2D Animation

In my final semester as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota Duluth, I had the privilege of working in the Department of Art and Design as the Digital Art Studio tech. In that position, I ran open lab hours in the Studio, maintained the technology and various equipment available for check out to our students, and assisted with a few projects the Digital Art faculty were running. The largest of these projects was "Come Grow With Us". The goal of the project was to create an animation that would welcome recently admitted students to the Department of Art and Design. The initial concept was to celebrate a spirit of diversity and growth and showcase the Department through a mix of student and faculty work and floral motifs. I was tasked with developing the audio and making the animation itself. My mentor and supervisor Professor Joellyn Rock provided valuable guidance and feedback for each stage of this project; much of our collaboration happened virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My first steps were synthesizing the voices of Art and Design faculty and staff into one coherent script. Although a challenge, I was able to experiment in Adobe Audition until I had a layered piece of audio. For the visuals, I used the University of Minnesota Duluth colors and my own floral animation to provide unification and connection between pieces of student work, footage of the Art and Design areas of campus, and smaller, growth-inspired animations. The piece was well-received throughout the Department of Art and Design, and it has been sent out to newly admitted UMD students.