Czarina Doyle

3D Animation
Class of 2011
Hometown: Castle Rock, CO

Why did you choose RMCAD?

I wasn't sure I even really wanted to go to college at first. Due to financial constraints, I knew that if I went, it'd have to be in Colorado, and I knew that if I was going to go, I wasn't going to settle for any kind of broad splatter of an art education. I already considered myself an artist, and I wanted to learn what I hadn't already learned in high school. It was time that I turned my attention to making my art move, so if the school didn't offer any kind of animation program, I didn't even consider it. The decision was narrowed down to either RMCAD or [one other school]. RMCAD won out because when I looked over the classes, RMCAD looked like it had what I wanted: animation that wasn't just focused on making video games. Of course, it also helped that [the other school] wasn't accredited, and [RMCAD had the better location.] Now everyday, I have a beautiful commute from Castle Rock to Lakewood, passing the mountains. Every once in a while, there's this one overpass where, when the humidity and temperature are just right in the morning, there's a magnificent blanket of fog in the foothills that make the Rockies look like they're hovering—the quiet sentinels of Colorado.

What has been your favorite class so far and why?

If I absolutely had to narrow it down…I've loved my Liberal Arts classes. I know, it's not one specific class. Seriously though, I never expected to gain so much from essay writing classes. I dreaded writing essays—I still do—but the discussions that you have in there make up for it so much. Liberal Arts classes at RMCAD focus on philosophies, and nothing that you say in them can ever be truly wrong. You explore the big questions like, "What is Art?"; "What does art mean to me?"; and "Why can't everyone else like my art, since I like it so much?"

What did your favorite professor do to earn your respect or admiration?

There hasn't been a single faculty member I've met that hasn't earned my deepest respect and admiration. I'm not brown-nosing here, honest to goodness, [they] amaze me with everything [they] do, and the effort [they] put into making this school better. The teachers (I can't call them professors—they're so much closer to the kids than a "professor" will ever be in my mind) that have had the most impact on me and my work were the ones who were…oddballs, I guess is the way to say it. They not only earned my respect with the great amount of knowledge and willingness to share what they know, but with the fact that they weren't afraid to laugh at themselves and learn from the students as well. In fact, they ask for all the different experiences students have had, and everyone in the class benefits from it.

Tell us about a favorite project you've worked on.

My favorite project so far out of anything I've done at RMCAD, was to build my own face on AutoDesk Maya with as few polygons (geometrical sides) a possible. It's a bit eerie at first to find yourself looking at your face that you made on a computer, but I always get the jitters when I feel like I'm making something that I've never done before. It was a big step for me in 3D modeling, because humans are always the most difficult to portray in any art form…or so people say. Usually the way it works is, if you can accurately draw/build a human figure, everything else is easier. Tell that to the Komodo dragon model I failed to make work well.

How would you describe the students who attend RMCAD?

It's amazing how much difference there is going to a school where kids want to be here. Everyone has a goal, and everyone is struggling to get there no matter what hellish obstacles are thrown at us. It's not the types of people who are really different, it's the attitudes. That, more than anything, is what I feel when I step on campus every day.

How has your life changed since enrolling at RMCAD?

I've has a lot of life-changing events since I started attending RMCAD. Nothing too big or profound, except that I'm slowly learning to get over my fear of authority. I used to be terrified of talking to people who I thought knew more than I did for fear of looking stupid and air-headed: teachers, fellow students, and strangers were all untouchable beings to me. Forget trying to put me in front of a crowd. Going to a place where I knew no one and had to make friends out of hard work instead of coincidence really forced me to come out of my shell, and the campus was small enough not to overwhelm me with too much to ingest and too many people to meet like my high school was. I've been slowly learning how to make myself heard, not just through my art, but through human interaction as well.

What kinds of things do you do when you're not attending classes?

I like to go to the library and situate myself into reading fantasy and science fiction novels…perhaps a manga or twelve (they read quickly). Book covers are one of the many things that made me think seriously about pursuing a career in art, so I often fawn over the big fantasy illustration artists like Keith Parkinson and Darrell K. Sweet.

Was there a moment when RMCAD changed from "a school" to "my school" for you?

Orientation was the strangest, scariest day of my entire life up to that point. I knew no one, and I was with my mom and grandma who had given me a ride. They wanted to be there for this legendary moment: the eldest granddaughter was going to college! I went to get my portfolio with the schedule for the weekend, grabbed a donut, and I bumped into my childhood friend! Knowing someone like that was here really helped to calm my nerves a bit, but we were following two different majors, so we had to split up. I was alone again…and then the girl next to me saw me nervously sketching anime characters. She was an anime fan too, and we quickly warmed to each other. I don't remember much about the orientation until I met my next new friend, a very outgoing girl who also loved anime and role playing games. I latched quickly onto this social opposite of me, and by spending more time with her, I met countless other[s who are] friends of mine today…and I began to feel accepted. All new pacts of friendship became solid over the barbecue at the end of orientation…and I knew that I was at a new home.