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              I am an aspiring 3D character animator. What has always intrigued me as a kid was that a simple 2D character can elicit so much emotion and show so much life.  When I got older and started seeing more 3D animation and what could be done with those worlds, I fell in love.  I was seeing 3D grow and become a powerful tool, just as expressive as 2D could be. Hyper-realistic characters are nice, but I feel like it is a missed opportunity as far as animation goes, because if you wanted a realistic character, why not film it?  Animation gives you the rare chance to do things that you cannot do in real life.  That is why I am most excited by exaggerated characters, ones that you can see their story just by looking at them.  Once I get a character like this I love the challenge of looking at them and reading about them and developing the way this character would move and interact with the world.

              When I was younger my sister was always a storyteller and I would create these characters in my mind and would wish for a medium to show others how alive they were to me.  I have always enjoyed working with others to come up with scenarios for new characters and what kind of mischief we can put them in.  I have drawn since I was young but once I started animation classes, I saw those drawings move and take on a life of then own. When I saw it, I knew I wanted to be a character animator.  If I can make a person laugh or cringe or feel bad for a character, I feel like I have done my job.  If they believe in the characters I create, then I have done my job successfully.  The main way I go about this is taking lots of video of myself or others acting as the character would.  After that I re-record again and again as necessary to make sure I’ve got it right.

                Eventually I see myself as the lead animator of a large game developer or if I am really advantageous, owning my own company. In the next few years however I would love to learn alongside experienced professionals currently in the field while I broaden my horizons as an animator. I wouldn’t mind traveling to see new places and meeting new people or working here in the Tampa area and working my way up the ladder here. The most important thing to me is that I work with individuals as motivated as myself to bring about a product that we are proud to put our names on.