those techniques into the digital world.
Q What’s your style?
In my personal work, I like to be playful, experiment with new techniques and bring humor into projects whenever I can. I like creating work that has a lot of texture and mixed medias. I would not classify myself as a 'clean' or 'minimalist' designer. That being said, I am very flexible stylistically and can mold to any brand's style as needed.
I think this 'New Music Friday' animation for Atlantic Records is a good example. This was the first time I had opened a 3D program and I really pushed myself to learn quickly. I animated some coffee spilling onto a Windows laptop which then glitches revealing the message 'New Music Friday.' This was used to promote the new music releases from the label that week. I 3D modeled a computer, coffee mug, a drinking bird toy and added some silly notes pinned to the cork board on the back wall of the cubical. I combined my existing 2D animation & design skills with new 3D skills to create this silly loop. It's a few years old now, but I still enjoy it.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Too true... There are so many things I wish I could spend more time honing in on. Currently, I’m wishing I could spend time working in 3D. I’ve been building my 3D toolbox out for a few years, but there's so much to learn - from 3D printing to designing digital clothes to photogrammetry, etc. I have an insatiable appetite for learning new skills.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I just recently moved back to LA from NY right before covid and it's made it difficult to meet new creative people. I miss collaborating with people in real time and meeting like-minded people.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Mmmmm… Financial Planning. Generally I'm pretty good at maintaining a financial safety net, but would love someone to do the nitty gritty research to help me make smart investments, save better, do my taxes, etc.
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Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I wish I could tell my freshman-year-of-college self to really push each and every assignment in a direction that aligned with my personal vision.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
That's tough. I have 3 major interests right now outside of my regular work: cooking, gardening and airbrushing. I really enjoy having these creative hobbies outside of my normal work to flex different creative muscles and have an excuse to look away from a screen for a while
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I'd love to continue working with music clients, creating artwork, visualizers, merch, etc. I'd love to work with more creative studios and fashion brands designing digital content or physical products. I'm also looking for more opportunities to work in art departments on sets creating props and working on set design, essentially wanting to work on more physical projects.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I love an opportunity to experiment and takes things to a weird place if it makes sense. Right now I'm pretty into Braindead, as it's a stylistically-flexible clothing brand that creates lots of fun narrative-driven campaigns. I'd love to get more into merch/clothing design, set design, production, etc.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
You can hit me up via email for a fully thought out brief catowensdesign@gmail.com but down to chat via DMs too!
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
I ask myself: “How can I make this more interesting” or “How can I do this in a more unconventional way”.
This member profile was originally published in February 2020, Updated July 2021.