How a Marvel Fan Project Posted on Behance Led to a Netflix Contract — and What It Actually Takes to Build a Global Freelance Design Career as a Digital Nomad
Chris Ellinas is a designer and entrepreneur who has worked with Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon creating logos, titles, and trailers. He started freelancing before finishing design school, built his client base almost entirely through Behance, and landed Netflix not through a pitch or an agency but through a personal Marvel fan project he made for his own bedroom wall. Seven to eight years later, he is still working with them.
In this episode of Be Yourself Podcast, Chris breaks down what it actually takes to go from employee to entrepreneur in the creative industry — and why the mindset shift matters more than the portfolio. He explains how he looks for two things when hiring: a project someone loved, and a project they hated — because discipline under bad conditions predicts excellence under good ones.
Chris also shares his physical transformation story: from competitive rock climber to someone sitting at a desk 16 hours a day eating McDonald's at 4 a.m. while moonlighting for Netflix, to someone who signed up for the Athens Marathon having never run more than 3 kilometers. And why he hates running — but does it anyway, every day, even in the Vietnam humidity.
Chris Ellinas is a designer and creative entrepreneur with a client roster that includes Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon. He started freelancing before finishing graphic design school, built his reputation almost entirely through Behance, and landed his first Netflix contract through a semi-viral personal project — Marvel-inspired posters he originally designed just to hang in his own room.
He has been working with Netflix for seven to eight years across multiple languages, producing everything from Greek title sequences to trailers and unreleased concepts. Outside of client work, Chris documents his travels as a digital nomad on YouTube and hosts the Distance to Destination podcast, which he launched in 2019 as a self-challenge to overcome his introversion.
He is of Cypriot and Vietnamese-French heritage, grew up in Greece moving schools every year, and speaks Greek, French, and English — with Vietnamese currently in progress. He has run the Athens Marathon (the original, historic course) despite never having enjoyed running, and is now training toward an ultramarathon of 100 kilometers.
Discipline is doing something that you hate but do it like if you love it.
I want to be old and look back and have no regrets about how I lived my life. And I want to feel that I lived 10 lives.
There is no finish line. We think we're going to get to that point where you're going to find that specific client and then that's it. But there's no end. You need to still keep going.