SHORTHAND

LIFE DRAWINGS

BEATBOARDS

Based on story moments from daily life.

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS

ZINE ILLUSTRATIONS

FANART

CHATROOM #88

Independent animated film created during the 5 months of my short film class in Spring 2023.

STORYBOARDS

This film was created in San Jose State University’s ANI 132 class where students were tasked with creating a 30 second to 1 minute short film. When pitching ideas, I was inspired by a screenshot from the Sims 1 game on Tumblr with the caption of “I CAN'T TONIGHT, I’m going ONLINE.” I felt nostalgic over the many early 2000s games I played in my childhood and the Y2K aesthetic, so I wanted to incorporate that into this film.

Growing up, I remember the multitude of MMO chatting games I played and having fun customizing my avatar. I luckily made long-lasting online friendships with others around my age, which I consider central to my childhood and upbringing. However, through this film, I wanted to try an alternative narrative about the dangers of blindly befriending strangers on the internet.

CHARACTER DESIGNS

Initial explorations and designs.

I had a lot of variations for Caia's design since I was uncertain of which style I wanted to strive for. Eventually, I settled on sticking closely to #2 and #14.For the avatars' designs, I wanted something reminiscent of the various customization options offered in MMO games. More importantly, I wanted a design that speaks out to a cutesy aesthetic from MMOs designed towards younger children.Ultimately, I went with a design that would make Caia and lampshade72 appear to be friends from their similar animal costumes. I focused on contrasting elements, such as Caia's angular shape language and silhouette, whereas lampshade72 had an overall circular shape language and silhouette.

BACKGROUND LAYOUTS

BALLROOM BASH

A 2v1 action sequence using my original characters.

SCUFFLE

A short action sequence using two of my original characters.

THAT SINGER GUY

Dialogue test using audio from Office Space.

SANDSTORM STEEL

Storyboard revisionist work I did for San Jose State University's 2024 BFA student short film, Sandstorm Steel.

2D Animation Reel

2D animation demo reel of various shots I animated on short films and classwork.

chatroom #88 (2023 Short Film)

My independent animated short film produced within 5 months at San Jose State University.

Click here to see how chatroom #88 was made!

Hey, there!

I'm Jenny Wu, a story artist majoring in Animation/Illustration at San Jose State University. I'm fascinated by fantasy action adventure stories, characters and their interpersonal relationships, and media that uses hybrid animation. I especially love creating artworks that are emotionally engaging and entertaining!Outside of drawing, my hobbies are scrapbooking, listening to video game essays, film analysis videos, and playing rogue-like video games.Thanks for visiting!