Swamp Mouth: A Self Portrait
3D Animation - Blender, Photoshop, Procreate
2021
I’m coming at my BFA thesis project from the point of view of having gone through the BFA year already. Last year my project was an ambitious 3D animated short film called ‘Wickmore’s Afraid of the Dark’; I did all the concept art, wrote and storyboarded all fifteen minutes of the thing, and created all my 3D assets. However, not having a lot of actual animation experience at time, creating the final product proved difficult. By the end of the year, I had two and a half minutes of rough animation to show during my thesis show. It was disheartening, but I realized after that experience that what I really needed was more knowledge and experience in the medium before I could take on such a large, independent project that I could truly be proud of at the end. Thus, this year I’ve chosen to prioritize learning through taking on a series of smaller scale projects, as to not put all my eggs in one waxy, magnum opus-style basket. These animations are connected only through style and tone, as I tend to lean towards a sort of lighthearted dark humor and surrealism in my work. My hope is that, by focusing less on the bureaucratic *thesis*, I can direct my efforts towards expanding on my creative practice and actualizing who I want to be as an artist and storyteller.
Swamp Mouth is a piece that I created in response to the prompt “pandemic self portrait”. Rather than focus my attention on masks and hand sanitizer, I chose to focus on how this time has shifted my relationship with my own creative work, as detailed above. My dedication to the craft has definitely increased, but this dedication has every day feeling like the last sometimes: sitting at my desk, staring at my computer, and metaphorically burping up frogs. And I love it.
Swamp Mouth isn’t the only piece I have to review, however! Please consider clicking on the button up above so you can see the other two shorts I’ve completed recently. Thanks!