LELAND ARTIST

Aaron L. Williams

    Born May 4th, 1989. My family lived on Long Island, in the Town of Uniondale where they owned a business in renting videos and games. Being surrounded by movies and games in my youth caused  me to take interest in learning entertainment media.  I spent a lot of time drawing and coloring characters, creating landscapes and writing short stories. After being immersed in movies and gaming  I knew I wanted to be a part of it which led me to attending the New York Institute of Technology. 

    I enrolled in NYIT a year after I graduated from Elmont Memorial High School in 2008. I decided that I wanted to do graphic design work for games and film, such as fliers, and posters. After attending for two and a half years I felt that I wanted a more intimate role in video games and so I decided to switch college in 2012 from the New York Institute of Technology to the School of Visual Arts.

    The moment I enrolled and  met my guidance counselor  my world changed. When I walked the 4th floor halls of the 23rd street SVA building I immediately fell in love with it. Posters of films that were worked on by previous students were placed on the walls, which helped provide inspiration and the feeling that one day our own work would be up there. I spent the next four years studying animation, 3D modeling, texturing,  lighting, character concept art,  story boarding, and film editing, which led us to creating our very own student film. 

    Eventually I graduated from college in 2016 with the tools necessary to be successful, however I still hadn't decided on what I wanted to specialize in. Hindered by student debt and lost as to which path I wanted to walk as an artist I spent the next three years working at nursing homes trying to make ends meet and had fun teaching the patients the basics of  art whilst developing and practicing my skills at home.  After working alongside a programmer,  interning at a graphic design firm, and doing graphic design for a start up company, I  decided  to pursue 3d modeling while working on the side as a graphic designer.