Alien Vacation
My Senior Thesis Short Film: Alien Vacation!
This mixed media animated short was created with Arina Glozman and Maggie Hall. Alien Vacation combines 3D animation, 2D motion graphics, live action footage, and traditional gouache paintings to the tell the story of Skipper, an alien tasked with finding the perfect vacation spot for Emperor Blorp, his picky boss. If he fails, Skipper will be fired! Their search brings them to a strange place on planet Earth: Philadelphia. Will Emperor Blorp be satisfied with his Alien Vacation?
I am responsible for concept art, storyboard, animatic, character texturing and jello simulation, 3D animation, 2D paintings, lighting, and filming Philadelphia plates.
We used Maya, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine, Nuke, After Effects, and Premiere Pro.
Alien Vacation: Lighting and Character Animation
Final spaceship interior lighting done in Unreal Engine.
Polished character animation done in Maya and lighting in Unreal Engine.
"God Ray" lighting. Polished animations done in Maya, rendered in Unreal Engine, and edited in After Effects.
Outdoor Philadelphia lighting. Polished animations done in Maya, rendered in Unreal Engine. I used a custom HDRI map of the Philadelphia Art Museum to light and create reflections in the jello surface. I filmed the footage of the city.
Environment Lighting Studies
Lighting Study done in Unreal Engine. Responsible for lighting and layout, 2026.
Personal Work
Driveway Lyric Video: I created this stop-motion animation as a lyric video for my friend's original song. I hand animated every frame for a cut-out paper look. I am responsible for everything except the song credits which go to Jay Moyer.
Color Walk Cycle: 2D walk cycle I animated and colored in Photoshop over a moving background.
Octoburger: A fun metamorphosis animation I drew on paper between a burger and an octopus.
