Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Motion Graphics • Lighting • Look Development • Rendering • Visual Storytelling
Why Participating
To collaborate with other creatives and industry professionals while creating meaningful animated content that inspires young audiences and expands her experience in new animation workflows.
Interesting Fact
Hanqian combines artistic creativity with technical versatility across 3D animation, motion design, lighting, look development, rendering, and real-time production tools, including Unreal Engine.
Pratt Institute
Master of Fine Arts in Digital Arts • Class of 2026
Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Character Design • Storyboarding • Rigging • Visual Development
Why Participating
To create meaningful animated stories while collaborating with fellow artists and using animation to inspire and educate the next generation.
Interesting Fact
Louis has contributed animation assets, character rigs, and production environments for multiple collaborative projects and enjoys exploring how animation can be applied beyond entertainment, including education, infrastructure, and emerging technologies.
Areas of Interest
Character Design • Visual Development • 3D Modeling • Lighting & Rendering • AI & Emerging Technologies
Why Participating
To use 3D storytelling, real-time production, and emerging technologies to create meaningful, interactive experiences that make learning engaging and inspire the next generation.
Interesting Fact
Pragya contributed to Afroverse, an interactive Fortnite experience that transformed physical African museum artifacts into a playable world designed to make history more engaging and accessible for young audiences.
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Master’s in Animation • Expected 2027
Areas of Interest
3D Character Animation • Character Performance • Facial Animation • 3D Modeling • Lighting & Rendering • Production Pipelines
Why Participating
To strengthen her experience working within a collaborative animation production pipeline while bringing characters and stories to life through expressive 3D animation.
Interesting Fact
Srilaya’s work includes detailed facial animation and character performance in Autodesk Maya, using blend shapes, joint-based facial rigs, keyframe animation, and lip-sync techniques to create believable expressions and emotion.
Areas of Interest
Technical Animation • Character Modeling • Visual Storytelling
Why Participating
To contribute to professional animation productions while building a portfolio that combines technical excellence with inspiring storytelling.
Interesting Fact
Shreya has experience across nearly every stage of the animation pipeline, from character modeling and asset creation to texturing, lighting, and post-production, using industry-standard tools including Maya, Houdini, ZBrush, and Substance Painter.
Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Technical Art • Character Animation • Lighting • Visual Effects • Game Development
Why Participating
To combine meaningful storytelling with technical creativity, collaborate with other artists, and help create original productions that inspire young audiences.
Interesting Fact
Diya bridges the creative and technical sides of production, with experience in Unreal Engine, Maya, Blender, Houdini, Python, visual effects, cinematics, and game development.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Bachelor’s Degree in Storytelling & Concept Development
Areas of Interest
Storytelling • Concept Art • Character Design • Visual Development • Voice Acting • Character Performance
Why Participating
To collaborate with other creatives and industry professionals while contributing her passion for storytelling, concept art, and character development to meaningful animated projects that connect with young audiences.
Interesting Fact
Zaria is a multidisciplinary storyteller and concept artist who has been drawing for more than 11 years. Beyond visual art, she studies martial arts and music and has a passion for singing, acting, and voice acting, bringing a unique creative perspective to character development and visual storytelling.
Areas of Interest
Visual Development • Environment Design • Background Painting • Character Design • Illustration •
Why Participating
To collaborate with a talented team of artists while contributing to original animated productions that inspire young audiences, expand creative storytelling, and provide professional studio production experience.
Interesting Fact
Carnegie Mellon University
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Arts • Class of 2026
Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Character Art • Modeling • Rigging • Animation
Why Participating
To bring professional 3D production experience and an entrepreneurial perspective to stories that help young audiences understand creativity, opportunity, and entrepreneurship.
Interesting Fact
Stanley has served as a Lead Character Artist on professional game and animation projects, contributing character design, modeling, and production assets while collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Effects & Technical Animation • Class of 2026
Areas of Interest
Technical Animation • Visual Effects • Environments • Production Management • Animation for Young Audiences
Why Participating
To help create entertaining stories that teach young audiences about entrepreneurship, opportunity, and financial literacy while expanding her production experience.
