BREAKDOWN:  

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1.  "All Lights Go Red" |  Pixar PUP Indie Project:

    “Red" is the character created for my “All Lights Go Red” project and was made to resemble an amalgamation of street parts with the head of a traffic light.  I am responsible for all aspects of this character and its concept art. 

    Creating this character model first started with studying mechanical robots such as in the matrix or in transformers, and then finding a way to stylize that and create a compelling and simpler design for the creature's transformation.  I wanted to create a bit of a traffic light dragon, that would blend in with its environment until it was time to attack, and took inspiration from media like Stranger Things to give it its skinny, lengthy, and unsettling alien-like figure   This project was created with Maya, Presto, and other Pixar proprietary software, and was rendered through Nuke and Katana.  Find out more about "All Lights Go Red" here!​​

 

​2.  “Juno and Baby Ninka” | “Intrepid” Thesis Film:

​    The Ninki Nanka is a giant lake dragon and will be a major character in my thesis film, “Intrepid” which will be coming out in May 2025.  This dragon originates from Gambian mythology in West Africa and is said to have the neck of a giraffe, features of a crocodile, belly of a hippo, and 3 horns.  When adapting this concept, I wanted to stay true to the mythology of the swamp dragon while keeping its terrifying nature.  

    This character was modeled with Zbrush and Maya, with flat geo cards created for its hair.  To resemble the references, I gave it a long neck with spikes along its back and tail to resemble both a giraffe and a crocodile.  I also gave it a purple/grey, green, and orange color palette in concept art to match this as well.  The glowing marks and scales along its body were created with Zbrush.  ​Find out more about the Ninki Nanka here!

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3.  “Juno Fleetwood”| “Intrepid” Thesis Film:

    Juno Fleetwood is the main character of my School of Visual Arts Thesis film, “Intrepid”, which will be released in the Spring of 2025.  This character was modeled in Maya and Zbrush, and textured and rigged with Substance Painter and Advanced Skeleton.  His hair setup was created using Houdini and Substance Painter.
    The goal for Juno’s hair setup was to find a way to create curly hair in 3D without using heavy curves and simulation.  For this, I decided to texture and model one hair curl with transparency using Maya and Substance Painter and then used Houdini to procedurally scatter these hairs along a proxy hair mesh for the character.  After this, I created hair variants with different textures to create some randomization in Juno’s afro.

Find out more about "Intrepid" here!​​

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4.  “Bonabon Seymour”| “Intrepid” Thesis Film:

    Bonabon is one of the protagonists of my thesis film “Intrepid”, which will be released in the Spring of 2025.   I am responsible for all aspects of this character and created the concept art, model, and custom rig.  This character was modeled in Maya and ZBrush and textured in  Substance Painter.

    I wanted to push the boundaries of the types of characters that can incorporate a world in this project and took inspiration from Vietnamese culture in her design along with koi-fish when creating her skin.  I find it interesting to use animation to create characters with more fantastical features along with humans, integrating them as I’ve seen in media throughout my childhood.  Find out more about "Intrepid" here!

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5.  "Boar"| “Intrepid” Thesis Film:

    The forest boar is a crowd character in my thesis film, “Intrepid”.  I wanted to push the stylization with this character to make it light-hearted and appealing.

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6.  "Sullivan"| “Intrepid” Thesis Film:

    Sullivan is the secondary character in my thesis film, “Intrepid”, and the father of the protagonist, Juno.  His character design takes inspiration from Gambia and Benin in West Africa, and he runs a small town bar in the film.

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7.  "In-Between" | Eliza Model:

    The Eliza character in “In-Between” was designed to be a college student going back to school after visiting home.  For this project, it was important for us to keep the style consistent with the rest of the film, and make sure that the model captured the character that we wanted to depict.

      I am responsible for the concept art and clothes modeling for this project, along with the shot sculpting of the clothes throughout the film.  The clothes were created in Maya and textured with Substance Painter and other Pixar proprietary software.

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