The teacher droned on as Justin Reid stared down at his textbook. It seemed like he was following along with the class, but he wasn’t. Within the margins of his textbook were what Reid was focused on. Small doodles and detailed drawings of his favourite TV characters. Bugs Bunny and Pikachu smiled back at him. Little did he know his hobby would lead to his future career.
“I’ve always been a sort of quiet nerdy type,” said Reid. “As a youngster, I’d rather sit in a corner and play Pokémon instead of doing whatever everyone else my age was up to.”
Reid grew up in the small down of Dildo, N.L. He is a shy person when you first meet him, but afterwards he can be outgoing.
Not everyone can say they’re doing what they love, but Reid can. He’s always loved drawing but growing up, never thought it could be his profession. As a skilled computer user, he enrolled at the Memorial University of N.L. However, university just didn’t fit for Reid.
“My marks declined. After a second shot at keeping my GPA steady, I decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” said Reid.
Reid decided to look around at other career options. He took a risk at a local college where they were offering a new 2D/3D Animation course. It interested him and he stuck to it.
. . .
Reid has taken his drawing hobby to new levels. He created a character of his own named Charles. Charles is a rabbit inspired by one of Reid’s favourite childhood cartoon characters: Bugs Bunny.
He named Charles after his cousin, who he says doesn’t look too different from the bunny he created.
Reid developed his character in such depth he’s even created comics and a costume based on his rabbit. He wore it to the Further Confusion convention in San Jose.
A local radio station recently purchased the costume for Easter promotions.
But Reid originally molded Charles to mirror himself in some aspects.
He says Charles likes trading cards, comic books and escaping reality in general. The character has an over-active imagination. His imagination is so strong, he can actually change the world around him.
“My rabbit character (Charles) is a timid bunny boy who draws a bit on my own personal experience as someone who has had a bumpy life growing up through school,” said Reid. “He’s kind of magic, but doesn’t fully understand it,” said Reid.
. . .
Now, Reid works for a web-ad animation company called M5 Marketing Communications as a web animator. Here, he works on projects using his computer skills; and sometimes he can bring his drawings in to his assignments.
Reid’s day at work is mostly spent animating in Flash and HTML5 and loves what he does.
“It gives me freedom to express myself in a creative way,” said Reid.
Reid’s other hobbies like playing video games have doubled as more than just a fun past-time. Video games have taught him how to “micromanage” multiple tasks at work.
“With several clients asking for things all at the same time, I find that games have taught me how to know what’s most important at what time, and how to keep busy while waiting on other things to happen,” said Reid. “Real life, after all, is the most deep RPG (role-playing game) of all.”
