Malik O. Smith
Animator, Character Designer, Illustrator, Story Artist
‘Twas early afternoon on a Tuesday when Malik O. Smith and I spoke. The morning chill was shaken off the burgeoning sun, birds were chirping, and flowers outside were dripping with dew, reminding us that Winter will soon be an afterthought and Spring is upon us. Just kidding, we both live in Southern California where it’s always sunny and people freak when it drizzles. Malik O. Smith is an animator, storyboard artist, character designer, and illustrator. This Jack-of-All-Animation-Trades was drawn to Hollywood, where animation opportunities are abundant, from a city that is far more prepared for drizzle weather: Bronx, New York.
It was in Malik’s hometown where he got his first spark of animation inspiration. He’d watch the best of the early 80’s and 90’s, “Dragon Ball, Ed Edd & Eddy, Spongebob, Invader Zim, Looney Tunes, The Fairly Odd Parents and The Boondocks.” He was fascinated with the art and animation. How to make images move. When Malik was 16 years old, “It was around that teenage time when you’re looking for ways to have some money in your pocket,” he found his first job with The Knowledge Project. It was an animation job. Can you imagine? At 16 years old, landing your first animation job?! It takes some people years to land their first freelance gig. And guess what it entailed? Making an animated PSA for the Mayor of the Bronx. He worked for one of the most well known cities in one of the most famous states in the world. Pretty damn cool for your first gig. His mentor and past supervisor from the Knowledge Project, Jose Maldonado, actually recommended him for his current job, “Working on a Documentary Project showcasing some of the history on Selma and Civil Rights movement.” This is another reason to stay connected animators!
From then on Malik knew where his path would take him, and that was to follow his passion. Although pursuing a career in the arts can be scary, isn’t that what life is all about, following your dreams? His dreams took him to Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) to study, where he made the Dean’s List and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Animation.
He honed his skills and developed his own style, “I don't think I have a favorite art style, I admire variety in art usually. My style came up from me always drawing a cartoon version of myself for years until I found a look that stuck. Very simplistic but personalized for detail.” At MICA he made great connections with mentors and friends he still talks to, to this day.
He actually lives with two of his MICA peers. These three animator roommates reside in Glendale, CA next to some of the biggest studios in the world. When I asked Malik if he ever collaborates with his roommates he said, “That's an age old question. There were times when opportunities came and we could collab on some work, but it fell through in the end. Generally we are all animators, but in different stages in how we approach our work. When I feel like I’m at a point to create with a real team, they are obviously my first pick. You may see us create something great one day. Stay tuned.” It was one of these friends who introduced him to The Creators Society. Malik met the founder, Eric Miller, and a number of people in the industry and other creative fields. Compared to the mixers he attended back in New York, Malik made more headway and gained more insight through meeting talented and like-minded individuals in The Creators Society.
Malik moved to Los Angeles in 2019, right before the pandemic. He found a favorite spot, The Story Tavern, and it turned out to be the same place his roommate took him to his first Creators Society Social. The majority of anyone’s first experience being in LA during the pandemic is something I would like to call, “not ideal,” but Malik was still able to acquire many freelance positions; impressive. Someone buy this man an ice cream from Salt and Straw (LA reference) he deserves it after these past two years!
Malik had the pleasure of creating artwork for Marvin Gaye’s album “What’s Going On”. To quote from Malik’s LinkedIn, “Marvin Gaye’s iconic album “What’s Going On” is presented as a visual album for its 50th anniversary. I created visual concepts for the song "God is Love" on Marvin Gaye's visual album for YouTube. Illustrated all visual assets for a team of animators to use and create the final piece. It's lovely what they came up with, check it out! Classic tunes!” It sounds like a dream job. Listening to incredible/iconic music, finding inspiration, and illustrating/coloring art that fits each song. From there, an animation team took his beautiful illustrations and added movement, literally bringing his art to life.
Another job in Malik’s beefy resume drew my eye. It’s three very recognizable words for all you anime nerds out there: Dragon Ball Z. Malik got to work with Goku! Just kidding. But kind of…The Abridged Series on YouTube, reached out to Malik to work with him on a new project - a fan fiction series called Dragon Ball R&R. “Dragon Ball R&R is a motion comic series on YouTube created by Masako X of Team Four Star, the same team behind the popular Dragon Ball Z Abridged series.
Dragon Ball R&R is a fan-fiction story based on one of the characters in the original Dragon Ball Z anime/manga series.” I asked him what does “motion comic” mean? Is it exactly what it sounds like? The answer is yes. Basically, he designed clean, colored animatics for this awesome parody show. Wow. Malik got to live every anime nerd kid’s dream, drawing for Dragon Ball.
When Malik is not animating or drawing or designing (because he does it all) you’ll probably find him at the gym. He’s a self proclaimed gym rat. I personally would never refer to myself as a rat, I think I would prefer gym chinchilla, but I understand it’s a common phrase. More animators should get into this hobby of working out. We have careers that require us artists to sit on our butts all day.
Another active part of Malik’s life is working as a security guard. Being a security guard gets him into silly, awkward, frustrating, and hilarious situations. When you work in customer service you get to meet a lot of weirdos, I mean interesting people. And as artists, don’t our experiences directly influence our art? Well in Malik’s Webtoons comic book series, “Off Guard,” they certainly do. He draws, writes and designs “Off Guard” (A beautiful little play on words), a comic book series based on Malik and his ordinary-to extraordinary experiences as a security guard. Malik is the main character in this series, which makes me feel like I need to create more art about myself. Wait, I already do that. Anyways, Malik takes these experiences and exaggerates certain aspects to create an hilarious blend of realism and parody. He draws plot inspiration from The Regular Show, a show in which each episode starts off as an ordinary day until one event ignites a flurry of extreme and hilarious mishaps. Malik uses this comedy format in “Off Guard,” a narrative in which Malik simply wants to do his job and go home, but the customers coming in and out do not allow him to simply do that. Malik and his customers' actions create a funny, bizarre, and self-aware series of misadventures. His readers are always asking for more.
Malik O. Smith is definitely an artist everyone needs to check out.
Malik O. Smith
IG @malikosmith
