"I was always drawn to animation, since I was young," Jackson Meyer, a men's lacrosse senior says. Growing up as a fan of Disney and Pixar animated films, he followed his passion to SCAD. Before beginning as a freshman, he was able to fly out to Burbank, California, where he was given a tour of the Walt Disney Animation Studios by Chris O'Connell, a Senior Environmental Modeler who inspired Jackson to pursue animation in college. "I learned a lot of basics," he says. "It was a helpful way to grow my skills before I came to SCAD."
During the college search process, Jackson applied to many renowned art institutions. His grandmother mentioned SCAD to him, which inspired him to take a tour where he heard about SCAD Athletics and the lacrosse team. "I reached out to the coach and sent what I had of a highlight reel," he says. "I didn't think I'd be able to play in college, but I thought it would be fun to continue playing because I love lacrosse."
Jackson was invited to visit SCAD and join the lacrosse team for practice. He also spoke with team members in the animation and motion design departments.  "Once I got to go to a practice, SCAD stood out to me even more because I realized the guys actually have a brotherhood," he says. "It gives you a family to have."
As a student in the animation department, Jackson found his passion in technical work. "I knew character animating wasn't for me, I like the more technical side of things," he says. "I like computers and computer science, so I went more in that direction." Technical animators have a very specific job on animated projects. "I do more of the hands-on building, rather than bringing the animation to life," Jackson says.
Technically rendered environments and models are core to any animated project, and Jackson excels at creating them. During his time at SCAD, he has developed his skills through various class projects and begun utilizing his skills in freelance assignments and longform narrative pieces.
Like all ANIM seniors, Jackson is participating in the creation of a capstone project. His focus on creating a capstone project began last Spring when he developed an original idea to pitch to the animation department. While in the height of his junior lacrosse season, Jackson created a story and concept art for "Dead Man of the West," a narrative short inspired by westerns and ghost tales. The story focused on "the mental battle of how a person is willing to put wealth over their own well-being," Jackson says.
Although "Dead Man of the West" did not get picked up to be created as a department capstone, Jackson was excited to begin working on "Charlatan." "I was following the project pretty closely," he says. "I liked the idea and had friends developing it." On the project, his technical skills are being put to great use and the film highly anticipated throughout the department.
Alongside the hours of work being put into his senior capstone, Jackson has also been focusing on a successful senior lacrosse season. "It's definitely difficult," he says. "A lot of students can pull all-nighters, not having that is a disadvantage, but it's all about managing time." To stay organized, Jackson adamantly follows his Google Calander. To stay motivated, he focuses on the goals he has set for the team this season. "We're really well rounded this year, and our culture has continuously gotten better over the years," he says. "We feel very close and that translates to the field."
Jackson also has his eyes on the future, planning for what comes after graduation in the Spring. "I've moved more towards business-oriented stuff, like advertising and marketing," he says. To make this move he's done freelance work on projects with music artists by creating 3D renderings for music videos and lyric videos. The transition to more independent work has differences from the narrative work he's done at SCAD, but he's able to rely on the technical skills that he's built. "The end products and work environments are different for sure," he says. "But it's all fun and it's all fulfilling."