Animated Arts

Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/10177/40382

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Now showing 1 - 16 of 16

Tessa Ernsperger 2025
(2025-04-17) Ernsperger, Tessa
A 4 minute 2D animated short film about a little ghost with agoraphobia who gets locked out of the house he haunts, and then goes on an amazing adventure all over town when he finds a rainbow umbrella. Music by Matthew J Webster and has been used with his permission. The film opens with a little ghost staring out a window with disinterest. He then begins to fly around his house, dancing with loops and twirls. Until he accidently flies out the door, which closes behind him with a slam. He's locked outside! Soon it begins to rain, and so he decides to find shelter elsewhere. After a while, the rain begins to go away, and that's when he spots a rainbow umbrella sitting on the sidewalk near him. He flies over to investigate, and when he lifts it up to inspect the object, the wind suddenly picks up! And off he goes! He begins to fly all over town, over the trees, buildings, and fountains! He is so scared, and all he wants is to go back home. Suddenly he shoots high up into the clouds and opens his eyes to see a marvelous sunset just before him. His eyes widen, and he smiles, knowing finally that he is right where he needs to be.
Emma Sewell 2025
(2025-04) Sewell, Emma
My Animated Arts thesis project, “Tombmates”, is an approximately four-minute animatic video that explores the intersections between monstrosity, neurodivergent relationships, and queer identity. I will present this video on a projected board up in the dark space of room 611, where the room is lightly decorated to hearken back to the apartment this story is mainly set in. The animatic is influenced by my own neurodivergent genderqueer background and my lifelong fascination with playfully or humorously dark works. The project is a fiction narrative centered around Thea, a young woman with ADHD who lost her apartment complex in a fire recently and is eager to create a friendship with her brand new trial-run roommate Simone, an autistic nonbinary figure who is actively trying to blend in with the local human population. Through a timed sequence of digital illustrations, I seek to convey the comedic, energetic, and empathetic tone of Tombmates’ premise. In a turbulent time where queer and neurodivergent people both once again find themselves targets for ostracization, I create in the spirit of Maurice Stevens a narrative that features these characters as “vindicated whole beings who possess the stuff of historical merit-will, self-awareness, culture, humanity, and so on”. My initial inquiries for my research were the following: What role have monsters played in our history, and what does the rising sympathy for monstrous creatures reveal about contemporary culture? In addition, how do neurodivergent people present themselves and connect to other people? I had some academic and personal knowledge on both questions, but I wanted to dig deeper than I had before. This led me down a rabbit hole of research on the Gothically queer through Laura Westengard’s Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma, queerplatonic relationships through the thesis “Queer Platonic Intimacy as Transformative Disruption” by Emma E. Allen-Landwehr, and even what makes an ideal dynamic for Muppets through Dahlia Lithwick’s proposed Muppet Theory article. My visual influences for this project are also consistent in theme, including Marc Davis’s humour with Haunted Mansion’s Stretching Portraits scene, Lisa Hanawalt’s exuberant characters in the animated series Tuca and Bertie, and Martin Hsu’s spooky optimism in his Ruby Gloom animated show. My creative practice as a storyboard artist will send me straight into the scene of commercial animation, so I felt it was appropriate to study the commercial artists that continue to inspire me. Over the past four months, I have used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro to create this work, operating digitally on both the school-accessible Cintiq table and home Lenovo laptop. Initially, I proposed this project would implement three passes of drawings and 100 hours of labor; due to time constraints, two passes of drawings were completed and I worked for around the time I predicted. Over this period, I directed voice actors, adjusted my visual work with feedback from my thesis mentor as well as the mid-term review panelists, and edited together a video using my own visual creations as well as the sounds of various contributors. I hope that the PNCA community will find themselves entertained by this project and relate to Thea and Simone on their quest for connection and comfort.
Izzy Duval 2025
(2025-04-18) Duval, Izzy
2D animated tale of compounding misfortune, a burnout and the parasitic shark attached to his head chase a streetcat through a city. Chaos ensues.
Moriah Gurevich 2025
(2025-04) Gurevich, Moriah
Transient Echoes is a 4.5-minute stop motion animated installation piece that demonstrates and dissects how monsters can be used for a better understanding of the human experience, and how monsters can be used as a vessel to represent humanistic qualities, such as hunger, growth, fear, and curiosity. It is an embodiment of my own fears and anxieties, specifically in relation to dreams, nightmares, fears of the unknown, death, and sickness. Invasiveness additionally plays a huge part of the film's narrative functions. Inspired by the natural world, it also ties into environmental harm and destruction. Additionally, although there is death represented in this project which is often viewed as a sad thing, it is represented in a way that is beautiful and peaceful through the fabrication skills and the sound design.
