by Khalisah Hameed
Veronika Miller is a senior Visual Arts major with a concentration in electronic art and animation. Miller, hailing from North Plainfield, New Jersey, has been an animator since the Fall semester of 2019. Starting out with drawing “portraits of people and wanting to expand upon that,” Veronika discovered her love for animation after “watching a series of anime films” when she was thirteen years old. It was through her artistic background and discovery of the imaginative power of animation that she decided to “dedicate [her] life to animation, [her] art, and the animation community.” Veronika describes her animation as “colorful” and significantly inspired by music. Whereas most visual artists note other visual art or artists as their main inspirations, Miller gives credit to music for most of her creative juices. “For instance,” she says, “when I think of Earth, Wind and Fire, if they made a music video you can immerse yourself in that time and space.” In describing her work, and the aspirations she has for it, Veronika aims to create visual and sonic spaces that her audience can get lost in.
It is with this hope of creating a sensory experience for her audience that Veronika undergoes the process of completing her senior thesis project. The young animator intends to render a three-minute video that “doesn’t have a story. It’s more of a point of view narrative.” With a focus on creating detailed scenes and landscapes, Miller uses “the music as [her] main form of communication to amplify the visual aspects.” With her passion for detail and color, however, Veronika mentions that she often finds herself giving her audience a lot of information in the beginning that may seem overwhelming, or even confusing. In her growth as an artist, the part of this senior thesis project that Veronika is post proud of is the more minimalistic intro that she developed. On this, Veronika reflects that she is “learning to restrain [her]self in certain things so that the audience can better understand it,” and not feel as though they got more than they could digest in the very beginning.
As Disney and Pixar enter a new age of heavy-hitting movies that leave their mark on global culture and consumerism, the art of animation is one that cannot be understated at this time. The power of animation and its possibilities for world building are two of the biggest reasons why Veronika prefers her digital creations. “With animation,” she says, “I feel a lot better being able to visually show what I want without having to draw it or video tape it. I can make it how I see it, like if I wanted to make the sky pink or the grass rainbow, I can do it.” Miller envisions her animation breaking into the spheres of music videos and educational material, as she wants to merge her love for music and art to help others better understand the world around them.