art by Kyle Smith
Animation Reel
KCAD (2014-2016)
"Swoobird" Animated Mockup
Thesis II (KCAD) - Spring 2016
My college thesis was centered around my game concept "Swoobird." For the second half of the project, I made an animated mock-up of what the game would look like in motion as if it were actually playable. The song that plays in the video was also composed by me.
"Randy's Treasure Hunt"
2D Animation I (KCAD) - Spring 2014
This was the first animated cartoon I've done in college that tells a story, and stars my own character, Randy. It was a semester-long project--from initial storyboards to the final product--and taught me a lot about the parts and process that goes into animation like this.
2D Character Animation Reel
2D Character Animation (KCAD) - Spring 2015
My second 2D Animation class in college had us focus on the basics of animation. Our projects throughout the semester consisted of smaller, focused animations, demonstrating movement of characters and other 2D techniques.
Just Jesss Opening Animation
Commission work - Spring 2018
One of my first large-scale paid projects was an animated intro for the YouTube personality Just Jesss. There was a lot of back and forth with the client in order to perfectly capture her aesthetic and personality, and I utilized After Effects more than I usually do with lighting and camera angles.
Reward Animations for WMU's Autism Procedure App
Professional Studio and Development (KCAD) - Spring 2016
These two animations were made for a learning app to be used for children with autism, and serve as rewards when a child completes the task correctly. The shorter of the two could play randomly among others between rounds, and the longer one is chosen as the final reward when the game is finished.
"Mama Luigi" reanimated scene
Personal work - Spring 2017
A scene for a fan-made project of reanimating an episode of the "Super Mario World" cartoon. The five-second scene is in the middle of the episode, and this video shows my process of creating it. It took about a month to make from start to finish.