art direction + ANIMATED FILM R&D

Applications used:  The Adobe Creative Suite, Maya, Cinema 4D, Substance Painter & Procreate

animated short film

paper cranes

Seeing a film I direct in a theater, is a career goal of mine. Although I have yet to see this goal actualized, I have been chipping away at a film called Paper Cranes for a few years. The short is inspired by a true story, where loss is processed from a child’s point of view.  It has helped my own healing with overcoming personal tragedy and continues to be the driving force for seeing it through.  As a self-funded project, I have experienced many roadblocks along the way and as independent projects often do.  In 2021, I regained momentum.  I was accepted into a mentorship group with Women in Animation and was fortunate to have Oscar-nominated Director, Mark Osborne as my Mentor!   The mentorship opportunity was one of the most rewarding experiences as I was able to connect with industry professionals who I greatly admire.  They validated my work, encouraged my ideas and continue to inspire my film journey. Although the film is still in-progress, I have loved exploring the look development and working the muscles of animation that I don’t often utilize in client work.

Behind the Scenes Process

Work-in-Progress Animatic Trailer

animated pilot episode

the axiom chronicles

In 2019, a small, but mighty team of seven artists came together to produce a Pilot series called the Axiom Chronicles.  Written by Dillon Wheelock and Coban Rudish (of Edison Creative / Mammoth Animation) the series was a love letter to Samurai Jack and Star Wars –  two of the team’s favorites.  Omaha’s animation and film scene is small, but doing massive things…a pool of talent, often overlooked from many of the bigger cities.  I have been lucky to connect with artists such as Dillon and Coban and it’s been fulfilling to join together on passion projects such as these.  The team was fortunate to have had meetings at Netflix, Cartoon Network and HBO Max, but unfortunately were not able to produce the show.  Regardless of the outcome, this has been a rewarding process. As a Freelancer who is often isolated with remote work, I have been grateful to team up with artist’s of this caliber in my hometown.

I was the 3D lead artist on the team and helped with compositing as well.  
The Full Episode and Behind the Scenes videos can be viewed at this link.

Process BTS from The Axiom Chronicles