MEREDITH KESH

Co-Creator and Animation Lead for Magic & Stuff

Meredith Kesh (she/her) is the Co-Creator and Animation Lead for Magic & Stuff and has been at BuzzFeed since 2020. She loves animating a silly expression or a cute movement that’s funny enough to make herself laugh. She was inspired by 2000s web animators that made crazy animations with simple programs and technology. Meredith strives for sincerity and charm in her work. She’s a big female-empowerment bitch and it’s important to her to have many diverse characters fight societal norms and be their authentic selves. Her work also explores mental health and anxiety and encourages things like learning to accept failure and being kind to yourself – married to a good dose of silly nonsense!

At the Animation Lab, Meredith wears many hats: she was an animator on The Good Advice Cupcake for multiple years, and after successfully co-pitching the D&D show Magic & Stuff with Elisabeth Riley, she now leads a small team of animators and manages all aspects of the show along with co-creator Elisabeth Riley and director Derek Benig. Her favorite workflow shortcut is REUSING ASSETS! Working on The Good Advice Cupcake for so long created a huge bank of animations and drawings that she can pull into new projects, like Magic & Stuff!

Meredith’s advice for aspiring animators is, “DRAW MORE FAN ART!! I know so many people who have gotten industry jobs from drawing earnest fan art of their favorite shows and properties, only to end up being noticed by the people behind said properties. It’s also important to love the art you're doing, and if that means drawing overindulgent anime to delight your middle-school self, that's good! The passion will show through and raise the quality of your art if you really care about the subject matter.”

From San Jose, California, Meredith has been living in New York City for over seven years. Her favorite thing about NYC is the transit – access to trains and buses is an amazing source of autonomy and freedom! Meredith enjoys hours-long episodes of DnD podcasts and terrible romance novels. Her music playlists are a mix of emo music, Japanese Vocaloid tracks, and Broadway musical showtunes. She’s been a Pokemon knowledge-machine since birth and loves collecting cute plushies and character figurines.

QUOTES FROM THE TEAM: “Meredith's an amazing artist who excels in character aesthetic, timing, and composition. I love working alongside her.”

“Meredith is a genuine pleasure to work with. Not only is she a crazy talented artist and leader for the Cuppy team, but always conducts herself with a kindness that helps light up my slower days.”

Find Meredith on YouTube @meredithkesh and at meredithkesh.com