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About
Biography
Being in love with animation her whole life, Itzel Rodriguez joined the Animation and Visual Effects major at NMSU. Growing up with animated features, she adopted the proper drawing skills that birthed her passion for animation. Her field of interest became digital art. She has been mastering the craft of 3D modeling and character design. As a Latina, her goal is to bring diversity and originality to characters while being relatable and real. In her path, she has found another crucial passion which involves recruiting and encouraging people. She became a counselor and leader for international students at EPCC, and since then, she has not stopped surrounding herself with creative and motivated individuals. She now seeks to open a studio to bring people together for the single goal of creating diverse and relatable art. Currently, she is a junior 3D Animation student ready to enter the industry. You can find her watching art tutorials online or enjoying a fantasy novel.
Artist Statement
Since I was a child, I would find comfort in fictional characters. I would find strength and consolation in their journeys and personalities. However, it became a must to know what they looked like in the shape of a moving or still picture to find a stronger connection. I would find satisfaction in knowing the characters had a visual and more tangible appearance. It just fulfilled me so intensely. Then, I realized that character design was the path that I wanted to focus my art the most. At first, I was self-taught in digital illustration. Now, I am a proficient 3D student at NMSU who specializes in 3D modeling and concept art for characters.
My vision is to bring diversity and believability to my characters. I want them to be diverse human beings, animals, beasts, and creatures. Moreover, I want to explore genres from fantasy to horror, from soft stories to desperate ones. In brief, I want variety in my work. As a result, I have gathered different influences over the years, which include Guillermo del Toro’s films, Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, Centaurworld, Harry Potter’s films, The Legend of Zelda, the Bioshock franchise, My Little Pony, and more. In addition, I have found an infinite source of inspiration in the people and world around me, from acquaintances to strangers. Everyone is so unique that they fill me with new ideas for characters and their stories. Due to this, I have fallen deeply in love with everyday life and its people. In short, I believe diversity means reality, and I want to portray that in realistic and fantastical stories to create a deeper connection and relatability with my audience.
At the moment, I am taking inspiration from every circumstance and relationship in my life. Also, I am creating characters for different worlds and genres to reach my goal of diversity and reality in character design. Finally, my art is about real people and expressing emotions and ideas visually through fictional characters. I want a diverse pool of people to relate to the characters I create. I want them to feel inspired by their looks and personalities, just as I did as a kid. Lastly, I aspire to have a visual style so versatile that people would be amazed by the variety of my projects.
Programs
Autodesk Maya, Zbrush, Toom Boom Harmony, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Media Encoder, Clip Studio Paint.