Animation junior Christina Oyebade ’22 was selected as one of ten awardees of the 2020-2021 Women in Animation Scholarship. Women in Animation (WIA) is dedicated to advancing women in the field of animation, their scholarship program is open to students from all over the world, with the 97 applicants this year hailing from Spain, China, Vietnam, Sweden, and the United States, amongst others.
From an early age, Christina had a love of drawing which evolved into a goal of becoming a character designer for animated features. Aside from that, she is also interested in working on television content, games, or children’s literature. She credits her Animation 220 film project with giving her a chance to try out different disciplines – storyboards, character design, rough animation, colors, compositing – which helped her figure out which areas appeal most to her as an animation artist. We recently caught up with Christina to find out more about the scholarship and her latest projects.
Congratulations on being one of the 10 students selected for the WIA scholarship! Can you talk about the application process? How did it come about?
Adriana Jaroszewicz [Chair of Animation] was my advisor at one point and suggested I join WIA because it has a lot of great resources for artists looking to start in the animation industry. I found out about the scholarship through their social media and thought I’d give it a shot and apply.
The artwork on your website is terrific! What are some of the inspirations?
Thank you! I watched a ton of anime growing up, so I’d say my biggest influence initially was shonen and adventure-type anime, but as I found more wonderful artists through social media my taste evolved. When I work, I love to put on anime openings and endings and play hip-hop, rap, and alternative music to give me creative energy.
What is the Super Detectives Club?
Super Detectives Club was a project I’ve had brewing in the back of my head since my senior year in high school. I ended up using them for a Character Development class back in Fall 2020. The story I created was about three friends who want to stay together and solve little mysteries as they’ve always done. But when middle school, cliques, and a case of a missing kid threatens to rip them apart, they have to learn to work together again. I based part of this story on my childhood, where I lost some good relationships because I was so focused on school. The other thing that inspired this were the mystery novels I read as a kid, like Geronimo Stilton, Nancy Drew, and the A-Z Mysteries.
According to your bio on the WIA website, you also work on illustrations for the LMU student newspaper?
Yes! I’m the current Cartoon Editor at the Los Angeles Loyolan. My team of cartoonists and I make illustrations for articles and Instagram posts.
Who are some of your mentors at LMU?
I definitely have to give a shoutout to my animation faculty Josh Morgan [Animation Technical Services Engineer and Lecturer] and Tom Klein [Professor of Animation] for writing my letters of recommendation – I’ve learned so much from them. And I also have to hand it to my peers for inspiring me to get outside of my comfort zone and work hard to be where I am now. My coworkers at the Loyolan also really helped me transition to a leadership role, and I’m very thankful for all the things I’ve learned there too.
Images: All illustrations courtesy of Christina Oyebade
Su Fang Tham is a story analyst and freelance writer specializing in filmed entertainment. Based in Los Angeles, she is also a contributing writer for Film Independent and CineMontage, Journal of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.
