HELLO!

I'M KAYLA,

I am a recent graduate of Texas A&M University under the college of Performing Arts, Visualization, and Fine Arts as a Visualization major with a minor in Studio Arts, with extensive knowledge of digital visual development and a focus in lighting & environments. I have an extensive portfolio of disciplines including Animation, Graphic Design, Digital Art, and Architectural Works.

INTERESTS

2D/3D ENVIRONMENTS • LIGHTING • LAYOUT

SOME OF THE WORK I DO!

Demo Reel

Graphic Design

Visual Development

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ANIMATION

GRAPHIC DESIGN

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

PROJECTS

1

SPELLBOUND

3D ANIMATED SHORT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT • LAYOUT • ENVIRONMENT

CONCEPT ART • UNREAL ENGINE • MAYA

With the premise that an amateur magician enters his study to practice magic, he realizes he is far more capable than he thinks. I wanted to emulate the feeling of a brooding environment, referencing genres such as dark academia and fantasy. A warm-toned, wooden layout fit the storyline best as I wanted to pull in viewers for the nostalgic aspect that fairytales evoke, as opposed to a modern, almost sterile environment that feels inpersonal and disengenuine. Here, I kept lighting very dark, with the main forms of ambience coming from the stained glass lamp.

Created/animated in Maya and rendered in Unreal Engine 5.4, I led this project through concept to final execution with two project co-leads. Here, I focused on lighting, layout, and environment through UE5 utilizing various lighting setups and keyframing for the lamp and magic from the spellbook and cards. I worked on secondary animation for the lamp and candles, as well as illustrating and animating the credits. I also assisted with modelling and surfacing the background assets, such as the wall and bookshelf/books.

All lighting cues for Spellbound.

unlit

background

blue magic

unlit

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Lamp asset from concept to execution.

Spellbound (2025)

Concept Art.

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SACRED LIGHT: ILLUMINATE THE FALLEN

CAPSTONE

CONCEPT ART • LAYOUT • ENVIRONMENT • LIGHTING

COMPOSITING • UNREAL ENGINE • AFTER EFFECTS

Closing in on my chapter as an Animation major at Texas A&M University, this project highlights the path I would like to take in the future, spanning 5 months for the psychology/research behind lighting and another five months for the creation of this project. Comprising of my two interests: Lighting and Environments, I created a rendered scene of three different lighting scenarios of a mythical forest environment in Unreal Engine 5.5.

Each lighting scenario covers three basic tones: Bright, Melancholy, and Eerie. I wanted to figure out a way to implement certain moods into each scene to prove that lighting is an important factor to the composition of a scene, thus prompting me to convey that while an environment may stay constant, it is lighting that pushes for certain elements and highlights underlying moods.

Various layout thumbnails before finalization.

While I have over 20 different renders for each pass, here are a culmination of a few for each scenario.

Lighting 1 Iteration 1

Lighting 1 Iteration 2

Lighting 1 Final Iteration

Lighting 1 Iteration 1

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Lighting 2 Iteration 1

Lighting 2 Iteration 2

Lighting 2 Final Iteration

Lighting 2 Iteration 1

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Lighting 3 Iteration 1

Lighting 3 Iteration 2

Lighting 3 Final Iteration

Lighting 3 Iteration 1

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HOPPING TO CONCLUSIONS

3D ANIMATED SHORT

MODELING/SURFACING • LAYOUT • ENVIRONMENT

UNREAL ENGINE • MAYA • SUBSTANCE PAINTER

This project displays a felt frog gathering dishes to set up a tea party for his forest friends. Though, when he sees that none of his friends showed up, he realizes he might have misread the calendar.

Created/animated in Maya and rendered in Unreal Engine 4.3, I assisted in the visual development for the short, leading in environment and lighting. During this project, I was able to get comfortable utilizing UE4, assisting in layout and learning how to create interesting compositions from set-dressing my scenes. I created some secondary assets for the table, modeling and surfacing the fruits and other various pastries. I drew the concept art for the establishing shot, which I then started on lighting to symbolize a warm and cozy midday to simulate the feelings that the hero has within his own party. To show that time had passed, I shifted the lighting to a warmer, dimmer sky to convey the sun setting.