Colleen Deignan, a 2019 graduate with a bachelor's degree in drawing and illustration from the Herron School of Art and Design, landed a job as a laser operator at Laika LLC in Hillsboro, OR.
"[Laika] does a lot of stop-motion movies," Deignan said. "I do a lot of detailed work on the laser engraver that is used to help make the puppets, costumes and sets."
You may have heard of several movies produced by Laika, including "Coraline," "ParaNorman," "The Boxtrolls," "Kubo and the Two Strings" and "Missing Link." Laika is a stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos and short films.
As someone who grew up watching the movies made by Laika, Deignan became motivated by their work and used her resources at IUPUI to enhance her growing talent of drawing and design. During her senior year, she based her thesis around making sculptural figures, which helped build her portfolio.
"I made sculptural figures of a couple characters in mind," Deignan said. "I set them up in a scenery with really cool lighting and then took photographs of them. It is similar to what Laika does with puppets and stuff. I just didn’t animate them. It was a mixture of illustration with hands-on creating that I really liked."
Along with her thesis, Deignan’s design skills were, and still are, impactful to IUPUI. She worked alongside other Jags to create the Paws’ Pantry logo, Campus Center TV screen ads, flyers and posters.
Working in the Multimedia Production Center (MPC) and the Think It Make It Lab gave her the upper hand at engaging in research, design and digital fabrication. She is now able to combine what she learned from the Think It Make It Lab’s 3D printers and laser engravers with the project management skills she gained from the MPC.
Deignan is currently in the process of making a movie with Laika, but until it’s released, details must stay a secret. With her hectic schedule, she still finds time to at the end of the day to stay creative. Deignan uses her free time to focus on her side job, where she sells and showcases her own art and designs to others.
"I am always constantly working on personal projects or commisions for other people, or trying to make new merch because I also want to go into selling art at conventions," Deignan said.
