Meet Ty Mabrey | Artist – Writer – Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ty Mabrey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ty, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My first job in the corporate world was as a typesetter, but within two years, I was heading up an interactive division of the company, positioning myself up the creative chain with skills as a designer, illustrator and animator. Not once was I given an actual job promotion to match the work I was doing. In fact, I had to borrow money to buy groceries once, and lived off of credit for nearly a year just to make ends meet. I was praised for my skills as an artist, but politics permeated the work environment, and praise did not pay the bills. I just wanted to create cool stuff and did not have the knowledge or understanding of how to play the political hierarchy within just to get a raise, so I left the company and ventured out on my own. I have worked as an independent contractor since then, marketing myself to match my clients’ needs. For the past few years, I have provided creative services under the name Bang Zoom Pow.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always considered myself an artist, but I would say I am more of a craftsman or a composer depending on how you look at it. I use a toolbox of different skills and often mesh them together just to see what I can create. This allows me to think outside the box and makes the work I do well rounded. For example, I develop corporate presentations where I write the scripts, produce storyboards, work with voice artists for narration, create and animate 3D visuals, utilize motion graphics and edit it all together. It’s challenging because it is the amount of work a team would do. What makes it possible for me to do so many different things is simply curiosity and the challenge of solving a puzzle. I would try something new and then think of how I could pitch an idea to a client that integrated that new thing into my work. I do still fall back to the basics at the end of the day. Traditional pencil illustration is a mainstay for me, but I would say my passion these days is writing. I spent the last few years writing scripts for film and just finished the first draft of a novel.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am always working on something. Some would say my lifestyle is very secluded because of this and I would agree. I find joy in the work I do, but I also find peace and quiet there as well. Call me old-fashioned. Since the introduction of social media, the world has become quite noisy and everything and everyone is bidding for attention. I feel like spinning the bottle and seeing where it lands, being spontaneous in the moment, is the best way to venture out into the world socially. It is an escape from the stress of planning, prepping and taking action I do daily for clients. If friends or family are visiting and expecting me to plan their itinerary, they’re out of luck.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have been empowered to follow my creative passions as far back as I can remember by the women in my life, starting with my grandmother who paid for me to take private art lessons as a teen. My mother’s influence was great as well because she too was an artist, and very much like me dabbled in different mediums. She baked cakes, made wedding dresses, hand-crafted gits and was never afraid to get her hands dirty. Other women in my life have inspired me as an adult. Some might see them as muses, but they were always friends who supported me above and beyond, most importantly when I failed, and I did that often and quite spectacularly.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bangzoompow/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-ty-mabrey-8a9b824

Image Credits
Victor Marmolejo