SUCK IT INFLUENCER Birdy: It’s incredible how long you’ve been a part of the show. We imagine your sense of humor has helped. Joe Vaux: It doesn't hurt. Not MacGyver it, but joke my way out of a tough situation. We work really hard on the show we make now, and it's evolved a lot over those first three seasons, which I wasn't a part of. Now content can be edgier, grosser, weirder, darker. In the landscape of animation, we're probably a little tamer now, but I still think we do a lot of fun things, and I still get a lot of laughs out of it. Birdy: Does your own artistic voice come through with directing? Joe Vaux: A little bit. We have lots of checks and balances. There are people above me visually who really help keep the show as interesting and creative as possible and make the most out of each scene. Ultimately, we're a very writer-driven show, and our supervisors are really good at steering us if we're heading off track. But I definitely inject as much of myself as I can into translating the script into thumbnails, working closely with the artists, designing things. I'm very hands-on and I'm probably a little opinionated. A lot of it comes from not liking stress. The more thought I can put into what something looks like or how a scene might unfold early on, the smoother everything goes later. Birdy: It's funny you don't like stress because you do so much in addition to Family Guy — creating several paintings for multiple galleries, your own personal work, other side projects, your family. Yet, you’re this really levelheaded, chill person. How do you maintain balance? Joe Vaux: Where I'm sitting now is my Family Guy workspace. Any digital work happens here. My paintings are in another room. It's a small studio that my wife and I share. After the workday I try to take a little break. Walk my dog Ripley. Eat dinner. Watch whatever's on. Then I try to paint for at least an hour. On weekends, my ideal routine is getting up before my daughter, putting on some music, and painting for a couple of hours before she wakes up. As far as juggling everything and avoiding stress, I've always tried to stay way ahead of the game. My show at Mortal Machine Gallery was finished three or four months ago. It was only five pieces, so as soon as they asked, I started working while I was finishing paintings for my September show at Brassworks Gallery, alternating between the two. I've already been done with that work for a month. I've always tried not to overextend myself. Sometimes people ask me to do things and I'll say no because I think it'll be too much, even if I probably could squeeze it in. I'm always managing what's going on in my head. I also want to feel physically good. We go bouldering, which I love. Lately I've also been volunteering a lot — about six hours a week at a nature center. I get dirty, pull weeds, prune plants. Especially in the evenings, it's really peaceful. You hear coyotes. It's just me and the plants. The people appreciate it and it gives me a reason to take a shower because I'm disgusting afterward. Making time for things like that is really important. I also just agreed to be in a show at Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia in 2028. They need 10 to 12 paintings, and I bet I'll have the whole show finished by the middle of 2027. Then I'll just sit on the pile until it's time. That's just how I operate. Birdy: It’s so nice talking to other creatives, especially those who work from home, because discipline, time management — it’s no easy task. Joe Vaux: Discipline was hammered into me pretty early. If you want things to happen, you have to work hard. That became part of who I am. It also helps that I genuinely enjoy what I do. Sometimes getting into the studio takes a little effort, but once the music's on and the paint's poured, the mechanics take over. Birdy: Finding that balance in your own life is one thing. But then add the depravity of everything that's happening right now in the world, and trying to stay grounded is a whole other challenge. As an artist, how do you process this moment in time? Joe Vaux: Even going back to the stuff I was creating in college when I was really stressed out about animal rights, my art has always been semi-ventilatory. It's fantasy — exploring fantasy worlds and things I'm dreaming about. But I was definitely getting emotions out. I created a couple of anti-lab, anti-poaching artworks that were maybe precursors
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