Pei Yu Lin is our next iAniMagic Contest winner that we interviewed. She won the Student Silver Award with her short film, Cryanimal. The fantastic colors aren’t all that make this animation stand out. Cryanimal has its unique rhythm which makes this animation even more enjoyable.
Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do for fun.
Hello, I’m Pei Yu Lin. I’m a student of the Animation and Gaming Design department in Shu Te Technology University. Drawing for me it’s like visualizing my imagination and I really enjoy it. I like gaming a lot too. Honestly speaking, I spend more time on gaming than drawing.
How did you learn about the iAniMagic animation competition?
One of the lecturers assigned this competition as a mid-term assignment. I couldn’t believe that I won the Silver Award!
We feel that Cryanimal is a sad story. Where did the inspiration come from?
I just sketched down some animals without expecting anything like the final work. The process was spontaneous. My friend saw the half-done fish, and she suggested I add tears to the fish. Because of her suggestions, I decided to give all the animals a sad expression.
There are many animals in this animation. How do you pick and design these animal characters?
I selected some Taiwanese species as the main characters in this animation, for example, the Taiwan blue magpie, the Formosan black bear, and the Taiwanese salmon. Although sparrow is not an endemic species, they are so common here in Taiwan–almost like the part of the landscape–so I put sparrows in this animation, too.
It’s a shame that you can’t really tell the real look of these animals in this animation. I trade off reality for the art effects. I think that art activities, more or less, involve translation. Artists translate reality to speak for core ideas. That’s how I feel when creating animation.
Did you encounter some challenges when creating this animation?
I spent some time getting familiar with the tool. Besides that, I also spent time observing birds flying and sparrows jumping.
This was the first time that I used Animation Desk. Now I use Animation Desk to practice animation or doing sketches for my course assignment.
Would you add anything to this animation if it could be longer than 30 seconds?
I might not extend the animation, but I do want to add more details to enrich it. For example, adding more animal characters, working on the background, or adding more expression to the characters.
How do you practice animation skills?
I observe others’ animations and learn their technique. I will watch one animation many, many, times just to figure out the technique. Twitter is the social media that I constantly search for cool animations, such as the catwoman pickaxe animation trend recently.
I like American cartoons a lot, so I often search for the original frames made by lead animators. I analyze the original drawings and apply the techniques I learned in my own production.
Do you have any career plans for the future?
The most urgent task is to complete my graduation project! I’m looking forward to working with my team members. I’m also looking for a part-time job in 2D animations. An internship is taken as a requirement for the bachelor certificate at my university, and I’m expecting to learn a lot of practical skills.
If you are interested in watching more animations from Pei Yu, please check out her social media:
We hope you like this interview and enjoy the animation as well. Follow Animation Desk Facebook page, Instagram, or download Animation Desk app (Android, iOS, Windows) to get a daily dose of animation!
Images provided by Pei Yu Lin.
Posted written by Afra Chen and edited by Joey Digangi III.
Related post: Animation with Details: An Interview with Li Ting Yi