My name is Jessica French (JFrench for short) and I have a degree in animation from the Maryland Institute College of Art. I am also currently pursuing my master's degree in storyboarding and character design from DePaul University. Like most children that I know, I grew up watching animated movies and cartoons. Unlike a lot of these kids though, I never quite seemed to grow out of it. By the time I was in high school and I still knew the words to almost every Disney song by heart, I knew this was the career I was going to pursue.

 

To me, animation has always been something magical. "The illusion of life” as it was called by classic Disney animators is what really attracts me to animation. My interest ultimately lies in characters and how they are created. It is almost mind blowing to me that a still image on paper (or more often these days on a computer screen) can take on a life of its own through the magic of animation.