The phrase "computer animation degree" sparks images of jobs in the video game and film industries, but 满帆 grad Christian Feliciano is proof that an animation education can help you succeed in a range of roles.

作为《OG官网》的视觉效果总监, 雀巢的内部创意机构, Christian helps create standout social media videos and animation for the corporation's biggest brands, 和满帆的 计算机动画og体育 helped him become an award-winning creative at the world's largest food and beverage company.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Christian was always interested in working in games and animation. He played it safe with a computer engineering program at a local college, but his heart wasn't in it. He decided that pursuing his true passion was worth the risk and started looking at animation programs. 后 参观了满帆的校园 通过学校的网站, he decided to make the leap and sign up for the 电脑动画 bachelor's.

一旦克里斯蒂安来到校园, 他被课程和教授们所折服, 他在迪士尼这样的大公司有几十年的动画制作经验. "I was just so in love with what I was studying and the professors were so knowledgeable,他说. "Just being around people who were highly skilled, it was just so motivating."

Christian最喜欢的课程是Advanced Game Techniques(现在) 项目和作品集VII:电脑动画在那里，他学会了如何在虚幻引擎中构建游戏. The final project was making a 3D multiplayer map level for Unreal Tournament. Christian led a team of five students in creating a level on an oil rig, 课后花几个小时解决小细节问题.

“有一个活塞可以上下移动. 如果一个球员击中了活塞，我希望它停下来，冒烟. I was there for eight hours trying to figure out how this stupid little detail would happen, 这种情况只会发生一半，我不知道为什么."

这种对细节的关注对他的团队有利. “教授要求和我们见面，他说, “是的, we basically give you guys a perfect score… because this looks like a level that would actually be in the game.' I've told my friends a couple of times that that's the highlight of my career. Nothing I've done after has felt nearly as good as working on that," he laughs.

毕业后, Christian moved back to Puerto Rico and worked for a TV network and a post-production studio doing motion graphics design. 几年后, he packed up and moved to Ohio to take a position at Nestlé as a Digital 设计er for The LEAD.

当时, The LEAD was a pilot project that Nestlé created to see if an internal creative team could do a better job with social media content than an outsourced agency. Christian helped Nestlé take The LEAD from a seven-person team to a fully functioning, 40人的成功故事.

Christian's days at The LEAD are spent brainstorming, pitching, storyboarding, and animating. One of Nestlé's brands will approach The LEAD with social media campaign goals. Then Christian's visual effects team works with the rest of the creative department to come up with a handful of ideas, 为每个人制作故事板和动画. 一旦品牌选择了一个概念, The LEAD takes off and Christian's team creates the visual effects for interactive, 为脸谱网等渠道提供吸引眼球的故事, 推特, Instagram, 和更多的.

Christian's had several favorite projects so far during his time at Nestlé. One campaign involved a plucky little gingerbread man named Coffee-Mate Joel. The beverage brand wanted to take Joel from TV commercials to social media ads, and Christian had to create something brand-worthy on a tight turnaround.

“这是我为雀巢做过的最艰难的项目之一, 因为我们在移动角色, 他说的, 所以有假唱, he's interacting with another person… the whole project was probably 80-100 hours of work in two weeks,克里斯蒂安说. Coffee-Mate的社交媒体广告大受欢迎, and Christian shows it off whenever a new Nestlé brand approaches The LEAD.

Another project for DiGiorno during The LEAD's early days still stands out to Christian. They decided to create a DiGiorno Pinterest app with two different pins interacting. "There was a pin upstairs of people reaching down to grab some DiGiorno pizza that's on a pin on the bottom,他说. 它引起了克利夫兰ADDYs的注意, and Christian's team won gold and silver awards for their interactive pin.

克里斯蒂安专注于模拟艺术，这让他在就业市场上占据了优势, and he encourages current 满帆 students to pay special attention to the school's foundational art courses.

“一开始你很沮丧，你会想，‘我为什么要这样做? 我为什么要画东西?' [But] all that stuff is what carries you forward as an artist… You can always practice and be better on [the software], 唯一不变的是艺术基础."

He also emphasizes how important it is to cherish your time at 满帆.

"There's almost never going to be a time when you're surrounded by that many people who are focused on being better the same way you are, around professors that are so highly skilled and willing to teach… I had the time of my life."