Christina liu

2D Animator, sophomore SVA student

About Me

"Siren in the Deep Sea" – My First Pitch Story for My First-Year Storyboard Class

In my first-year storyboard class, we dive deep into the pre-production process of animation. My teacher has been a huge inspiration, guiding me through cinematic language and teaching me how to compose a story using After Effects. His passion for animation is evident, especially in his work on The Ten Committeeman, where he created an entire film using only a fish tank and himself.

His approach expanded my view of animation, showing me that the medium is not limited to just animation itself. It’s also about compositing, giving life and meaning to the visuals, and understanding how to inject your own interpretation into the project.

Siren in the Deep Sea

First Year Animation Work

nature, texture, iceland, moody, photography, otherworldly iceland, underground, underworld, otherwordly, woodland,

My first year in the animation studio class has been a struggle for me. In high school, most of the work I did was traditional hand-drawn animation, but transitioning to full digital work in college has been challenging. I'm still figuring out Adobe Animate and Toon Boom.

This showreel demonstrates the 12 principles of animation. While it's definitely not my best work, I think it marks an important first step in my approach to animation.

After Effects Work

our first-year courses, we learned different software, but mostly we focused on After Effects to practice compositing skills. Some of the work I did was created using After Effects, Blender, and TVPaint.

In my second year of the animation studio, we focused mostly on creating our own films. However, before diving into that, we started with some exercises, including layout turns, rough animation, animal flight studies, and animal walk cycles.

Second Year Animation Work

The story I’m working on is deeply personal, as it is based on my own experiences. When I transferred from China to the U.S. and started middle school, I was overwhelmed by the sudden and drastic change in my environment. The cultural shift, the language barrier, and being surrounded by unfamiliar people and places left me feeling isolated and uncertain. It was during this time that I began to experience anxiety. The unfamiliarity of it all made everything feel much bigger and harder to navigate. My parents and friends, who were either far away or unfamiliar with the experience, couldn’t truly understand what I was going through. They didn’t know what it felt like to be in a new place where everything was different, or what anxiety really felt like. Mental health was not something that society openly discussed back then, and it was difficult for me to express the complex emotions I was experiencing. I couldn’t find the right words to explain how overwhelming it felt, so I kept it to myself.