Piper Haswell 2025
(2025-04) Haswell, Piper
Blind Dragonfly is a 2-minute stop-motion animated silent short film. It adapts the story of ‘The Gift of the Magi’ by O Henry, featuring two anthropomorphic bug characters, Scarlett and Iris. Its primary focus was to experiment with non-verbal communication, using the techniques of silent era film and early stop-motion animation to convey this to an audience. The animation follows Scarlett, a crimson marsh glider, as she realizes she forgot about her anniversary. This results in a scramble in order to get her partner, Iris, something memorable to show her care. The film includes 4 stop-motion sets and 2 fully articulated wire puppets. It was animated entirely in the program Dragonframe, using 24fps on 2s. It has animation shot on both down shooters and 3D sets, and all shots are composed based on 4:3 ratio, calling back to silent film. It uses both replacement animation and erasure animation techniques for facial expressions. The film was edited using both Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro. A score of music was chosen after animation was complete, to emulate an aspect of old silent films. Blind Dragonfly takes inspiration from several places, but primarily early stop-motion animation and silent film. The characters were directly influenced by the film The Cameraman’s Revenge, reflecting in their bug origins, as well as the general imperfectness of early animation, the implied hand of the artist. Its composition also takes a lot from silent films, including the aforementioned aspect ratio and music choices, as well as the use of intertitles. Blind Dragonfly was primarily created as a way to build experience in a variety of stop-motion animation techniques, as well as to become a portfolio piece for character animation.
Sam MacInnis 2025
(2025-04-17) MacInnis, Sam
Where Hyacinths Bloom is an abridged version of a longer film I intend to continue to work on over the summer. In its current form, it is a 2 minute 2D animated short film that explores themes of grief in a dark fantasy setting. In it, we follow Val, a maladjusted young woman who is visibly grieving the recent death of her best friend, Blue. As she goes through the motions of her day, she discovers a book of necromantic spells that has the potential to bring him back to life. With depictions of cartoon blood and heavier subject matter, the film is not extraordinarily graphic but not suitable for younger audiences, and is geared towards fellow fans of dark fantasy in the 18-25 range. WHB takes stylistic inspiration from the Hellboy comics and narrative inspiration from Killed The Cat Production’s short film Fuelled, Celeste Ng’s novel Everything I Never Told You, and Finji’s game Night In The Woods. The layouts feature heavy, graphic shading inspired by a comic style, more specifically the work of Mike Mignola. Val’s character brings to light the numbness a lot of people experience during periods of grief between outbursts of overwhelming emotion. While her characterization has a life of its own, the way she handles grief is largely inspired by myself and the experience I had that inspired this project to begin with.
Mya Katz 2025
(2025-04-14) Katz, Mya
Nevermoore is an 11-minute animatic pilot episode for an animated series about a group of teenagers that stumble onto a portal to another world. Here, they deal with their various dramas, traumas, and relationships, both platonic and romantic. Or more simply, it’s Heathers meets Narnia. This pilot episode is about Quinn, becoming increasingly frustrated after continuously failing in her heroic quests. After some goading from a rival, she’s determined to finally capture a Goblin. Will a little help from an unlikely ally finally be what Quinn needs to become a hero? Nevermoore is intended for teen to young adult audiences. It features violence, swearing, and darker themes of trauma, abuse, neglect, escapism, harm, and cult mentality. The show is also aimed toward queer audiences, and most of the primary characters are young sapphic girls. The animatic is made digitally, primarily in the program TVPaint. Layouts are made in Adobe Photoshop and Procreate. Additional editing is done in Adobe Premiere Pro. Nevermoore takes a lot of inspiration from Narnia, with characters from the ‘modern’ world going to a fantasy world. It also takes inspiration from Heathers, with high school bullying going too far. It explores the concept of the revenge fantasy genre, with ‘fantasy’ being a little more literal. Nevermoore exists as an animatic as my goal is to enter the industry through storyboarding and I’d like to have a clean project to put into my portfolio for future employers. However, I do plan on fully completing the pilot after graduation. With so many recent successes in the indie animation industry, I’d like to pursue this project as another potential way into the industry.
Christopher Hildreth 2025
(2025-04-15) Hildreth, Christopher
This project is a collection of three 3D models, created, textured, rigged, and animated from scratch in Blender. The characters depicted are all from an urban fantasy universe I've been making for a long time. There is Nid, the black scaled dragon girl, Amari, the mint haired fox boy, and Imu, the pink cat boy. I first made the character designs with an eye for unique gender expression through the character’s outfits and body build, but other than the animation of them, I didn't have much reason to focus more attention on those themes. My focus was the end product, and the skills I would develop to get there. Each character has their own backstory, and personality that I wished to bring alive in this animated showcase. In how they move, hold themselves, and perform. As someone with a background in 2D animation, this was a long journey of learned skills.
