I never grew out of my cartoon phase.

From an early age, I was drawn into the colorful characters and upbeat voices.

This is what led me to deep dive into the creative process behind them in my teenage years

and pursue it as a career as an adult.

When I landed my first animation job, it was a dream come true.

I knew the hours were long, the time was thankless compared to the more public names that

do the voices and direction.

But this is what I wanted to do.

However, as my time went on with a fresh start up, I started to notice something strange

about my co-workers.

For starters, the team was small.

You would think this would be a bottleneck for output, but the team was efficient.

They'd work late into the night and be there for days that they weren't scheduled.

I never knew how early they showed up.

All I knew was that it was earlier than me, no matter what time I started.

This is often seen as a negative in the animation industry.

Overworked and underpaid is a common sentiment.

However, this wasn't some strong-on move by management.

It was completely voluntary.

Whenever I asked any of them what they were working on, they'd be vague and quickly

changed the subject.

This kind of evasive behaviour was from the whole team, but the strangest one of all

...