Gage Lozano is the Founder and Creative Director of Outerworlds, a Los Angeles–based animation and design studio focused on building intentional, forward-thinking visual worlds. With a background spanning graphic design, motion design, editing, and live-action production, he has led creative across digital, experiential, and integrated campaigns for both emerging and established brands. He oversees projects from concept through execution, assembling and directing multidisciplinary teams to create work rooted in clarity, craft, and innovation.

How many years have you been a judge?

This is my first year!

What excited you about judging for the Telly Awards?

I love giving time back to the industry, to other creatives, and to extra-curricular activities that require my creative energy. It’s a joy and a privilege to indulge in, participate in, and critique art in all of its forms, and I am deeply passionate about video.

What was your first job in the industry? What did it teach you?

My first job in the industry was as a screenprinter at a small sign-printing shop in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I cleaned screens, operated a big clamshell press, mixed inks, and QC’ed thousands of T-shirts. It was my first glimpse at what a real creative operation could look like. Different team members handled various aspects of the production process before passing it along to the next person. We managed multiple clients, overlapping timelines, and constantly problem-solved issues that would arise in our production process. It was my first taste of seeing creativity mixed with business, and it gave me the understanding that you could turn something artistic into an actual company.

What do you look for to determine excellence in video?

As they say, the devil is in the details. I think what makes a video excellent is the subtle, seemingly unnoticed aspects that creators and teams put extra effort into, simply for the love of the craft. That moment in between frames. The layers of sound effects (just for a one-second transition). The production trick or camera rig that had to be thought up to capture the once impossible idea. Those are the things that get me energized.

What are your current roles and responsibilities and what do you love most about your job?

After a decade of working in-house for brands, hustling at agencies, and freelancing, I’m now building my own boutique creative studio, and it’s been an amazing process. I get to empower other incredibly talented artists, build my own brand, and learn how to become a better leader. It’s one of the most challenging things I’ve done in my career so far, but it’s been very rewarding, and it’s taught me a lot about trusting the process, having patience, and dedicating myself to something long-term.

What initiatives or projects are you working on now that excite you?

This year, I started working with an innovative company that creates building materials that are engineered to withstand and protect homes against fire, among many other great products. One of my ongoing missions as a creative is to connect my work to things that actually make a difference and, in some small way, improve the world. So, working with this company has deeply excited me because they are actively improving and protecting people’s lives.

I was in LA and witnessed the devastation of the Palisades and Eaton fires firsthand. I’ve seen how tragically wildfires can affect people’s lives. So, to in some small way, be connected to a brand that is combating that destruction… that’s what makes being a creative bigger than just pushing pixels.

Do you have any specific practices you lean on to spark creativity?

For me, sparking creativity is an ever-changing endeavor. Sometimes it’s about disconnecting – turning off my phone, going into nature, being in solitude. Other times it’s about connecting – traveling to new places, talking to strangers, seeking out novel experiences. The more I get outside and engage with the world and the less time I spend on my phone, the more creativity seems to find me.

What inspired you to pursue your career path?

I’ve always been artistic. From an early age, I was drawing Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z characters. I would assemble transformers and decorate them with custom stickers, or try to impress a crush with doodles as we passed notes. So, I suppose it’s always been part of me naturally. However, I never considered it as a career path until I was in college. Initially, being a psychology major, I found myself very disinterested in school. One day, I had skipped class and was instead painting a canvas in my dorm room. I thought, hey, maybe I should just sign up for a drawing class and actually get credits. Things escalated from there. I went deep into learning printmaking, pulling all-nighters in the studio, and eventually studied graphic design because it seemed like the most lucrative option. One day, I saw another student who had created a motion graphics piece. I thought, ” Wait a minute, you can make your designs MOVE?” I was absolutely hooked and have been making videos ever since.