Hug The Crayon

HugTheCrayon is more of an online name/brand.

I made this website as a portfolio.

I'm a 3D modeler, animator, and content creator based in Houston, Texas.

I started animating when I was 15. My school district had a career center for students to sign up for that matches students interests for what they'd like to do as a career. I signed up for computer animation, and continued with it all through out high school.

In senior year, I had taken college bound classes at the Art institute of Houston. Color theory, Intro to Media design and intro to collages.

I was set up pretty well but did not pursue animation for college. 

The main reason is because I would not be able to have my hands on Maya, the program I had been using all through out high school, for two years. 

So, I told my parents I really did not want to go to college. You see, even though I did the work in school and got good grades, I did it because I had to. I decided I would rather move out and learn about the real world instead of spending time cramming projects after projects after projects that I never really cared for.

So what did I do instead of school?

I of coursed worked for the first three years. I did kitchen prep at restaurants. I loved the fast paced nature and collaboration on the kitchen line. But during that time I decided to teach myself 2D animation using a program called Krita. I still use it to this day for all 2D animations.

I also had gotten into video editing. I started streaming chess on twitch and edited all my livestreams into clips for TikTok. 

So fast forward, I'm 22, and I start working for a small business and the owner finds out about my background in animation, art, content aspirations, and all things creative.

He starts giving me creative tasks on top of being the kitchen prep and cashier. For example, I get asked to start a TikTok account for the business and I had to figure out how to have our own gif's integrated into instagram.

Unfortunately due to creative differences I quit.

So I got new job at an indie pizza dine in joint. They also found out about my creative background and I have made TikTok's and animations for them.

So now Im 25. The Art institute of Houston is shut down, mainstream animation is being replaced by A.I and indie animation is at an all time high. I have gotten back into 3D modeling by teaching myself Blender and continue to post my art online as well as freelancing.

I also picked up Duolingo, a free language learning app. I decided to teach myself Japanese! even though I'm an animator, I don't watch Anime. I would type something in Japanese but you wouldn't be able to read it.

I'm excited for the future as an independent animator. 

Enjoy the website!