College Admissions Essay: How Animation Changed My Life

Animations are an excellent way of bringing joy to a person while enhancing their experience. However, for an animation to be successful, the animator should meet the audience-based expectations. As I reflect on my animation project, I will focus on the four core competencies used in the making of this project.

Dance is one of the major things that defines my identity and it is an interest that had become so meaningful, that without it my application would be incomplete. This has been able to shape me throughout the years, from discipline and maturity all the way yo leadership and teamwork. I find dance as an art work, that it is easy to make mistakes and fall, you just have to learn from those mistakes and get up twice as strong as from where you started. Dance is to look above and beyond and just let everything fall into place without hesitation.

As the only child, of my mother, I often faced the problem of not having someone to play with forcing more creativity. I often did various arts and crafts projects, but I found that I enjoyed drawing the most. With each drawing I become completely engrossed partially because it is a self-taught skill that requires focus, but also because I must be patient with myself as I work towards what I envision and learn new techniques. The Art of Drawing is a skill that I can continuously develop and perfect. The patience that my artwork teaches goes beyond the work itself. It demonstrates the importance of accepting my weaknesses and working towards bettering them. I am able to properly release the struggles I encounter and not be consumed because of my artwork. Creating my drawings is more than expression, but also self-discovery because I can be more honest with myself, embracing who I am and what I feel. However, from time to time I do encounter “artist block” and the exhibitions held at the museum of fine arts at Florida State University could provide inspiration much like my environment here at Spelman

In the first grade, I picked up a clarinet. It was my sister’s, collecting dust while waiting for me to play it. From the moment I produced my first sound, an ear-piercing squeal that frightened my dog, the path of my life took a turn for the better. I began teaching myself for the following three years, along with learning from my sister how to properly play the beautiful instrument. The music pushed me out of my comfort zone: concerts that forced me onstage, tests that made me play difficult songs, and teachers that pushed me to be an exceptional player. From the shy elementary school student I used to be to the outgoing band member I take joy in being today, music has shaped my everyday life.

Animation these days is about the bigger picture. It’s about the idea of not losing faith. It’s about how powerful a tool ‘hope’ is, and that anything is possible if you believe in it. It’s about how people are equal and they all have the same opportunities,

You do not have to be a cartoonist in order for animation to be a part of your life. “Animation is the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the movie is shown as a sequence.” In other words animation is creating an illusion of lifelike motion by using static drawings, objects, or models all posed in many different movements that are sequenced. Animation can be found everywhere in this world such as in our work, schools, homes, and any other place in which there’s a screen. Did you happen to grow up in the United States of America? If you did then chances are you probably have witnessed many seminal accomplishments in animation history. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Toy Story have helped challenge the creators to push technology so that anything that they imagine can be brought to life.

In the words of G.I. Joe, the American Hero, “Now you know and knowing is half the battle”. While reading through the text I recognized some of my annoying habits through the eyes of a professor (my apologies). Unfortunately, I struggle with perfectionism so obtaining an insanely high grade point causes me to stalk the grade books, at times. However, as I embrace my weakness, I’m working towards allowing God’s strength to take over my efforts in completing my degree. Also, there is room for improvement concerning patience. Patience is a virtue most needed while working through assignments and waiting for responses from professors and other students. Now that I understand professors are people too (just kidding) I will practice more understanding

Through theater, art, and books I remember to think outside the box and continue to push my capabilities as an artist. My curiosity about the world of animation allow me to keep improving my animation skills every day. I continue to develop my talent by working on observational drawings, studying the human anatomy and refreshing my motivation by studying other artists work.

Every sketch, every line, every contour, helped pave the very path I still continue to walk on. This quest has taken me on several different artistic adventures throughout my life. With each victory my talents grew stronger and with each failure I grew wiser. Art contests came and went by, each time I’d place higher or win a bigger prize, but honestly nothing truly challenged

“Don’t you dare run out there again,” my mom threatened. I scoffed, bouncing a marbled ball off my white walls to stay entertained - heaven forbid I play outside and hurt myself, or worse, dirty my pink dress. My mom was comfortable being confined to these walls cooking while my baby brother stacked blocks. When my dad pulled into the driveway after a long day at work, the perfect nuclear family was complete.

When I was young I learned my alphabet and numbers on a Magna Doodle. What started as a tool to prepare me for school turned into the beginning of a passion for art.

Dear reader, I ask you to accompany me on a journey through the mind of a great creator. Not the Great Creator, mind you, but only one, and that one is myself. Many would consider me to be a rash man, one of immense skill but little actual talent, one who believes more intensely than rational thought may permit. And in that sense, they consider me to be a dreamer. But what a perfect profession I have found! It is the most acceptable profession for a dreamer to have, in my honest opinion, for what other type of work allows one to make his dreams a reality? Truly, animation is the one true profession for dreamers, the most accepting line of work for such strong and skilled personalities. I, myself, find that life is merely a composition of brush strokes and feathered lines sketched by a hand careless in its execution. A hand that may erect and raze as it wishes, or, in such cases as my own, as it is commanded by an even higher power than that which wills life from vacuous space.

The process of animation can be defined as a series of drawings, photographs, or images constructed in a computer program in order to form a scene or action, usually in a cartoon, movie, or video game. For many of us, Disney is where we refer back to early forms of animation with the idea of using thousands of consecutive drawings; through Disney, we can now see how far this idea of breathing life into static objects has advanced. Today, animation is becoming more and more realistic. With highly advanced technology and computer programs, it has become easier for simple cartoons to develop into what children see as real life. These animated cartoons and movies are surrounding our youth every where and it is important to observe the effects of increasingly realistic animation on children and their perspective on life brought on by advancing technology and computer programs, for some of these effects pose a negative threat. Through exposing and observing these possible threats, the people involved in a child’s life can perform what is necessary to avoid them.

The art gifts us for our commitment with affirmation received in our actions. Action requires our accountability, our own acceptance, and ultimately should instill an attitude of gratitude. This, I believe, is what part of an artists’ journey requires. This is where we seek our own humanity: We secretly pray for fulfillment and that our humbled actions appease every eye. We seek it in the inception, the process, and the final product of our work. It is what makes us real.

In a sense Animation can bring the dullest of the features and bring it to life. It’s like magic that gives the most seemingly inanimate objects different kind of emotions and vitality. Animation made its way to the Multimedia as one of the most attractive and much sought component over the years.