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The Ohio University Animation Club has created a space for people passionate about animation and drawing. Group members say they value their organization for its openness and because it has created a space where people are confident in sharing their works and open to feedback, growth, and collaboration.
The community’s membership stands at 20 people who regularly attend in-person events and a Discord community boasting over 50 members. Expertise in animation is not a requirement to join. Many members have majors not related to animation but have a passion and enthusiasm for the subject matter.
Joshua Irwin, a senior double-majoring in studio art and games and animation, was the group’s president during the 23-24 academic year. Like many kids, Irwin got into animation through cartoons and has loved the medium ever since. He considers it the best storytelling media form.
Katie Williams, a senior animation major, is the club’s president. Williams says she has been drawing and doodling since she was a child and only got into animation when she came to OHIO.
Evan Johnson, a senior games and animation major and last year’s treasurer, has been animating for almost four years, focusing on game development. He joined the group to see the diverse ways people are exploring animation.
We sat down with these three to talk about the organization, its impact on their lives, and their experience managing the community on OHIO’s campus.
An expanding audience
"Animation is simply making things move,” Johnson says. “The confusion and debates surface because of the limitless ways and styles people use in facilitating the movement. There are many different ways to animate and more styles to adopt - 2D, 3D animation, Japanese anime, and Western cartoons. It’s a lot.”
Williams says that she is where she is now because of the content she enjoyed as a child.
"Growing up, I watched a lot of Disney animation, and the documentary they produced on ‘Frozen 2’ is why I got into animation,” she says.
But animation doesn’t just have an audience with kids - it has audiences within every age group and demographic.
"There’s a new shift in mainstream media now where animation is no longer a genre but expanding to become a medium to tell different stories in different ways,” Irwin says. “So even if most art forms or styles are similar, we’re seeing more diverse approaches to animation now more than ever, and tonally, the content and the stories differ."
Irwin believes a factor contributing to that is the exposure of people to the internet and the various themes that have taken over cinematically.
"So many people have grown up on the internet, and that has exposed them to many things so you can have a violent animation like Invincible because of the superhero theme boom and have an Arcane borne out of the community of people who have played League of Legends for years.”
Williams noted that even for animation studios like Disney, newer projects have themes that appeal to more than one demographic.
"You see them advertise an animation for a child-like audience, yet the tones and themes appeal to adults as well,” she says. “That creates an experience where parents, young adults, and children can connect to an animation.”
The ethos of OHIO's animation community
The OHIO Animation Club strives not only to curate a space for animation enthusiasts but also helps members develop their skills in animation and other media.
"We have show and tell sessions on our Discord where people share what they’ve been working on with the community,” Williams says. “We also have tutorial nights where we teach people a skill in the art form. We’ve done stop-motion animation and crash courses in After Effects.”
In addition to skill-building, the group explores the various components of animation beyond the technical elements.
"We try to showcase the different possibilities of animation, emphasizing an enriching community experience,” Irwin says. “We look at different facets and elements that play a huge role in animation. Everything from voice acting to writing, depending on the community needs at the time.”
An evolving industry
The animation process has shifted to become more transparent in recent years, with animators increasingly willing to share details about how they create their work. Johnson, Williams and Irwin agree that the accessibility of the once-mysterious process works in the favor of the industry.
"It makes animation more approachable because now you don’t just see the final product but the stages from inception to the final version,” he says. “It takes the pressure off.”
Irwin believes creative transparency has gotten people interested in animation.
"In the beginning, the process held a mystique and allure of illusion,” he says. “But now it’s more accessible, and animators and studios have leaned into the accessibility to show more people what goes on behind the scenes and how cool the general process is at the end of the day seeing all these moving parts come together to form a masterpiece.”
Studio Ghibli, Disney, and other animation studios have had a massive impact on the world. Irwin says animators used to dream of joining studios like these but the increase of independent studios and variations in style mean that aspiring animators now have more options.
"Every year, we see a few independent projects that take off and enjoy mainstream success,” he says. “That has opened up possibilities of career options and the future of working as an animator in the industry.”
As those possibilities continue to expand, OHIO’s Animation Club will prepare its members for success in the evolving industry.