Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Tisdale.
Jennifer, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’d like to say that I’m in the business of escapism. As a kid, I loved anything not based on reality. Movies, TV, video games, or just running around the backyard with a stick and my imagination. My family instilled the value of imagination in me at a young age with bedtime stories and magical trips to Orlando to visit Disney World. As I got older, I realized that these values manifested themselves in the form of talent for illustration and sculpture in an effort to bring others into the worlds I had created. But nothing has had as big of an impact as my trip to Universal in the fall of 2018. That year, my obsession with Stranger Things resulted in a family trip to Halloween Horror Nights for the first time, where the creatives at Universal had based a haunted house off of the popular IP.
My dad and I stood in line under the relentless Florida sun for hours to get into that house first, but I didn’t care. I could hear the all too familiar sirens from Hawkins Lab getting louder and louder as we got closer, and by the end of it, I walked out of that house knowing that I wanted to pursue a creative career. The level of detail and immersion completely blew me away. I felt as if I had truly been transported into another dimension. I immediately started looking into how these mazes were made and what sort of school I could go to in order to learn more about the processes that go into creating an event like this.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
When I found out SCAD had a Themed Entertainment Design program, I knew I wanted to apply. The only problem was, I couldn’t afford it. I still toured the school, but with the knowledge that I probably wouldn’t be attending. I continued to work on my portfolio and website relentlessly while I was applying to schools in order to present my best work to them. I had almost settled on a small college closer to home where both my mom and sister had attended. It had virtually no art program but I knew the school well and was afraid to go out of my comfort zone.
Then, I received an email. It said I was being considered for a full tuition scholarship to SCAD, and that I would need to be interviewed for the award. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I did a significant amount of research about SCAD and its programs for the interview beforehand. Directly after the interview, which was remote, my family took a spring trip to Universal right when I was supposed to be notified if I had been chosen. I was disappointed that I didn’t receive an email over my trip and assumed I hadn’t received the scholarship… but when I got home and checked the answering machine on my landline, I was overwhelmingly grateful to learn I had been awarded it and could now attend my dream school.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I do a bit of everything. My original love was for illustration, which I still do very often. I’ve moved away from traditional media and done mostly digital works and graphic design recently and I absolutely love it. There is a large part of me that resents how much screen time a digital artist uses, so I also have a love for fabrication and sculpture.
I took 3D portfolio-art in high school when I had the “aha” moment at Universal and that allowed me to develop skills with multiple materials and techniques like molding and casting with urethane rubbers. I also used to fabricate costume armor, which taught me how to use patterns to create three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional materials. I’ve even played around with app development and web development, thanks to my parents’ web design business. I currently have three apps on the App Store and a portfolio website that I update often.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
Like everyone, my life was uprooted by the pandemic. I spent a year at home doing online classes at SCAD, delaying my fear of leaving home. When my sophomore year came and I did go on campus, it was a hard adjustment to go from my familiar friends and activities to a new city not knowing anyone. I could have chosen to continue online classes, save money and continue working from home, but I felt that the social benefit of being somewhere new outweighed my hesitations.
While the year had a rocky start due to some campus COVID restrictions, it ended up being a fantastic decision. I’ve met more wonderful people in Savannah than I could have dreamed of, and I’m so excited to see what this year brings because I know the best is yet to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: JenniferTisdale.com
