Characters & Character, and the Character that is Diane

8.09.2014

“As you become acquainted with a character you are creating, you add parts of yourself that are pertinent to that character.” - Chuck Jones

I think it's funny how most of the time when I talk to people outside of my immediate family and school, they think that I'm strictly a fashion/clothes person. I thought that it'd be nice to share with you all what I like to do and what I'm studying.

I'm an animation and visual effects student, currently in my sophomore year of college. My goal, like every other AVE student at my school, is to work for Pixar Animation Studios, more specifically as a character modeler. When I was young, I was always drawing, carrying around a notebook and pen and just doodling something for someone or for myself. I drew unicorns, dragons, princesses in faraway castles, Neopets, Pokemon, really anything that I could think of or imagine. When I was in middle school, I, for some reason, just thought that I was going to be a pediatrician or study to get a medical degree... and then I realized that I was terrified of blood LOL. When I got into high school, I started to really enjoy watching movies, especially animated films. While watching Pixar Animation Studio's Up, it hit me that there were people out there who made these films for a living. Like, they made films and movies and designed characters and just did all these things that I enjoyed and got paid for it. So in my freshman year of high school, I had already known what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I haven't changed my mind since. I'm incredibly lucky that my parents supported me every step of the way and even encouraged me to take classes in the summer. I really wouldn't be where I am today without them.

I think one of my favorite things about animation is that it manipulates how people feel when they watch an animated film. A character is drawn with an idea and a pencil. The character is changed once, twice, three times, and gets constantly changed until you finally get the character that people can get attached to and relate to; people have to be able to empathize with a character or else they'll stop watching because they wouldn't have anything to compare themselves with the character. The character is scanned into a computer and then brought to life by being modeled, textured, and rigged. When it's shown on screen, the audience starts to get familiar with the character and their perspective is shifted and changed to that of the character; whatever the character feels and experiences, the audience experiences it, as well. And when the screen fades to black and the credits start to roll, the audience is brought back to their personal realities, but they take something from the film that stays with them and becomes a part of them. And that's what I want to do; I want to be a part of something that manipulates and changes someone's perspective whether it's sad or happy. I want to be part of something that people can enjoy time and time again. To be able to bring someone out of their own reality into something that I helped create is truly something different and special, and I really aspire to work in the industry amongst others who have that same dream.

I'm a little bit nervous posting some of my work up because I know that it's really not that great compared to what others do, but I promise that I'll get better and be able to show you my progress along the way. It's my first ever time doing hand drawn animations (my computer motion graphics are much better, I swear), so it'll be interesting to see how my work will change when I'm done with this class.

But yeah, here you go! Some of my assignments from my Intro to Animation class!