Justin Leonard
BFA Animation – Fall 2023
Graduating Fall 2024
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mr.justinstudios5205

Like most people growing up, I was constantly exposed to all sorts of media in the form of movies, cartoons, comics, books, so on and so forth. Where I’m sure a few people would hardly let those childhood memories become a source of nostalgia once they got older, I instead clung not only to the stories, series and shows that entertained me when I was little, but also the mediums they were presented in. Stop motion in particular was a style that always drew my interest, whether that was old Gumby shorts, the colossal AT-AT Walkers from Star Wars, or any animations I found on the internet. It was only much later on during the start of high school that I discovered stop motion animation was a very real and very viable career choice, something I needed during a time where I didn’t know what I would do with myself.

Initially my college education path started at the Ringling College of Art and Design’s Motion Design program, where I learned the basic skills needed to understand animation like easing and follow-through. Due to feeling unsatisfied with how my experience in the program was going, I made the decision to transfer after my sophomore year to the University of Tampa. The Animation major there offered a plentiful variety of courses related to not just animation but design in general, which allowed me to express who I am alongside helping me develop my style as time went on. Not only were my current skills developed, but I picked up new ones on the way in the form of 3D animation, 3D Printing, Coding, Visual Effects and Game Design; and much of that often gave me chances to incorporate my passion for film and animation into the work I made.

Thanks to the chances in my education to learn, practice and ultimately create, I can say one of my biggest strengths is the variety of my expertise, much of that being in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Some programs I have more experience in than others, my strongest being After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Dreamweaver while my weakest would be Audition and Animate. My other strengths lie in my understanding of animation and replicating motion through it, mainly through stop motion as I have the largest amount of experience in it. It’s hard for me to explain but being able to animate something with my hands and understand how it moves by actively manipulating it has given me quite a bit of confidence in how I animate figures. 3D Animation meanwhile is a field I would like learn more about as I feel my current style is basic and a bit stiff. If I had the chance to develop my skills in 3D Animation, I’m confident the fluidity of my animations there would match what I’ve been able to replicate in my 2D and stop motion works.

Once I brush up on those skills, I intend to continue towards graduation so I can achieve the very same goal that I’ve been pursuing since high school, that being to enter the animation industry. My current sights are set on joining LAIKA Studios via an internship due to their specialty in stop motion animated films, such as the famed Coraline, as a position there would be most relevant towards my interests. That being said, I recognize that there is the chance I won’t be able to immediately join the studio through an internship, which is why I already have other options in mind such as through Universal, Disney or other companies. Gaining experience through more local studios and companies is also a path I wouldn’t shy away from, as it would allow me to work my way up to larger studios by showing them I have the skills necessary to be an addition to their teams. Until then, I can say with the utmost certainty I’ll continue to make my skills known through social media such as my Youtube channel, which will allow me to independently create my own works not only as a hobby but as a way to gain an audience I can entertain. That’s ultimately why I’ve been pursuing this career since I first discovered it was a path I could take, to create something of my own originality and to entertain people by showing them that work; just like the work of other people entertained me so long ago. Maybe through my own films, I’ll be able to leave an impact for the next animators of tomorrow.