Ian Chernichaw is a creative director with over 30 years of experience in children’s media and has worked with some of the most iconic brands in the industry, including Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, and MarcoPolo Learning. From an early age, he seemed destined for a career in children’s media.
“I really feel like it was what I was meant to do,” he revealed in a conversation with FUTURE NOW Founder & CEO Peggy Kim. “My mother is a fine artist, photographer, and painter, and my father was in the entertainment industry. He was an executive producer and director. So, I’ve always been drawn to the arts—no pun intended.”
Chernichaw’s passion for art began in childhood when he spent his free time making paper-mâché and developing photography. He also loved cartoons. “There was no feeling like waking up on Saturday morning [to watch cartoons],” he told attendees.
Chernichaw turned his passion into an internship with Nickelodeon the summer between his junior and senior years of college. He joked that “a lot [of the internship] was sitting around playing solitaire at the computer in the supply closet.” But, he was proactive and showed initiative by talking to people in the office and volunteering for assignments.
“It was important to always walk around and ask people, ‘Can I do anything for you?’” And, doors began to open for him. He got to work with art directors on storyboards and even create rough animations as he ran around “doing whatever they needed,” from grabbing props to buying costumes.
Chernichaw made such an impression that, when one of the assistants went on vacation, Nickelodeon hired him for a two-week gig after college. “That two weeks turned into almost ten years at Nick.”
He began as an executive assistant, then was promoted to assistant production coordinator, then department assistant for the art department—all the roles were for live-action programs. Then, an opportunity at a little show called Blue’s Clues opened up.
Chernichaw jumped at the chance and became a model maker. The shift from working on live-action to animated programming took some time, but as he pointed out, “The storytelling is something that's very similar in each. You're always trying to tell a story.”
For anyone looking to transition from working in animation to live-action or vice versa, Chernichaw recommends having portfolios of your work ready to go. “Work on your own projects, work on your own films, work on your own videos, just create content, create artwork, have a nice reel. Have a nice portfolio,” he advised.
So, what exactly did Chernichaw do as a model maker at Blue’s Clues? “Everything that you saw, we made,” Chernichaw explained. “We had an art room. It was like an arts and crafts room. It was incredible. We had fabrics, we had popsicle sticks, we had clay, we had paint….Everything that you saw in Blues Clues was actually designed and built out of clay, out of popsicle sticks, out of all the arts and crafts materials because…we wanted the kids to feel like they could make the things that they see on screen themselves.”
Chernichaw’s years of doing paper-mâché in the basement paid off.
That said, it wasn’t just Chernichaw’s artistic skills that helped him land the gig. He would visit and talk to the Blue’s Clues team whenever he was in the office, and follow up with them, even though putting himself out there like that didn’t come easily to him.
“Naturally, I'm a shy person. I'm an introvert. I have to force myself to do stuff like this, and to seem like I'm this confident guy,” he admitted. And when you are interviewing for a job, that is not the time to be timid. “You definitely have to talk about what you've done, what your strengths are… don't feel shy to show off.”
Even on the job, Chernichaw would always make himself known. “I didn't know when I was going to be let go… I always have that fear in myself. Even now it's like, ‘Am I going to be let go?’ So I would just make the most of every day that I was there, especially early on. I would work most nights. I would stay late after everybody would go home. I would stay there to get a better grasp on things, to learn the software, and just to get a better idea of what was going on. And then back early in the morning.”
His determination to succeed and commitment to his job “gave me the skills… and understanding that I needed to move up later and that I use even now.” His passion was evident to everyone, and he was promoted to Senior Art Director.
In that role, Chernichaw was in charge of two teams (aptly named Salt and Pepper after the characters in the show), each assigned to different episodes. The teams would present art and models for the episodes, take his notes, and tweak as needed; these designers and model makers created model sheets for the characters, the backgrounds, and all the artwork.
Chernichaw also led a digital design team that he explained, “Cut all of the elements that we created in Photoshop and set them all up to be ready for the animators who worked in After Effects. So it's like a real production pipeline.”
He oversaw everything from storyboards to animation. No two days looked the same, and he enjoyed it that way. “That keeps things interesting and exciting.”
As the art director, Chernichaw had to give feedback to the team members, and sometimes that could be challenging. “Artists tend to, including myself, tend to get really attached to their work because you're proud of what you're doing,” he said.
“I learned early on that you could really care about your work. But you could also separate that from your feelings… I cannot get upset when things change, because things just change all the time, and people do have difficulty with that, especially people earlier on in their careers.”
On a show like Blue’s Clues, not every artist’s vision will gel with the overall vision of the show. Chernichaw would remind his coworkers that he was “hired… to create things in the style of the show,” though he always came from a place of empathy in those conversations.
Each person’s style brings something unique and worthwhile to the table, and his role was to make all those styles work “towards a look that is a defined look.” Chernichaw explained that taking this kind of feedback and learning to compromise are all part of a healthy work environment, and doesn’t mean one shouldn’t advocate for one’s own ideas—far from it. Those ideas could be used in service of the greater vision and even improve it, but one must be always mindful of the overall goal.
Chernichaw has had a lot of success in his career but sometimes struggles with imposter syndrome. “I always get nervous,” he confessed. “I always feel, to a certain extent, that I have to pretend.”
So how does he combat that? It all goes back to that proactivity. “If I go into a project that I'm not too familiar with, I will work overnight. I'll learn it. I'll watch the tutorials… I'll do whatever I can in order to learn whatever I need to know… to fulfill that task.”
Sometimes, when feeling shy or nervous about an interview or talk (it happens to the best of us!), Chernichaw finds that preparation helps steady his nerves. That way, “I'm not going into it blind… I look up people where they went to school. You know the people that I'm interviewing with their backgrounds.” With a laugh, he added, “I stalk people before an interview, because I just want to know everything, and that also helps calm me down.”
Even when not on a job, Chernichaw takes the time to be proactive by working on his craft. Recently, he had to learn Adobe to help with an animated podcast he started with a friend, and this led to a freelance gig that he might not have gotten before had he not branched out into podcasting and using Adobe. “It's all about learning and… adding to your toolkit of information.”
Before the conversation ended, Chernichaw left attendees with some words of advice—words that he has tried to live by his entire career. “I am afraid a lot,” he said bluntly. “But you can’t be afraid… to take risks. Don't be afraid to make decisions. A lot of people have trouble making decisions because they're scared they're going to be wrong.”
Chernichaw has never let that fear stop him from being proactive, and that mindset still serves him well today. “It's better to just make a decision.”
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