Cassidy Costin - "An Exploration of Animation"

About the Artist:

Cassidy Costin is an artist from Avon Lake, Ohio. She is an introspective artist who aspires to create works through animation and illustration that reflect beauty, cuteness and personal feelings.

 


 

Blue

Digital Illustration, 2020

digital artwork by Cassidy Costin

 

Bonbon and The Buds

Digital Animation, 2020, 1 min 10 sec

 

Erie

Digital Animation, 2020, 42 sec

 

Clover

Digital Illustration, 2020

 

 

As of recently, I’ve been exploring styles that are both beautiful and minimalistic as well as rudimentary and cute. I’m very much inspired by Japanese artwork, which includes both historical paintings utilizing emptiness and more modern day animation and comics utilizing humor. This combination of very different types of artworks come together to create the base of my style. 

 

With this inspiration in mind, I set out to create a project centered around animation and concept art. I give myself time constraints to complete a collection of short films such as 24 hours and 48 hours each in order to get very quick, almost gestural outcomes. The films feature cute characters and storylines inspired by drawings and character designs I made.

 

However, the current pandemic caused not only a lack of space and devices to fully complete this project, but also a lack of spirit. Making cute and creative films proved very difficult in such negative times. I managed to make a 24 hour film similar to what I had planned with Bonbon and The Buds featuring a cute trio of musical animals. But the 48 hour film, Erie, while cute and minimal in style, is actually more of a very personal self portrait which is much more vulnerable than anything I thought would come out of this project.

 

The two drawings, Blue and Clover, are also examples of what I’m exploring with my art right now. The figure with the sky cubes utilizes negative space and is drawn in a very beautiful style while the figure in the clovers is less detailed and more cute in nature.

 

I have an appreciation and love for the concept art behind animations. The physical exhibition in the fall will feature prints of my concept art hanging around the screens playing the animations.

 

I hope to continue studying and growing through these styles to create more shorts for the autumn 2020 exhibition.