Courtney’s Animation

Animation is a large core of my career. Here, you will see just a small sampling of my extensive animation work, from Adobe Animate to Spine2D, from hand-drawn to pivot-point-puppetry to fully rigged character builds.

I made a choice with this portfolio: I want to show a range of eras. My older stuff may not be my best work, but it included pivotal learning moments that I feel are integral to the narrative behind my career as an animator. (Don’t worry; I’ll be starting with my most recent work, so you’ll see my best first and foremost!)

Disney Princess Charmed Adventures

When my career as an animator rooted itself in game art versus film, I surrendered any dream of working on a Disney IP, let alone one with the Princesses. I was so thrilled when this opportunity came my way!

This is Spine2D circa 2017. It was a robust program back then, but the program today is a far more capable tool for animators than ever before. (So if you find yourself wondering, “Why’d she do things that way?” It’s likely that the feature you’d use instead wasn’t implemented yet.)

Rigging

My responsibilities included taking approved character art and carving it into separate pieces, creating alt pieces (closed hands, eyelids, different mouths), rigging (mesh/weights, bones, etc), and the animation itself.

Featured here is Charlotte (Princess and the Frog) to demonstrate the process prior to animation. (I don’t know what I enjoy most: the rigging process, or the animation process. The former is so satisfying!)

Charlotte only appeared as a super side bonus to a mini game, so her build is on the much simpler side. The princesses have far more intricate builds.

Up Close and Personal

My reel is one thing; seeing some of the princesses and side characters in isolated loops is another. Below are a few of my favorite animated character assets from Disney Princess Charmed Adventures.

More Spine2D

These are from miscellaneous projects. And maybe art tests? *shrug*

ST Math: JiJi

With Mind Research Institute

JiJi is the face of ST Math, a powerful teaching tool in the classroom. I had the immense privilege to animate JiJi during a revamp of the ST Math platform. Here they are in action!

Eat, Eat, Hooray!

With Playforge Games

Adobe Animate (frame drawn)

Zombie Farm

With Playforge Games

Adobe Animate (frame drawn and pivot-point puppetry)

Digimon: More Spine2D

With Playforge Games and Saban Brands

These were animated when Spine2D was a lil’ toddler of a program. It did the very basics back then: you could rig a character, but there were no meshes or weights at the time, and no constraint tools. You can see the limitations we worked with back then!