College of DuPage hosts 13th Annual Animation Night May 16

Animation students in College of DuPage's Animation/Motion Graphics program will screen their work during the 13th annual Animation Night, a free event, on Tuesday, May 16.

It will begin at 7 p.m. at the McAninch Arts Center on the college's Glen Ellyn campus, 425 Fawell Blvd.

Animation Night will feature capstone project films from 14 Animation students who have been honing their craft throughout the spring semester. MPTV Professor Tony Venezia believes that this round of work from his students is particularly ambitious in quality and style, with projects ranging from elaborate stop motion, combinations of 2D and 3D animation and many that blend hand-drawn traditional animation and hand-drawn computer animation.

"They are also very deep," Venezia said. "Some are outrageously funny and some are more serious, but I feel like the students have connected with their projects, which is key."

Animation student Dorothy Teng echoed those sentiments.

"Without giving too much away, this is the first major animation project I've ever worked on, and I've been working on it all semester," she said. "It does take up a lot of time to work on, but I am passionate about my story. I've really enjoyed working on it."

Before seriously considering animation as a career, Teng's appreciation of media led her to studying journalism during her undergrad years.

"I kind of threw that aside and decided I wanted to do freelance illustrating," Teng said. "Then at the same time, I really liked my media background, so I realized I could marry the two, and animation just kind of, like, popped up there."

Teng previously attended two Animation Night events and found she was fascinated by the range of stylistic differences between projects.

"It was like watching a movie at a movie theater, except several of them, and they're shorter," she said. "It was also encouraging seeing the audience getting into it."

At the end of the approximately 90-minute screening, refreshments will be served backstage, and the audience will have the opportunity to visit with students whose work was shown during the event and browse the portfolios that the students completed during their time at COD.

The Animation/Motion Graphics program at COD allows for students to learn cartoon drawing, character design, modeling, stop-motion, storyboard development and motion graphics. The College's Animation certificate is a cross-disciplinary endeavor designed to prepare students to work in gaming, film or television.

For more information, call (630) 942-2020, email venezia@cod.edu or visit www.cod.edu/mptv.