WAKE is my MFA body of work done at Texas A&M University. It is an animated short about a boy who is coming to terms with his sister, who’s in a coma.
I began conceptualizing the story around March 2013, and it started out as an exploration of the sense of loss of a loved one, later branching out to become a story about the struggle Dan goes through in the process of letting go of his twin sister, Kina, who entered into a comatose state after an accident that occurred a few years ago. It compares and contrasts the lives of the siblings, of one who was forced to sleep and one who chose to do so willingly by clinging to the past.
What was once a one-man team eventually grew to a small group of students led by me and another student acting as co-director and production manager. The short was, sadly, never finished because I was recruited for work in LA and couldn’t effectively lead the team anymore, but WAKE will remain a fond memory that shows off what Aggies can do when they work together.
The majority of the character concepts in this album are illustrated by Caleb Kicklighter, the environments by Jay Jackson, as well as a few by me.