ETSU graduate student animates for Atlanta Falcons

Megan Smith, current graduate student at ETSU, helped create an animation for the NFL team Atlanta Falcons.

Smith has had an interest in art and design since she was a child. However, after being diagnosed as color blind in high school, Smith began her journey with 2D and 3D animation.

“When I was in high school my [graphic design and art] teachers started talking back and forth and suggested I might be color blind,” Smith said, “I got tested on it and sure enough I am. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, what is going to become of my art career, you know, if I can’t see colors?’”

In her first year at ETSU she began exploring 3D animation even further. With the help of her professor, Greg Marlow, she “understood where she needed to be.” After graduating in 2019 with her bachelor of science in digital media with a focus in animation from ETSU, Smith began doing freelance work around the area. Her work around the area eventually led to her becoming a part of the Falcons’ project.

 A friend of Smith’s, Ben Riley, was working with the University of North Carolina’s Blue Sky Innovations group and reached out to her for help. She was asked by Riley to be the animator for a project the group was taking on. She immediately accepted the offer and began working on animating what many attendees will view through the augmented reality experience.

This project was specially designed for the Aug. 27 game, when the Falcons played against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The animation showcases the Falcons’ mascot flying in from the top of the stadium onto the field, where it grabs the Jaguars’ logo off of the field and flies away with it in its talons.

Smith was able to attend the game on Aug. 27 and had the opportunity to see her animation reach the mass of attendees and to see the Falcons win.

Smith hopes to create more projects with UNC in the future while continuing to work for Barnstormer Media. She invites anyone who is interested in animation to explore their interests in it. She relates digital animation to controlling a puppet, “one frame at a time.”

To learn more about the digital media program at ETSU visit: https://www.etsu.edu/cbat/digitalmedia/ or check out their social media on Instagram @etsudigitalmedia.