One of the fun and equally frustrating things about animation is guidelines. When an artist approaches guidelines for a project, they’re met with two avenues. One is to complain about the guidelines, and the other is to run with it and use it to your advantage. At the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design’s 2D Animation department, students’ senior films must include an element of 3D animation. We came across a student film titled 3D Man, which follows guidelines for combining 2D animation with 3D. We enjoyed that the animator, Connie Saunders, didn’t use it as much as a guideline but as a punchline.
Today, we brought Connie Saunders on to our page here to talk about their animation and process. If you want to watch it before reading, click the link here!
Hello! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hello! My name is Connie Saunders, or better known as Snorkl821. I am a recent graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design with a degree in Animation & Game Art. I always had an affinity for drawing and writing, but what really got me into the art scene was just being active on the internet during the early 2010s. When I was younger, I probably had more free roam on the internet than a kid my age should have had, but I spent most of my time online on YouTube. Through YouTube I got really into sprite animation videos like Super Mario Bros. Z. I thought those videos were just the coolest thing ever, and because of that interest, I found a YouTube channel titled Gobou, who makes these pixel art animations based off the game YUME NIKKI. Seeing how simplistic they were, but still being entertaining, made me realize that I also have the ability to start creating and making animated videos of my own.
Can you tell us how that process went in making the animation, why you decided upon the punchline, mixing 2D and 3D?
The punchline for 3D Man came from this rule our department at PCA&D used to have about thesis films. It’s that if you’re going to make a 2D film, it has to have some sort of 3D element. From that rule, I just expanded out on this joke of these two hand-drawn kids meeting a 3D person. Even though only other students from the department will be aware of the joke, I think people who are fans of animation will still draw their own sense of entertainment from it.
How’s your experience been working in both 3D and 2D arts, and is there one you feel like better suits you? Or do both mesh well?
I really like playing around with mixed media. I don’t really have a preference on which medium I enjoy working in more. I feel like I have my strengths and weaknesses with both. 3D Man was definitely a challenge; however, not much with the boys or the monster, but with the room. I wanted the room to be fully modeled so it wouldn’t look weird when the 3D Man walked around, so trying to get that hand-drawn style on 3D models and have it fool people was super difficult. After a lot of UV unwrapping, texturing, and messing with nodes, I got it to a place where I’m pretty proud of.
You have a lot of art of these two characters that are featured in the animation. Are you looking to make this more a series in the future?
I am! I have already started work on a pilot episode. It will take a while, however, since I am just one person doing all the visuals. Trying to make a full series is definitely a long-term goal, but getting this first episode out is a passion project I’ll be working on in between life stuff. The hope for the pilot is to make a 10-15 minute episode, and whereas 3D Man was to visually show off my growth, I want this project to be an example for my writing and have the goal of it being the funniest project I work on as of right now.
So, after we watched 3D Man, we looked more into your page, and it reminded me so heavily of old Newgrounds art styles in the best way possible. Was that one of your inspirations?
Especially when working on 3D Man, I took a lot of inspiration from Newgrounds, Adult Swim, and CN City’s aesthetic. I just take from different mediums I find cool and implement them into my art.
Broadly speaking, do you think 2D animation should incorporate more 3D elements and mesh the two, or should they be used separately unless necessary?
I think it really depends on what the artist/director needs stylistically. I personally like mixing different mediums together, it creates a collage-type look with all the clashing art styles.
Do you think a combination of the two is what the industry needs right now to revitalize 2D animation when it comes to theatrical releases?
Granted, I’m fresh out of college, so I don’t know how much credit I have talking about the industry, but I believe so. We are kind of seeing it happen right now in my opinion. Newer stylized 3D animated films are mimicking hand-drawn animation techniques, so I think it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing either 2D animation or hybrid films.
At PCA&D my friends and I came into this school wanting to learn 2D animation, but the curriculum here was definitely more designed towards the 3D pipeline. I liked working in 3D for the most part, so I didn’t mind; however, I know some other students were totally against it.
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I personally love this animation as it has a great punchline, and the artist ran with the guidelines so well. Constraints breed creativity! You can see Connie’s work on their Instagram or YouTube page!
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