Computer Animation Arts

The CAA computer suites are empty and silent, chairs remain tucked neatly under tables, and the PCs, at last, are sleeping now.  Elsewhere, the lift idles on the ground floor.  Stairwells are deserted. September - that crazy month of new faces, new beginnings and new challenges - feels distant and unlikely.  As of writing, it doesn't seem even remotely credible that in only a short matter of weeks, the campus will bustle once more with wide-eyed first years, swaggering 'know-it-all' second years, and grimly determined third years, as a new academic year swings into action. It's almost as if the world is settling down for an afternoon snooze... and so it is - but I think there's just time for one last hurrah.  This July edition of the Computer Animation Arts PWTM find us in a suitably reflective mood, as we celebrate recent successes and catch up with some alumni, beginning with our recent award-winning stint at New Designers 2015 . Our third chunk of s...

Some of you have already popped by CGAA 2012 graduate Jolanta Jasiulionyte's blog to congratulate her on her recent interview published in Lithuania's largest newspaper, Lietuvos Rytas .  For those of you who haven't, Jolanta was interviewed recently about her animation and character design work, with especial attention paid to Jolanta's The Baltic Pixie .   Congratulations, JJ - great stuff!

Jolanta Jasiulionyte - otherwise known as JJ - graduated from BA Hons CG Arts & Animation in July 2012 with a first class degree. Little wonder. From the moment JJ arrived with us from Lithuania, she made it her mission to squeeze as much from her undergraduate experience at UCA Rochester as humanly possible. On most days, Jolanta was in the CGAA baseroom before the course staff, juggling her always ambitious projects with freelance commissions and her role as a UCA ambassador.  JJ's creative work is distinguished by its individuality and art style, born always from her expressive and exuberant drawing. JJ's year one with CGAA culminated in her otherworldly Life Cycle of Slime Mold, which she followed at the conclusion of year 2 with her animated short, Ivan the Bird. Ivan is an exemplar of JJ's idiosyncratic and richly-textured world-making , her titular character as burnished and fantastical. The Baltic Pixie was JJ's cgi finale - an original chara...

It's a very long time since I last had to go 'school uniform shopping' or buy a new pencil case in preparation for the new academic year, and yet September always gets me the same way: that unmistakeable mix of excitement-meets-melancholy.  The Summer is ending - sigh - which means  it's time to rev the engines and jump-start the old grey matter and thus prepare for another incredibly busy and productive year on CG Arts & Animation . What better way to ease us all into the prospect of a new semester of CGAA at UCA Rochester than with a freshly-minted edition of the PWTM boasting a whole host of good news stories from the CG Arts community and a round-up of what our students have been doing while not a) watching the Olympics or b) reading Fifty Shades of Grey ... Unless you've been living on the 'lost isle of no-internet' these past few months, you'll know that July's  New Designers 2012 was a great success for CGAA - and it di...