KODY CHAMBERLAIN: CAMPAIGN FOR COMMUNITY CREATIVITY

A Man on a Mission

Local Artist / Writer on Cultivating Creative Projects

by Abby Meaux Conques

For what might be the first chance in a while, we all have idle time on our hands with this universal virus situation we are currently navigating through. When we look back at what was “normal” for us before, was it really all that amazing?

Did you spend most of your time on social media or creative projects? I’d be willing to bet more time was spent on social media for the majority of us.

With this gift of time, and opportunity to explore what’s really possible in this life, we should tap into our creativity, for both pleasure and for growth.

When I had coffee with Lafayette Comic Writer / Artist (along with some film and tv sprinkled in for good measure), Kody Chamberlain, our area was on the cusp of a major change to life as we were used to experiencing it.

You could feel a bit of tension in the air, people conscious of not shaking hands and hugs were a definite no-no; you thought twice about the way you opened a door.

This is all new for us.

For that time I spent speaking with Kody, I forgot about the outside world for a bit and listened to stories of how different creative projects came to (national) fruition for him and the detail it takes to compose an entire board game from a graphic design perspective.

That is the power of creativity and art. It’s a world in itself to get lost in.

Chamberlain sees art as a means of communication. Since we’re all alone, together right now, why don’t we utilize a different method of communication when our daily lives are completely disrupted? We can communicate ideas, feelings, and thoughts in a creative way, and put depth to what we feel and what we’d like each other to see just as we do.

“People go into debt to get a degree, but art and design are skill sets and trades that you can earn a living off of. If you can learn to communicate where art and language come together, that’s the core of communication,” Chamberlain said. He continued, “If you want to understand the importance of art and language communication utilized effectively, all you have to do is look at one of those escape plan cards in the seat pocket of airplanes.”

Chamberlain is an Advertising Design graduate from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) and worked in a variety of fields in that arena upon graduating (copyrighting, advertising agency work, illustration, etc.)

“I always preferred pen and paper,” he said of his 2008 leap to a formal full-time comic career. “I’d say 80% of my work uses traditional media,” he explained. “Software companies are great at marketing to people that art needs to be digital, in my opinion, traditional ways of creating are just as great, if not better.”

During his stint working for other agencies prior to contracting out work, he attended larger comic expos and conventions. “Other people had these printouts of their work and I wanted to stand out, so I hand stitched these portfolio books and walked around with them, handing them out to higher-ups who had booths. Many were impressed when they saw the time I put into my ‘portfolio’,” he mentioned. That’s how he got to working on Chapter 4 of 30 Days of Night, the comic that eventually became a movie based on Chapter 1 of the series.

The proverbial ball continued rolling since then, with Chamberlain being a sought-out artist for assorted projects from TV to film and beyond.

Last year was a big year for Chamberlain as he was the official artist for Festival International de Louisiane.

He was also contacted by NBCUniversal to create a comic-inspired segue between segments on the red carpet for the 91st Academy Awards. It was a big year for comics at the Oscars with the honoring of the late Stan lee, and movies up for awards such as Black Panther and Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse.

In between all those years, new projects were born such as tv series pitches, pilot creations and screenplays. Other notable projects are his well-received comics, Sweets and Punks...not to mention a whole bunch of projects and logo designs in between.

Many of his projects fared extremely well at competitions and notable film festivals such as the Austin Film Festival and the Sundance Sundance Labs.

More recently, his graphic design work is featured on an original board game called “Maniacal,” an intricate game of super villains that involves critical thought and wit. He meticulously designed various aspects of the complex game, including the play board, game pieces, cards, dice, etc. The game is available online for order as well as here locally at the Carencro trading card store, Cajun Gamer.

These days, Chamberlain continues to work remotely on national assignments and thoroughly enjoys time at home with his wife and his son. One thing he would like to see more of in the creative community is networking. “There’s nothing like that around here right now...there used to be...but not lately...where creatives can get together and just hang out...bounce ideas off each other...have creative conversations,” he said. Upon life returning to a somewhat semblance of what it used to be, he would like to implement very informal monthly creative meet-ups, possibly downtown Lafayette before ArtWalk.

Chamberlain also had a class offering in the works before the shelter-in-place order that will be revisited as soon as people can gather publicly again. The class he will hold is titled “The Art of Story” and is a weekly class divided by kids ages 10-15 and older teens to adults. The class will serve as a skillset-obtaining class where the main focus is the collision between art and story. One could use this class as a fun, creative outlet or to learn a trade that could serve in the professional sense that could eventually earn income in the comic, animation, storyboarding, concept design, web comic or character development realms.

During this time of highly-suggested quarantining, Chamberlain poses a call to creatives on his Artist Facebook page, "For those of you stuck at home or facing boredom between news cycles, a creative project might be a good idea. Maybe try your hand at a novel, toss a t-shirts up on Cotton Bureau, or just something fun and productive to do with the kids."

Being able to express ourselves creatively may be just what we need right now.

To be on the up and up with classes Chamberlain is offering or with his professional developments, visit his site at www.inkhousecreative.com.