During the summer Olympics, while most people were watching their favorite sporting competition, former Bedford resident and Manchester West alumna Stephanie Russell, 23, was busy waiting for the commercials.

Russell animated stingrays for AT&T’s “Warming Up” Olympic commercial. The commercial featured American swimmer Ryan Lochte seemingly swimming across the Atlantic Ocean toward London. (View the commercial at http://www.psyop.tv/att-warming-up/.)

But how does one go from studying art at Manchester West to working on a commercial for a multimillion-dollar company? If you ask Russell, she will tell you it was a lifetime journey.

“I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a crayon,” Russell said. “My mother took me to see ‘Lion King,’ like, eight times. I grew up during the golden age of animation, with Disney movies like ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Pocahontas.’?”

Russell attended Bedford elementary schools. In school, Russell consistently drew characters for her book report projects.

“It was then when my parents realized I like to draw,” Russell said. “They signed me up for art classes. I liked to horseback ride, and so I was always drawing horses and cartoons such as Disney characters or Care Bears.”

In fifth grade, Russell met another classmate who liked to draw. According to Russell, the two would draw and create stories for their cartoons.

“Holly and I would make up our own characters. She was someone I instantly clicked with,” Russell said.

Once Russell entered high school at Manchester West, she continued to follow her passion for drawing and enrolled in art classes with Aaron Czysz.

“I learned all the foundation work, which helped me later in college,” Russell said. “The color wheel, still life, observational drawing, depth and perception were some of the basic lessons I learned while in high school.”

Despite years of studying art, Russell was still undecided about what she wanted to study in college come her senior year of high school.

“I went to a pre-college summer program at the Rhode Island School of Design,” Russell said. “I was learning how to become an illustrator but eventually thought it was boring.”

It wasn’t until flipping through brochures at her high school guidance counselor’s office that Russell discovered animation at Ringling College of Art and Design.

“I didn’t even know people could major in animation,” Russell said. “I went and talked to my teacher, Mr. Czysz, and told him I wanted to major in animation. He was totally supportive and my main guru in high school. I would draw flip books of characters moving through different posses but never thought about majoring in it.”

After graduating from Manchester West in 2007, Russell went on to study animation at Ringling.

“At the time, Disney wasn’t doing TV animated films,” Russell said. “Instead, there were Pixar movies like ‘Toy Story’ that were designed with computer graphics.”

Animation that uses computer graphics means that the characters were created using computer software instead of sketching them by hand.

“I learned the pipeline of CG animation,” Russell said. “When a CG character is created, they go through different phases of animation: first, modeling; rigging; animating; and lastly, texture. At Ringling, to become a more well-rounded student, we learn all the parts of the pipeline in creating a CG character. The piece that I specialize in is the animation.”

According to Russell, the animation phase of the pipeline is when a animator takes the modeled character and creates different poses or movements for the character. After creating the different poses, the animator plugs in the information to the computer and the computer generates a majority of the different movements.

“It’s a lot easier than drawing every single movement in a pose such as waving,” Russell said.

Russell also said a big part of her classes was studying and creating the back story of animated characters.

“Every character needs a backstory that’s believable in order for people to relate to the character,” Russell said. “Movies like ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘Toy Story 3’ have realistic backstories and character movements, which make us feel strongly about the characters.”

After graduating from Ringling in 2011, Russell went on to work for Psyop in New York City. According to Psyop’s website, the company uses animation, design, illustration, 3D, 2D and live-action production to help brands connect with consumers. The focus of the company is primarily producing commercials, such as the recent AT&T “Warming Up” Olympic commercial.

Russell said her goals are to continue animating for commercials and to improve her acting and filming abilities. One of her biggest challenges was working on a Lowell department store commercial that featured a house blowing up from an electrical fire.

“I had a book this thick about how to engineer a house,” Russell said, indicating the size with her hands. “We had to study all the electric wiring of the house in order to make the animation believable. Another big lesson was learning about the camera angles. In CG, I don’t have to worry about size, scale or camera motions; however, when filming real life, I need to pay attention to those things. I was drawing a bunch of impossible camera shots, but it was a good lesson for the future.”

One of the latest developments in animation is the use of stop-motion, seen in movies such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Stop-motion is a type of animation technique in which clay dolls or puppets are physically manipulated to appear as if they are moving on their own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

Russell said she hopes to continue to learn the latest in her trade. She lights up when talking about her new brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and latest commercial projects with Psyop.

“I work with a lot of freelancers. Most of the work I do is on individual projects for five to eight months,” Russell said. “One of the latest campaigns I was on was for Mio, a flavored energy drink. I animated different animals at a bar. It’s great because my boyfriend works in animation, too, and I just purchased a TV, so the two of us like to watch the commercials we’ve worked on.”

“I read an article recently that said salaries for animators capped five years ago, but I still think it’s a great industry to be in. It’s not a job for me. It’s what I love to do.”

Katelyn Dobbs can be reached at 594-6549 or kdobbs@nashua
telegraph.com.