Mike Nuñez

Student

Mike Nuñez

“It’s teachers like Lance Richlin who make this place what it is. I know I’m getting more from his Figure Drawing classes than I’ll ever get anywhere else.”

There’s an old saying in boxing that goes: “You make your plan for a fight, it’s perfect…and then you get hit!” Mike Nuñez knows the truth—literal and figurative—of this adage from the ‘Sweet Science.’ “I’ve had a crazy life, to tell you the truth. I went through a year of Juvenile Hall and all that stuff,” says Mike. “But I kept getting into trouble, so I ended up at the toughest paramilitary camp in the US, and they straightened me out,” says Mike, who fought as a lightweight in the ring. “When I got out of boot camp, I did my last year of high school—with after-school college classes—and graduated with high honors.”

Though Mike has taken some ‘hits’—both in the ring and out—his plan has never wavered. “I’m gonna transfer to Cal Arts and go into animation—full speed ahead,” says Mike. “I’ve been drawing since I was three, and every time I got away from my creative side—working in construction or sandwich shops—I just felt empty. It’s so refreshing to be at SMC, where I get my creativity all fired up every day,” he says. “Character animation is what I was born to do. And if that takes me to the Disney Studios, that’ll be just fine with me.”

Fighting, putting out fires for the forest service, busting his back for wages, and—finally—boot camp. Mike reports that the days of rage and frustration are history. “Those were all things I just had to get out of myself,” he says. “But I’ve learned that it’s not talent or how smart you are that matters. It all comes down to your work ethic, and I can work harder and put more of my heart into it than anyone else. I’m gonna make it, no matter what. It’s not even a question.” Mike Nuñez—he’s no lightweight anymore.

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