How long have you been a student at One River?

I started taking summer camps here in the summer of 2023, and classes that following spring

Tell us a little bit about your journey as an artist.

Though my exact goals for being an animator have shifted from being in the story time scene when that was big, to AMVs (animated music videos) and animatics, to fully fledged short films and narratives, I’ve always wanted that for myself since I started making art around 2017~18. For a while, there was a period where I would only work on making projects that never got to see the light of day because I hated how amateurish they looked, but I’ve been able to (mostly) accept that I’ll get there with time and, above all, experience. Now that I have a solid enough idea for a story I can work with, I’m sure it’ll get so much better.

Which has been your favorite project to work on at One River and why?

I’d say it’s a tie between the sort of ‘hero + villain’ project I worked on (the coral and saw head) for the amount of potential these characters had, and still have for being key parts to that story I mentioned earlier, and the piece that I submitted titled ‘Precipice of Death, Sex, Rock and Roll (censored)’  (the ‘existentialist’ cliff side dilemma) because of how well it does everything I wanted it to do, from the symbolism, to the color palette, to the rendering, it’s all practically perfect to me. 

Describe One River in 3 words and tell us why.

I’d describe One River as encouraging, friendly, and consistent because, for one, everyone is just so encouraging regarding whatever you’re working on, and they’re all really cool, so that’s an added thing. That, along with the fact that it’s a sort of second location, really helps with making art consistently, even if it’s not that good, because all kinds of experience are equally as valuable.

What would you tell people who’ve never dabbled in art making are the real benefits to trying it?

My big reason would be that it’s genuinely an amazing way to get to know yourself and meld with your mind, in that sense, and in that, it’s a great way to express yourself and get people to know who you are.

Would you like to share anything else about your experience at One River?

I feel like my time at One River’s given me that sort of push to really draw from my inspirations and push my art in a lot of fun directions, some of ’em I wouldn’t have headed in otherwise.