JENNIFER TRAN
(SHE / HER / HERS)
BFA ANIMATION & GAME ARTS
ADVERTISING SPECIALTY INSTITUTE (ASI) AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN ANIMATION AND GAME ARTS
I am a 2D animator/illustrator who strives to capture contemporary whimsical themes with a fantastical twist through my work. I am pursuing projects that incorporate unique sounds and music while ensuring that my viewers are fully immersed into my world.
With my thesis project, I aim to describe my experience growing up as an Asian American through a humorous setting. Food is one of the most comforting gateways into a person’s culture. I always relish cooking Vietnamese food with my mom, eating it with others, and learning about its history. However, these same foods can be catalysts for our cultural anxiety when people unfamiliar with them judge them harshly. As an adult, I realize how important my identity is and I want to preserve that side of myself. Diverse representation is what I hope to bring to the table once I enter the world of arts and entertainment.
Jennifer Tran was raised in the small town of Souderton, Pennsylvania and throughout her life traveled frequently to Philadelphia. Growing up, she was always inspired by the visuals and narratives in cartoons. From then on, she enjoyed scribbling her ideas onto the pages of phone books and vowed to one day pursue art as a career. She goes back and forth between illustrating detailed, humanoid characters and designing simple, cute ones. However, this allows her to be flexible in whatever assignment is needed for the job. In the summer of 2019, she had the chance to go to Mountain View, California for two months to work for KiwiCo, a company that creates STEAM projects for people of all ages. Her aspirations are to work for an animation studio that will allow her skill set to grow. She will graduate from Moore College of Art & Design in May 2020.