Featured Photo by Reggie Johnson Jr.
Story by Makayla Sulcer
An animator for studios including Walt Disney Animation, Dreamworks, Skydance and Sony Pictures Animation, Louie del Carmen, spoke with members of MTSU SIGGRAPH via Zoom at their weekly meeting on Friday.
Del Carmen has worked for many different animation studios. He has worked on projects like the “How to Train Your Dragon” series, the “Kung Fu Panda” series and Academy Award-winning “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse”.
MTSU SIGGRAPH is a chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH which is “an international community with a shared interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques,” according to the official website.
The club has public relations directors in charge of contacting and recruiting guest speakers. PR director Mia Fulmer reached out to del Carmen over Instagram, expressing the club’s interest in speaking with him.
Fulmer’s actions as PR director set the course for the semester for SIGGRAPH.
“One of the goals I had was to get quality, professional industry workers as guest speakers,” Fulmer said.
She reached out to over twenty artists in the industry in hopes of providing the club members with valuable guest speaker events.
“Two people gave me a response back,” Fulmer said. “Those two people are now our guest speakers for the semester. Louie del Carmen and Joel Crawford.”
Many of the students in SIGGRAPH are interested in storyboarding. This is one of del Carmen’s strong suits, so students were eager to hear from him and ask questions. Students listened and took notes while he spoke.
The club put out a form prior to the meeting to collect questions directly from members that del Carmen answered during the main presentation.
“Wow, there are a lot of people in there,” del Carmen exclaimed as he joined the Zoom meeting and saw the 40 students sitting in the auditorium, eager to hear from him.
“How did you break through as an animator?” Mia Fulmer asked, taking the question from a student submission.
“You all have a shared passion. Help each other out. It’s better that way,” Louie del Carmen said. He explainied that the best thing artists can do is work together.
Del Carmen then shared about his past. He grew up in the Philippines, drawing from the time he was five years old. In 1989, he left the Philippines for America where he took a fifteen year hiatus from drawing.
“I worked on my art on nights and weekends, while working my day job for two years,” del Carmen said.
Del Carmen closed the meeting with more Q&A. Students lined up at the microphone to ask him questions directly.
This meeting was an opportunity for students to hear directly from someone who is in the industry.
“Their experience is sort of a guiding compass for us,” SIGGRAPH President Morgan Ruth said.
Joel Crawford is the club’s second and final guest speaker of the month, which will be held on April 14th. Crawford is the co-director of “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which was released in theaters at the end of last year.
MTSU SIGGRAPH meets weekly in Bragg 103. Some past meetings have included storyboard workshops, 2D rigging workshops and sketchbook parties. More information about them can be found on their Instagram.
Makayla Sulcer is a Lifestyles Reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on Twitter at @Sidelines_News.
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