Jade Laidlaw 2025
(2025-04) Laidlaw, Jade
A Guide to Floramagy will be a game following the plant witch Sorrel and her animal companion, Walnut. For Jade’s project, she has decided to do a lot of the preproduction work, and has done work relating to creating concept art and animations, exploring possible narrative themes, testing gameplay mechanics, and researching how to create a game with an accessible design approach.
Sarah Rae Franklin 2025
(2025-04-18) Franklin, Sarah Rae
The film is a 2D animated short with a runtime of approximately six minutes. It aims to investigate the following question: How can I harness the connection between lived experience and nature to create a new narrative about suicide? The story follows Lump, a reclusive 20-something, trying to enjoy her fragile life with her lone friend in the city. What little stability she has is shattered when her past finally catches up to her, and she throws up a salmon in a dingy bar bathroom. To thrive, she must decide if she can embrace vulnerability and open up not only to herself but to those who wish to help her. This film explores the difficult experience of living after a suicide attempt, from the remembrance of the trauma to the terrifying ordeal of letting people in. It studies these ideas by using the symbolism of the salmon, and the surrealism of becoming one with it as a lens to understand the cycle of life in the face of suicide.
Mary Paquette 2025
(2025) Paquette, Mary
Instruments of Power is a 2 minute video showcasing and utilizing 3D modeled assets through animation. I have modeled a series of four fantasy inspired 3D objects called ‘Instruments’ that are used as a visual representation of power. These four Instruments include a bident, staff, axe and scythe. In my animation, ‘power’ is used as a means to highlight the importance or authority of an object. Throughout this semester, I have been visually exploring what gives an object power through the use of visual elements and 3D props. There is a fascination and attraction to power within video games. Power and control is an attraction which is obtainable within video games through fantasy objects. Through this project, I explore the attraction around this concept with a mix of marketing and game design through marketing game inspired objects in 3D. The overall style inspiration centers around fantasy genre video games targeting young adults. Throughout this semester, I have experimented with what visual elements emphasize power or authority through showcasing 3D assets guided by animation. Through this project, I dive deeper into what elements attract and engage an audience including; editing and effects, lighting, color, space, camera angles, sound design, and more. In order to make sense of how these elements might make my 3D modeled Instruments marketable toward an audience or group of people. Instruments of Power is the end result of a semester long journey of learning 3D through the program Blender. Before this semester I have never modeled, animated, rigged, created digital materials, and colored in 3D before. I define the success of my work through what I was able to accomplish.
Alyssa Morris-Hatch 2025
(2025-04-23) Morris-Hatch, Alyssa
Aloma, who comes from the waves of sound and fabrics of space, ensures all souls arrive safely, but will theirs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41zdtUznfWU
Tania Bejarano 2024
(2024-11-19) Bejarano, Tania
A 2D animation visual development pitch about a girl who is cooking special dishes to remember her late grandmother. However, through this process of cooking there are stages of grief portrayed through each dish, symbolizing her heartache for her grandmother. Set in 1930s Mexico.
Maizy Zeringue 2024
(2024-11-20) Zeringue, Maizy
SPR.MRKT is a multi-media animated short teasing a much larger story. We follow two characters who have also been thrown into a confusing situation. I utilize the backgrounds to show the setting and establish it's quirks. I would like to imagine the story being adapted into a comic with about 20-30 chapters, or an isolated series of 10 to 12. The narrative at large follows the two protagonists, Mel and Ryan, as they share the challenge of scaping a horribly constructed purgatory meant to ensure they both get sent to hell or oblivion. The 'trials' in this purgatory are expressed as a poorly run grocery store, with only the two of them, and their overworked 'manager', Quinn. This visual shorthand lends itself to plenty of metaphors about capitalism and individuality, and a central theme of my story is learning to value yourself and your labor despite engaging in systems that may not, like employment, school, and government. I chose to use a wide variety of mediums in this project because I am confident with traditional and digital mediums, and I was eager to further integrate the two in my work; as well as get some good portfolio material.
Daisey Pastrana 2024
(2024-11-16) Pastrana, Daisey
Pitch for a 2D animated show in Spanish of 5-7 minute episodes and a teaser of Las Aventuras de Puff y Fluff. As Puff and Fluff are learning the young audience is also learning math, science, and school of life. This shows target audience is children of 4-10 years old. Puff and Fluff are anthropomorphic rabbits whose world takes place in Oaxaca, Mixteco, Mexico. They live in La Loma de Conejo, a small town in the forest near a rancho They have a large family consisting of Mom, Dad, two sisters, and an older brother. With the help of their family, they are learning to navigate the world around them and the importance of community, friends, culture, traditions, and habitat. With their curiosity about the world around them, they are constantly learning about their ecosystem and their place in the world.
Samuel Densmore 2024.
(2024-11-19) Densmore, Samuel
An animated pilot following two detectives investigating a suspicious death.

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