Jessica Brown – Digital Arts
Fall 2019 – Expected Graduation: Spring 2019

Throughout my college career, My work has begun to mold into my own individualistic style that differs from my peers. One of my major strengths is organization and paying attention to detail. I believe that it is important to take my time on whatever I put effort into, making sure that it matches my ideas and references. Detail allows me to continue to make the art that I can personally be proud of, even if time is sometimes a cost. Maintaining organizational skills has always kept me accountable for time management, and can use that to help balance my desire for detail.

Strengths do not exist without weaknesses and the ability to understand them, and where I find that I struggle most is the rigging process within 3D software such as Autodesk Maya. Since it is such a rigorous process, I believe that an individualized class or a much longer time dedicated toward rigging and understanding each element behind it would be beneficial to future students who decide to take an animation path. Another weakness that I tend to struggle with is sharing leadership over a project that is being worked on. Because I am very detail-oriented, I always want to make sure that the group projects I work on have the same level of intermediacy, but not everyone is on the same page or has the same mindset.

The person who changed my perspective on my work was Ina Kaur, my Beginning Drawing professor during the spring semester of my freshman year. She was very tough to please, and continued to tell every student that they just “weren’t paying attention and need to draw what they see.” Once I began to realize what she was saying, her words became ingrained in my head. Every detail matters, and makes the drawing, or any media you are working on, count. Since then, I have pushed myself to go farther than my comfort zone on my work, and not finish until I am happy with what I’ve created. Dana Corrigan, my professor for a multitude of my classes (ART 210, 217, 238), significantly helped my passion for animation and illustration flourish. She taught me that no question is a bad question, and it only betters my future education. Lastly, Santiago Echeverry lit a fire inside of me after he found out that I had a 4.0, and said, “Oh honey, after my class, there will be no 4.0.” He challenged me to push myself in a subject that I had no background in (coding) harder than I ever have before. Often having similar traits as Professor Kaur, I focused all my energy into his class and it has helped me grow as an artist tremendously.

I am still deciding whether I want to pursue graduate school and an MA in Animation, specifically looking at Savanah College of Art and Design or Drexel University, or if I want to end my education here. I know I would like to move out of Florida and more toward the West coast. Considering that my degree has such a wide range within, I know that I will be investing in illustration and animation software and I hope to pursue a career that involves either creative outlet. I am excited to see what is coming in this last year at the University of Tampa and am looking forward to the artistic challenges I will have to overcome.