Bree Lydon: animation

April 18, 2023

For sophomore Bree Lydon, art has always come naturally. After picking up crayons and doodling on paper when she was two, she knew she wanted to pursue art. The 14-year-old is starting to learn animation in her home and has recently begun a new animation club at school.

Focused in her drawing class, sophomore Bree Lydon works on an assignment in her drawing class. Lydon drew five personal, meaningful objects on a piece of paper, using them in her animation. “To imitate life, you need to know what it looks like first. There’s a lot of characters I’ve designed in the past,” Lydon said. “Now, I can add depth and meaning that I’ve never been able to add. While drawing this, I can also add shadows and imitate life, [play] with posing and try to recreate the stuff I see. I can set up my figurines, and after I draw the mannequin, I can put the character overlay on [it].” (Bree Lydon)

“I have always been attracted to art. I like pretty things, especially when it comes to the art that I make. There’s something about being able to express me in [the art that I create] and also being able to tell a story without having to think about how to spell words,” Lydon said.

Lydon is currently in the process of learning how to create animation. She wants to work in a big-time studio such as Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and sees animation as a career option. However, Lydon has experienced a few bumps while discovering her passion for art.

“Self-doubt is my largest struggle when creating a piece. I’ll be extremely confident one day and then look back on it the next day, and I don’t even know what I’m looking at, or I’ll just completely run out of confidence on some days. Sometimes, it takes a whole week to get back to working on my projects, like animation. But with school, I like [projects] because [the class] is paced,” Lydon said. “You can only put so much effort in until there’s nothing you can think of, and that’s when artwork sets in, and that’s just a whole new pain to deal with.”

Bringing her passion for animation to the school, Lydon recently began the new Animation Club. Wanting to start a club for animation since middle school, Lydon didn’t have the confidence to get a teacher to sponsor the club, but this year, she got impatient and gained the confidence to ask a teacher to sponsor the club.

“[In] starting this [animation] club, I hope [that] with [many] people collaborating, we could make something beautiful at this school. I’m hoping that people find an interest in this club, and we can share our creativity,” Lydon said. “Art [is] more than [an] escape; it’s building my reality. While there are only so many limitations in this world, you don’t have to have any in the world you create. Art brings a whole new perspective to [life] because you can put your feelings [and experiences] into art.”