Bonnie Papernik and her daughter Anissa Lorenzi have both studied 2D animation with Prof. John Goodwin. This May Papernik will graduate with her BFA in computer animation and her daughter will graduate high school.
“We’ll be graduating at the same time!” says Papernik. “Anissa’s got college on her mind and I like this college. FIT has these wonderful programs.”
Papernik has worked in the past as a video producer at Panasonic, “a somewhat creative career,” she says. “On the side, I did art videos.” But her video making came to a halt after Anissa’s birth. “I did desktop publishing but it was volatile. In 2009, I got laid off because of the subprime debacle.” Papernik decided to return to school.
“With all my experience I could run a corporation!” she says.
While working toward her AAS degree, Papernik took bridge courses to be eligible for the Computer Animation program. “My goal is to produce an animated cartoon of my own,” says Papernik. “My big goal is to have an original program and hopefully an independent production company like Sponge Bob.
Anissa took computer animation with Goodwin this past summer in FIT’s Summer Live program. “It was very exciting,” says Anissa. “I got to be in a real cool environment. I got to meet kids my own age and look around at different programs at FIT,” says Anissa.
Mother and daughter compare notes about the animation class: They both made landscapes with gradient tools. “We animated a sunset!” said Anissa, “and then animated text.” They began with learning the basic movement tools—position, rotation, scale and transparency.
“Anissa comes from an arts background. She’s into advertising and marketing. Here in New York, it’s very applicable to the market,” says Papernik.
Goodwin recalls the first time Papernik animated her signature character Florentine. “She animated her walking the red carpet at a Broadway show. She had Florentine driven around in a limo. It was definitely a star treatment!”
Papernik is now experimenting with her character Florentine in 3D.
“I have to figure out her voice and who she’s going to interact with,” says Papernik.
“2D or not 2D” jokes Goodwin.
Photo: Rachel Ellner