Avery Garlic

From a very young age, I was obsessed with animation. I would constantly watch the renaissance Disney movies and as I got older I noticed the incredible effort that went into creating these beautiful movies. I would research how these movies were made learning about pencil tests and traditional 2d movies prior to the renaissance. My obsession did not end there to this day, most of the media I consume is either animated or analyzing animation. Unfortunately I originally thought I would never be an artist. I foolishly believed that there was this innate talent you had to be born with and that I was not one of those lucky few. I came to Stockton as a computer science major in 2018. In fall of 2019 I took the semester off to join the New Jersey National Guard. While there I made friends with an artist who drew extremely well and inspired me to try art, explaining that following the basics and practice could get me to where I wanted to be. He also introduced me to artists I could learn from. When I returned home in spring of 2020 I decided to minor in studio art so I could have some basic art skills. However after the events of 2020 I realized that life was too short to not enjoy the work you do so I changed majors and made my journey into the arts. Since that decision, my world has brightened significantly as I never enjoyed computer science. I learned to love painting and photography, two mediums I could not stand before my classes in them. I have traveled to both Greece and Japan, as well as  Lightbox, an expo for artists in the industry, and have had the great opportunity to meet artists I admire like Proko, Marshall Vandruff, and Aaron Blaise to name a few. I am proud I can finally say with confidence that I am an artist, a word I never felt worthy to call myself. While my concentration is in illustration, my passion is animation. I have done tons of independent studying to learn how to animate from reading books on the subject to video lessons from Disney animators. Whenever I’m animating, especially on paper, I get this magical feeling from seeing the images come together and bring the illusion of life. The animation I am most proud of is ‘The Gang’ a short based off of a story from my life with my friends.

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