JUNIOR STATEMENT
Ari Felsen
BFA in Animation/Digital Arts
Spring 2019
Expected Graduation – Spring 2020
My name is Ari Felsen and I am studying Animation/Digital Arts at the University of Tampa. My parents and I always knew I had a niche for technology, stemming way back to when I could barely walk as a toddler, yet for a while I was the only one in my family that was able get our computer working. I became very intrigued and excited for all the film and media arts elective courses my high school had to offer, and as I excelled in those classes I knew this field was the perfect career path for myself to pursue. Despite lacking the natural gift of artistry, my love and passion for digital arts motivates me to work harder, and is what makes me so happy to be learning what I am and to eventually do every day as a career. I entered the University of Tampa in 2016 with a modest skillset in film techniques and softwares such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop; however, the outstanding staff and professors of the Animation/Digital Arts department at UT have helped tremendously as I’ve enhanced and broadened my skillset. I thank my first FMX professor, Ty Stude, for teaching me a variety of different softwares and helped me find my joy and dedication for digital arts; it was his class that influenced my decision to switch my major from Film & Media Arts to Digital Arts/Animation. Another professor that has had an enormous role on my education is Dana Corrigan. I have been lucky enough to have Dana as a professor for numerous classes so far, and she has been nothing but helpful and supportive since the first day I walked into her class. She taught me how to operate a variety of different animation softwares, as well as a plethora of animation techniques and strategies. Not to mention her frequent support in helping students with job searching and internship opportunities, and her perpetual passion and positivity reflect onto myself when I’m in her class and motivates me to work harder and do the best I possibly can.
When it comes to raw natural artistic talent, I would not rank myself close to the top of my class, although my mental tenacity makes up for that and is what keeps me at the same level as my other talented peers. I have become slightly better as an artist as I’ve learned skills from some of the art foundations classes I’ve taken; however, I would still consider this to be my greatest weakness. This is ironic because digital illustration is one of my most enjoyable facets of animation/digital arts. Despite my weakness, I have done everything I can to get around this, which is how I’ve come to discover one of my most valuable strengths.
Throughout my college career so far at the UT, I have discovered many strengths in myself and my ability as an animator/digital artist. I am a very determined worker and I will put in as much time and effort as it takes until I consider my work perfect. This strength is very valuable to me because if I had lacked this trait, my artwork would not look even remotely as good of quality as it is. Another strength of mine is how my creativity and passion become evident when I am given the opportunity to create an animation or illustration in which I am free to decide everything. I work extremely well, also, when assigned projects with specific guidelines to follow; however, when I am able to open up and work on something that is especially interesting or relevant to myself, then I create my most special work.
Although I am still not completely decided on what exactly I am looking to do after I graduate, I love nearly everything involved with my major that I would be happy to do just about anything in this field. A huge reason why I appreciate my major is because how broad it is and that there are so many totally different kinds of jobs I can get with my degree. I still have another year to figure my plan out, but my goal is to continue exploring and narrowing down my focus/passions to land the perfect job for myself, where I can help an organization using my skills and creativity, while loving each and every day of work.