Samantha Burns Senior Thesis

Student Samantha Burns presented her thesis tonight in the Barbara Beach Student Gallery. She animated with 2D puppet rigs in Harmony an Aesop Fable. She also printed out a storybook version using the same imagery and wrote up a really great behind-the-scenes book of her process (both creatively and technically). Really proud of the hard work she put into this and the final result!

APSU Ovation Awards

This video was created for this year's APSU Center of Excellence in the Creative Arts Ovation Awards.  The awards celebrate and recognize the arts in Clarksville, and the Director of CECA wanted to include works from all the different "creative" areas on campus during the ceremony. So I put together a short "greatest hits" reel to let everyone know the crazy things we are creating here at Austin Peay!

Orlando Film Commission

Ran across this on Twitter today. The Orlando Film Commission tweeted about the Dart Frog animation we helped out with awhile back. Fun to run across a familiar face!

UNL Alumni Board Awards Announced

I've been selected to receive The Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film from University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts!  You can read the full press release HERE

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board has selected the recipients of this year’s Alumni Board Awards. The awards will be presented at the College’s Honors Day Dinner on Saturday, April 27. The dinner is by invitation only. 

The Alumni Achievement Awards honor alumni from each academic area of the college who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and overall professional excellence.  

The Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film will be presented to Scott Raymond (B.F.A. 2003). Fifteen years ago, Raymond was a member of the first graduating class of the new film and new media program in the Carson School. He received a second Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre design and technical production. 

Following graduation, he earned is Master of Fine Arts cum laude in animation and visual effects from the Academy of Art University. He did post-graduate work at Animation Mentor, where he received a certificate in advanced studies in character animation. 

He then worked at elementFX and ultimately worked as a crowd artist at PDI/DreamWorks, one of the most prestigious animation studios in the world. He spent nearly eight years at DreamWorks on such well-known projects as “Trolls,” “Kung Fu Panda 3,” “The Penguins of Madagascar,” “Madagascar 3” and “Shrek Forever After.” 

In 2015, he began teaching at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. Although a full-time instructor, Raymond continues his work as a freelance animator. His recent freelance clients include “The Highway Rat” for BBC, the Racing Legends ride at PortAventura Theme Park, and the Kid’s Choice Awards for Nickelodeon. 

Additional faculty, staff and student achievement will be celebrated at the Honors Day celebration. 

Website Info

This picture of Matthias and me will apparently be used in every APSU PR blurb for the rest of time.  I'm not complaining :)

46th Annual Annie Awards

I had the awesome opportunity this weekend to attend my first Annie Awards!  It was a last minute trip, and I was up on Friday and back on Sunday.  I was able to stay with our good friends Tiffany and Richard, who came with me to the pre-event VIP Reception and ceremony. 

It was a great night - overall there was just an amazing collaborative energy to the awards.  Spiderman: Spider-verse was the huge favorite in the crowd and ended up winning every award it was up for.  The Highway Rat was up for an award for Best Special Production, but lost to Mary Poppins Returns.

There was also a fun list of presenters, from actors Patrick Warbuton and Holly Hunter, directors like Brad Bird and Brenda Chapman, and voice actors - all the way from Pinky & The Brain to Disney's original Alice/Wendy.  Just a great night celebrating animation, and running into a bunch of old co-workers makes you remember how small this industry can be.