Lynn Okimura, an industry professional, is dedicated to sharing the artistic and creative process with students of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. As a teaching artist she creates animation and visual arts workshops that make connections to social - emotional learning and to subjects across the curriculum, from language arts and social studies to K-12 STEAM curriculum.
Her career includes: Adjunct Professor and Instructor at the UCLA School of Film, Television and Digital Media, CalArts, and Woodbury University - where graduates are positioned to work at leading animation, visual effects and game studios. Her work includes animation, visual effects, design, puppetry, and mixed media projects for Disney, HBO, Motion Fiction, Secret Plan Studios, National Geographic, Sesame Street, and The Cooking and The Science channels.
Lynn has developed two series for the classroom. The first is “Storytelling through the Art of Animation,” when students practice visual storytelling, creative thinking, performance and problem solving through the process of animating. At the heart of every great character is their story; animation is the process through which they learn to design, compose scenes and create movement with purpose.
The second is “The Principles of Animation,” a STEAM focus. Students will explore how science, technology, engineering and math are all involved in creating the illusion of life in the art of animation. This series is tailored to integrate artistic animation practice with NGSS content and three-dimensional learning. The 12 artistic principles of Animation: Squash and Stretch; Anticipation, Staging; Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose; Follow Through and Overlapping Action; Slow in / Slow Out; Arcs; Secondary Action; Timing; Exaggeration; Solid Drawing and Appeal, will be applied to model how things move.