Arts & Design News

Brittney Mendez Expands Animation Services to Include Creative Consultation and Direction

Freelance 2D animator Brittney Mendez is expanding her professional services to include creative consultation and animation direction, bringing her production experience to projects navigating the growing use of artificial intelligence in animation. Mendez’s work spans 2D animation, bringing animation and cleanup, early-stage creative consultation and, more recently, directing an animation project under a nondisclosure agreement. Her approach reflects a view that technological advances can support animation production, but human artists remain essential to developing ideas, solving creative problems and bringing projects to completion. As AI-generated pitches become more common in her professional interactions, Mendez has become increasingly concerned about the tendency to bypass artists during early creative development. She believes the consequences extend beyond the immediate impact on animation jobs, potentially affecting the quality and efficiency of production itself. For Mendez, understanding animation requires more than knowing how to create an image or generate movement. Her experience working within the production pipeline has shown her how decisions made at the beginning of a project can affect the work that follows. Early concepts must be evaluated for feasibility, translated into workable production plans, and developed with an understanding of the people and processes needed to execute them. That perspective informs her consultation work. Mendez has spoken with people seeking to develop animation concepts, helping them identify the initial steps needed to move their ideas toward production. Her services are intended to draw on practical knowledge of how animation gets made, including the technical work that may be less visible to audiences but remains central to the finished product. “I think the real artists need to be in the room,” she says, underscoring the principle underlying her growing concerns about AI-generated pitches. She sees creative professionals as contributors whose experience and judgment can help determine whether an idea is workable before substantial time and money are committed to producing it. The rapid development of generative AI has introduced new possibilities for creating visual material, while raising questions about authorship, creative labor, and the place of established production expertise. Mendez does not expect the industry to abandon these tools simply because individual artists object to their use. Her position instead centers on making informed decisions about where technology fits into a project and where human involvement remains necessary. She also cites environmental concerns as a reason she has chosen to avoid using AI in her own work. Although she recognizes that other professionals and companies may make different decisions, she believes the financial case for involving experienced artists deserves consideration alongside the technology’s apparent speed. AI-generated material may still require extensive correction or reworking to meet a project's creative and technical requirements, she argues. Paying for professional input earlier could help teams identify problems before they become more expensive to address. The relevant question, in her view, is not simply how quickly a tool can produce an image, but whether the resulting material serves the project's actual needs. Mendez’s background includes years of involvement in arts nonprofit work and networking within Los Angeles’ animation community. Her professional profile identifies her as an independent artist with experience in animation and illustration. That combination of hands-on technical work and industry engagement has helped shape her understanding of the challenges facing artists and the people developing animated projects. Her recent move into a directing role also adds another dimension to her work, allowing her to engage with animation from a broader production perspective. While the project remains confidential, the role reflects her developing interest in guiding creative work alongside contributing to it directly. Mendez intends to continue pursuing freelance opportunities while remaining available to clients who need help assessing and developing animation concepts. Her focus is on making the production process more informed from its earliest stages, when creative decisions can establish the direction and practical requirements of a project. As animation workflows continue to evolve, Mendez’s position is that technical innovation should not come at the expense of the people who understand the craft. For her, effective production begins with recognizing that an animated idea needs more than a tool to bring it to life. It also needs the judgment, skill, and experience of artists who understand how to make the work function on screen.