Susan Huang is a visual development artist from Taiwan. She is a 2020 graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, majoring in Computer Animation. She has loved drawing since she was a kid. Painting classes were always the happiest times during her student life. Although there were not a lot of art majors at that time, she tried to get into the Industrial Design of Tatung University in Taiwan. Learning about basic product design and graphic design helped her to become a graphic designer after she graduated. She also has experience working in illustration and game design. Susan decided to go back to school and become a visual development artist in 2015. Since learning the whole animation pipeline would be helpful for a Visual Development artist in the animation industry, she applied to several top animation schools and was accepted to Ringling College of Art and Design, Department of Computer Animation. It was a whole new art experience for her. It was the first time she learned about the drawing composition. 3D skill is another important skill that she learned from Ringling, especially 3D modeling. Working with rough 3D models was really helpful for environment design. It has made her design process faster. Susan loves traveling and listening to music when she is not drawing. She is always inspired by her travels and the museums she visited. Ringling College has provided a great creative environment to let her experiment with lots of different styles and learn from them. Susan is currently re-designing an old project, “Farewell”, which is another thesis film story she created together with her teammates. Learning is the most important thing in her life. Everything needs to be learned, whether it be art skills, new technology, communication, etc. She hopes that she can break into the animation industry and continue to tell amazing stories with her art in the future!

Director Statement

“Gatcha!” is a film inspired by our childhood. Something that all three of us found in common was that we grew up watching both Disney films and Japanese anime. The appeal and culture in both styles of animation have influenced our art and aesthetics to this day. “Gatcha!” itself is set in a Japanese environment and is based on Japanese culture. To be specific, our film revolves around a certain type of vending machine that is popular in Japan called “gashapon.” While some audience might not be familiar with “gashapon”, we are hoping that the universal message we are trying to convey would still reach the audience through our storytelling and imaginative world-building. Hope you enjoy the film!