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A Passion for Creating

Northwood post-graduate students Tam and George Nguyen are not only twins but also share the same passion for animation. The boys, both talented illustrators, are using part of their year at Northwood to further their skills and are working with animator, Dave Palmer. Mr. Palmer is an Emmy-nominated illustrator who has drawn for and directed a variety of productions including Blues Clues, and The Backyardigans. He has also been gracious with his time and spends an hour each week via Zoom mentoring the boys’ progress. Tam and George, born in Hanoi, Vietnam, and now living in Melbourne, Australia, gained a fascination for animation through the Japanese art form, anime, which combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. In describing how they produced a short animation of an ominous crab dancing across an otherworldly earthscape (attached), George says, “We drew each part of the crab, the arms, legs, and so on, and then combined them digitally using the Adobe After Effect, Digital Puppetry”. Tam continues, “Our Independent Study at Northwood involves what was intended to be a three-minute animation, but now might be as long as 15 minutes of a man versus cyborg story.” Asked what the future holds, Tam smiles, “Animation, yes, maybe in Japan,” as George nods enthusiastically.