Interesting Fact
Caitlin brings experience in both building animated environments and coordinating productions created for children and teen audiences, combining creative artistry with strong production leadership.
Areas of Interest
Environment Art • Visual Effects (VFX) • Procedural Workflows • Lighting & Rendering • 3D Modeling
Why Participating
To contribute to professional animation productions while expanding expertise in environment creation and visual effects, collaborating with fellow artists, and gaining production experience on original animated projects.
Interesting Fact
Riley specializes in creating highly detailed environments and has nearly eight years of experience working in Blender. He also has experience with Houdini, Maya, and procedural VFX workflows, combining technical problem-solving with cinematic world-building.
DePaul University
Bachelor of Arts in Animation • Class of 2027
Areas of Interest
Technical Animation • Rigging • Game Development • Technical Art
Why Participating
To apply his passion for blending art and technology while helping create engaging animation and interactive storytelling experiences.
Interesting Fact
Dominic has already worked as a Technical Artist on VR games, educational games, and freelance animation projects, specializing in Blender, Unreal Engine, and technical art workflows.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Bachelor of Fine Arts • Class of 2027
Areas of Interest
3D Environment Art • Prop Modeling • Technical Art • Procedural Modeling • Virtual Production • VFX
Why Participating
To gain real-world production experience while strengthening her environment art and technical skills and collaborating with other artists to create immersive animated worlds.
Interesting Fact
Simran currently leads an environment team at a small animation studio and has experience with Unreal Engine, Maya, virtual production, and VFX using Niagara, with a growing interest in technical art pipelines, procedural modeling, and materials.
Ringling College of Art and Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation • Class of 2028
Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Character Design • Modeling • Lighting & Rendering • Visual Storytelling
Why Participating
To help bring educational stories to life through expressive characters and engaging worlds while continuing to grow as an animator alongside experienced artists.
Interesting Fact
Yaroslava combines artistic creativity with strong technical 3D skills and works with industry-standard tools including Maya, Nuke, and Substance Painter to create compelling characters and cinematic environments.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Bachelor of Fine Arts Candidate in 3D Character Animation • Class of 2027
Areas of Interest
3D Character Animation • Storyboarding • Modeling • Lighting & Rendering
Why Participating
To help create meaningful animated stories while gaining real-world studio production experience alongside industry mentors.
Interesting Fact
Vani has served as both an Animation Co-Lead on a SCADpro collaboration with Mayo Clinic and as the 3D Animation Lead on her capstone project, demonstrating both creative leadership and collaborative production experience.
Ringling College of Art and Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation • Undergraduate
Areas of Interest
3D Animation • Character Animation • Visual Development • Storytelling • Character Performance
Why Participating
To gain hands-on experience within a collaborative animation production pipeline while developing her skills in character-driven storytelling and bringing meaningful stories to life through animation.
Interesting Fact
Val is developing her craft at Ringling College of Art and Design, where she is building experience in character animation, visual storytelling, and the creative and technical processes behind animated productions.
Parsons School of Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration • Current Undergraduate
Areas of Interest
3D Modeling • Character Design • Illustration • Visual Storytelling • World-Building
Why Participating
To expand her creative practice through collaborative production while using character design, 3D art, and visual storytelling to create imaginative worlds that inspire young audiences.
Interesting Fact
Eva creates original characters and collectible artwork across both digital and physical media, including 3D-printed designs that blend traditional illustration with emerging creative technologies.
Middle Tennessee State University
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation • Current Undergraduate
Areas of Interest
Character Design • 2D Animation • 2D Rigging • Visual Storytelling • Concept Art
Why Participating
To strengthen her skills in character design and 2D rigging while collaborating on original productions and gaining hands-on studio experience in a professional animation environment.
Interesting Fact
Lizzie enjoys playing story-driven and competitive video games, with Overwatch and Fortnite among her favorites, and often draws creative inspiration from the characters and worlds they create.
City Kidz™ is a “nexgen” animation and media platform creating culturally driven animated content that teaches entrepreneurship, financial literacy, leadership, and innovation in ways that are entertaining, inspiring, and globally relevant. We believe storytelling can do more than entertain.
It can build futures.
CONTACT US at citykidzcrew@citykidznexgenstudios.com
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