The first recipient of the ALCTF award for animation production, Selia Zheng, has always been good at drawing.
Born in Beijing, China, she moved to Toronto with her family at age 14 where she started Grade 9 at Woodlands Secondary School in Mississauga. “My English was so bad. Someone asked me, ‘What is your favourite subject?’ And I froze,” she said. “I didn’t’ know what to say. It was pretty rough in the beginning. That was 2019. For one and a half years, I didn’t speak much. During CoVID, I taught myself English. Around Grade 11, I made a good friend who spoke more English as well as Mandarin.”
Even as her English-language skills improved, teachers noticed she was good at drawing. Inspired by Dreamworks Animation’s 1998 musical drama feature, The Prince of Egypt, Zheng wanted to know more about animation. The 99-minute film, an animated retelling of The Ten Commandments film, featured the voices of Ralph Fiennes, Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock and Patrick Stewart. “Everything is crazy good in that film,” she said. “The 2-D drawing is done by hand. The plot is so good. I was crying watching it. The animation is so good it made me cry.”
When she said she liked drawing, her teachers asked, “Do you want to go Sheridan? It’s the Harvard of animation.” She submitted a portfolio and was accepted into the Honours Bachelor of Animation program at Sheridan College. “I got in on my first try. I had to submit a portfolio (figure drawing, character, background drawing) then they assign a mark. If you’re above 90, you get in.” She was one of 150 students in that first-year class.
“I enjoy working collaboratively with people in different departments, creating story driven, visually entertaining, and heart warming animation films,” Zheng says.
“My style is not that great. I’m more into the technical side of stuff so I’ve moved into 3-D animation which is a bit more technical, more computer related.” She explained 2-D animation is drawn on paper or using software. 3-D animation is moving a puppet in the software.
Zheng is spending the summer in Montréal on a four-month internship at EA Montréal, a Canadian video game development studio set up in 2004.
Asked about her career after graduation, Zheng said she will see what opportunities exist. “Some student are rehired at companies where they had their internships. Some get other internships. Some travel. If they hire me [at EA Montréal], that’s great.”
There are many options for animators, working for large and small companies. The common attraction, from Zheng’s point of view, is creating art as part of a team. “Pixar or Disney — everyone would love to go to one of those big companies. I want my name in the credits of something. I want to work with people, not restricted to film industry. I love collaborating with people, creating something from zero. No matter, small or big studio. Film or games.” And she is willing to leave Toronto for work.
There is one type of company which doesn’t attract Zheng. “I don’t like studios that use AI to create; as a tool, it’s helpful. If it’s a studio using real animation, I’d go anywhere so long as visas allow.” Fundamentally, large companies employ many animators, each with a particular role, she explained. “The company sets a style for the animation versus the animator. The purpose is to look like one person did it – although 100 people helped created the animation.”
In her upcoming fourth year at Sheridan College, Zheng will focus on 3-D animation and production management. So far, she has worked on a five-minute CG animated short film, The Letter Thief, as a production manager, animation supervisor, and generalist. “I enjoy working collaboratively with people in different departments, creating story driven, visually entertaining, and heart warming animation films,” she says.