Animator Patrick Smith believes that being an artist is a true vocation and a gift from God. He has navigated the secular world of the art and entertainment industry for 30 years, developing his faith along the way, despite the mighty temptations success within popular culture inevitably brings. The world of visual art and entertainment is typically at odds with Catholic beliefs, making it extremely challenging to emerge with your faith intact. For Patrick, the journey through popular culture showed him how dark the world can get, and how far you can stray, but it also proved how faith can heal, overcome, and guide you to back to the path toward Christ!
First and foremost, Patrick is a Father, Husband, and devout Catholic. Secondly, he is a world renown animation artist, Professor, and YouTuber. Widely recognized for his contributions to film, television and new media. His formative years were spent as a storyboard artist for Walt Disney, and animation director for MTV's "Daria" and "Beavis and Butthead" as well as the Emmy award winning animated series "Downtown." His recent PBS web-series "Blank on Blank" is the longest running and most viewed animated biographical series of all time, featured in Rolling Stone, New York Times, and Juxtopoz Magazine.
As a University professor, Patrick has taught at the Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, and NYU's Tisch-Asia, where he taught under legendary film director Oliver Stone.
His independent short films have screened at Tribeca Film Festival, Cannes, Slamdance, and Annecy, as well as hundreds of other internationally acclaimed film festivals. His 2019 film "Pour 585" is one of the 5 most viewed Animated Shorts on Youtube, which has helped to catapult his channel to over 2 million subscribers. Collectively his animation has achieved over a billion views, and growing.
In 2019 Smith was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences due to his substantial contributions to the field of Animation. Patrick is a fellow of the New York Foundation of the Arts, and is currently teaching at Sarah Lawrence College. Smith lives in Montauk New York with his wife and 9 year old daughter.
Speaking Topics:
-From Beavis and Butthead to Devout Catholic, a prodigal sons journey home.
-Successfully navigating the secular world of entertainment as a Catholic.
-Using Youtube to fulfill your vocation as a content creator.
-Using covert symbolism in art to convey Christian themes to the masses.
