School Work
Ohio University | Animation Program
2D After Effects ~ 3D Maya ~ Design Projects ~ Storyboards
2D Adobe After Effects
- Ball Bounce
- Ball Bounce 2
- Whip & Wave
- Text Animation
- 7-Shot Scene
My first hands-on animation projects were using Adobe After Effects to practice the principles of animation.
Starting with the classic ‘Ball Bounce’ animation, it took me extra time to really understand how to put the physics into action. I needed to make multiple drafts to figure out the ball’s push and pull, as well as the exact path it would follow without squashing. Then, not long after, we went a step further and animated three different objects of varying weights to expand on the given principles.
Next, we practiced ‘whip and wave’: much like the motions of moving a flower pot across the table. We were encouraged to be creative with our subject matter, and I had the idea of designing a character made entirely of Jell-O being slid across a counter. This gave me another opportunity to practice more extreme examples of exaggeration and anticipation in my animations.
One of my last assigned projects was to animate a chosen word (preferably a verb or noun) in a way that directly relates to the word. I chose Shocker and tired to replicate the action of an old static-filled TV trying to turn on with an electric spark like a shock.
7-shot scene featuring original characters from my indie animation project, Below The Bottom
3D Maya
- Text Animation
- 3D Modeling
- 3D Walk Cycle
Starting in the second semester of my Sophomore year, we transitioned from 2D After Effects to 3D Autodesk Maya. My professor’s goal was to replicate the key principles we learned using animation industry-standard 3D software.
Our first project was the same concept as our 2D Text Animation: choose a verb or noun and animate it accordingly. I chose ‘JUGGLE’ to replicate the motions of someone juggling balls and then stacking them. I was heavily influenced by the late 90s series A Little Curious, with its lively, bouncy early-3D animation.
Next, we shifted heavily to prioritizing 3D modeling practice. We were tasked with modeling an electronic device that could be interacted with. I modeled a childhood toy of mine: The Leapfrog Leapster 2. Finally, we designed, modeled, rigged, and animated a fully original character of ours in only the span of 15 weeks.
— PROJECT NAME
Fairytale Adaptation
— ROLE
Illustration & Design
— DATE
23.04.2023
This project was for my Character Design class, where we were tasked to write and design our own spin on a classic fairytale. For me, I’ve always wanted to adapt Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ever since falling in love with Disney’s 1951 adaptation of the same story.
The adaptation was meant to focus on the phycological impact of one living in their daydreams rather than the real world. My Alice is a middle schooler who struggles with decerning fiction from reality; her confusion and anxiety manifesting into anger.
She not only creates this idealized personification of herself, but also the people around her. Each of the titular characters in the classic Wonderland setting are meant to connect directly with someone in Alice’s life. But once Alice is desperate enough to choose her dream world over her real world, she’ll find them begin to merge in her mind.
Concept Art of Alice(s)
The Golden Afternoon
Flowers & Environment visual map and concept art
Additional “prop” design
Adaptation visual concepts/idea map
Idea map for story and design concepts. I wanted a baseline story and subject matter prior to putting pen to paper.
— PROJECT NAME
Artist Style Recreation
— ROLE
Illustration & Design
— DATE
23.04.2023
Another project from my Character Design class, one of our first, we were randomly assigned a major industry character designer and tasked to replicate their style. Specifically, we were to create and illustrate a new character that would fit into something our artist worked on.
I was given artist Pablo Lobato, where I found out he was the lead character design artist for Henry Selick's film Wendell & Wild.
Lobato has a very identifiable geometric style in his art and designs, mainly he excels in caricatures; Utilized in his designs of Wendell and Wild being based on his caricatures of stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. I used this as a jumping off point for my design, who I based on iconic actress Meryl Streep.
— PROJECT NAME
Genre Switch
— ROLE
Illustration & Design
— DATE
23.04.2023
Another project from my Character Design class, asked to design and illustrate a communication device and a tree based on any two genres of our choice. I chose fantasy and horror.
I was inspired to design a “tree house” for Fantasy, where some unidentified small creatures could live within a large lived-in tree. For a communication device, I went with a squirrel mail-service. To connect the two, I thought of having whatever small creatures being able to ride the squirrels as their neighborhood mail-man.
For Horror, I originally thought to design a large scary tree that would fit into the atmosphere of a horror setting. However, I shifted my idea to something similar to a post-apocalyptic school setting; designed the tree to be one that was newly planted prior to the apocalyptic events. The communication devices were walkie-talkies that were once owned by the school’s staff, but have now been taken and repurposed for the surviving students.
— PROJECT
'Tiny Tyrants' Storyboards
— ROLE
Illustration & Design
— DATE
23.04.2023
In my Visual Storytelling class, we wrote and storyboarded our own short story. In my story, Damian is forced to babysit his younger brother and sister all by himself for the first time. Writing and storyboarding this was a great exercise in layout design, plus it gave me the opportunity to develop my characters backstory outside of the main storyline.
Characters
Damian (17)
Sephira (20)
Cherry (18)
Tiana (9)
Semaj (6)
