The Ivy Tree

Tag: cg character

  • Guest Speaker: Ringling College of Art and Design

    Guest Speaker: Ringling College of Art and Design

    I was invited to speak to the Body Art and Culture class at Ringling College of Art and Design to discuss how to design diverse characters and accurately represent a culture without falling into the trap of appropriation.

    This was a journey into the processes our team developed as we designed the characters for the Iroquois Creation Story.

    This film was an exploration in multimedia convergence, where 2D characters interacted with 3D characters, and live actors balanced in fantastical spaces. Yet, in all this, every step of the process aimed to center the culture that the film represented, often subverting animation practices to accommodate the needs of the story and the characters.

  • Commander Safeguard Lives!

    Commander Safeguard Lives!

    In this age of COVID-19, I suddenly remembered the commercial animated series, Commander Safeguard. He taught children (and adults) about the importance of hand-washing, and made people understand that even though germs were invisible, they could still wreak a lot of havoc in our lives.

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3203445566546454&extid=0YoZdmFz43I4BOmo

    It has been years since I have been a part of this team, but seeing this reminds me of his very humble beginnings. The first script for this show languished for years in the desk of an ad agency. I was given the outline when I was interning with them and, being the comic-enthusiast that I am, could not resist putting together the earliest designs for his look.

    The first few ideas of how Commander Safeguard might look

    His design passed through many iterations, and apparently quite a few committee approvals. Nevertheless, this is what came of it.
    I did not have a hand in his final design, but I did enjoy getting to animate the living daylights out of him!

  • The Character Mosaic Project

    The Character Mosaic Project

    The Character Mosaic Project aims to make diverse characters more accessible thereby encouraging animators and filmmakers to make more ethnically inclusive stories.
    As these characters get refined, they will be made available to broader audiences as international and domestic animation professionals will be able to use them in their films as well. This project will bring attention to (and address) a very important issue in mainstream media and step away from limited stereotypes and unfair projections.
    Sheryl Browne Graves speaks to this directly in the Journal of Social Issues:

    “Television programming provides information about social groups in two ways: by inclusion and by
exclusion. When diverse groups are included, television content offers specific examples of the
physical, psychological, social, cultural, and economic characteristics of each group. However when
groups are absent from the television curriculums there is implication that the missing groups are
unimportant, inconsequential, and Powerless. Both types of information can contribute to the
development, maintenance, and modification of children's thoughts, feelings, and actions towards
racial/ethnic groups.”

    It is hoped these characters will begin a new movement to represent a multitude of nationalities and
    cultures around the world. By creating meaningful characters we hope to provide a new cast of
    role-models for younger generations, thereby allowing them to empathize with other races and
    cultures and attribute a sense of familiarity to them.

  • CGMA Rigging Workshop

    CGMA Rigging Workshop

    Super excited to have completed this intensive yet illuminating course with the CG Master Academy with Nico Sanghrajka!

    I’m so inspired I can’t wait to redesign my own rigging class to reflect the new information!

  • Modeling 2013 – Y Agresta (mov)

    Modeling 2013 – Y Agresta (mov)

    This is a freshman class in the semester system. Students are introduced to Maya and the 3D space and then led through various modeling exercises. Concepts of character design are also discussed and are visible in the final results of their projects.

    Hybrid Creatures is a project from my freshman modeling class where students were asked to combine 2 or more animals to create their own mythical creatures. They were asked to design or choose a prop that would further explain the role of said creature.