以独特的视角激活艺术品
年仅四岁时， 迈克尔·沙罗德，23届休斯顿 was perfecting his drawing skills during church as he sat in the pew 和 sketched out roses. He was always drawn to animations that teach 和 make people feel good.
儿童动画 亚瑟 和 other PBS Kids s如何s spoke to him because it’s something the whole family can enjoy 和 learn from together. 随着年龄的增长, he continued drawing 和 his signature mark became the lead smudges over his sketches.
“甚至当我在学校做数学题的时候, 你会在纸上看到这些数字,休斯顿说. “我展示作品的方式非常不稳定. 没有人看到过我作品中的美.”
Today, he’s found passion breathing life into his artwork.
“I thought of animation as the natural progression of art,休斯顿说. “我认为它激活了我的工作.”
Houston earned his Associate in Studio Art through Austin Community College taking dual-credit classes in high school. When it was time to further his studies, he searched for a program that focused on animation. He looked into The Art Institute of Austin 和 other colleges around town, but St. 爱德华大学是唯一一所提供 动画专业 ——而不仅仅是一些课程或工作坊.
让他重新审视他忽略的细节, Houston valued the original outlooks 和 feedback from his classmates 和 professors, 特别是动画制作.
“My favorite part (of animating) is working with people who are in the studio. You make your own work, 和 you only have your own perspective,休斯顿说. “你和其他有独特观点的人一起工作. 他们有独特的经历. 让更多的人关注你的工作总是有帮助的.”
尽管他的作品上有艺术家的名字, Houston credits his art to those who inspired him 和 helped strengthen his work.
Jeanne Stern, who teaches Animation Production, was one of those people. Professor Stern encouraged Houston to finesse his four-minute animated short-film, 《365比分网电竞》它遵循《365比分网电竞》创造的各个阶段. Houston returned to the project to fix timing, sharpen animations 和 clean up scenes. 《365比分网电竞》 was selected for a screening at the YellowHammer Film Festival in Alabama.
“有些节日是通过Zoom举办的, but it was good to call 和 connect with judges 和 artists,休斯顿说, “和 it was a great experience — very inspiring 和 motivating.”
毕业后, 休斯顿开始与该领域的动画师建立联系, 与制片人会面，申请工作. 但由于2023年美国编剧协会罢工, most studios weren’t in production; 和 the ones that were, 我们不打算招人. 目前，休斯顿的志愿者在 奥斯汀电影节，观看和评判参赛作品. 他放映了20多部电影, 其中很多是动画短片, 和 enjoys working with 和 learning from the professionals in the office. 他还在制作他的新短片， 黑兹尔, which follows a young woman 和 the horse she meets on her journey through the wilderness to find medicine for her sick gr和father.
直到他的最后一个学期, when Houston enrolled in a course called Spiritual Ecology, 他只知道 如何 他的艺术影响着其他人. Houston wasn’t interested in enrolling in a typical religion class to fulfill his major requirement, but Spiritual Ecology was able to teach him 如何 others see spirituality in nature 和 如何 they see it in his art.
“I noticed a lot of my artwork has a lot of my beliefs in it — like 《365比分网电竞》很明显，它是宗教的. But I use a lot of nature in my work, 和 it was just a style of mine that I liked. 直到我选修了精神生态学, I didn't know that using nature in my work influenced an eco-friendly world,休斯顿说.
“I thought of animation as the natural progression of art. 我认为这激活了我的工作，”休斯顿说.
And the public is starting to recognize the eco-friendly influence Houston’s work has on the world. 他的动画电影， 有翼的凯特曾在两个电影节上放映; 新墨西哥州动物人道协会的猫科动物电影节 和 ANIMART是在希腊雅典举办的国际电影节.
休斯顿正在接受他的艺术的影响, even though he never sought to create art specifically for the earth.
“I realized that I make the artwork 和 then others see ways that it has a positive impact on the world. I see that I never intentionally made work that’s good for the environment or good for animals,休斯顿说, “但当人们在我的作品中看到这一点时, 它使我快乐.”
In comics, animated film 和 even still images, Houston’s art exudes life 和 movement. It’s those small details classmates point out that perfect his work 和 bring it to life.
现在，他的作品正在触及那些 do see the beauty in his art, with animations embellished in bright colors 和 engaging every age range.
你在圣. 爱德华的课程将从绘画的坚实基础开始, 脚本编写, 连载艺术, 然后是视觉设计, 故事板和声音设计.
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