The Eastern Tower

Gillian Partyka

Summerville, SC

Concentration: 2D Animation & Motion Graphics

Advisor: Anna Lindemann

2D Animation
3 min 27 sec

The Eastern Tower is a 2D animation based in the medieval fantasy world of Aelfhelm, a world populated by unusual creatures where magic can be effortlessly used if one has the right training. Sigvar, a young and reckless student, and his teacher Viccar, are in the midst of a magic lesson when something starts to seem off. Something threatens the Core of Aelfhelm, the apex of all magic that breathes through the planet, and it is Viccar's duty to be there to protect it.

Even though his grasp of magic is subpar, Sigvar rushes after to provide what little help he can, against Viccar's wishes for him to stay behind.

The Eastern Tower is heavily inspired by medieval fantasy, epic adventures, and non-human characters. The first book I picked up out of my own curiosity was Eragon, a medieval fantasy that features dragons, which sparked my inspiration to make characters and unique creatures. Other series like Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern, Mistborn, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and many others, fueled my inspiration to create my own unique world with its own rules and restraints. I've been developing the world of Aelfhelm for over a year now and I'm excited to finally give it wings.

I also want to showcase the relationship between Viccar and Sigvar. At the surface level they are just a student and teacher, but Sigvar views Viccar as a father figure as much as Viccar views Sigvar as his son. Even though they are not related by blood, they both strongly consider the other to be family and are unwilling to see the other get hurt.

Artist Bio

Gillian Partyka is the youngest of eight. When she was little she had an overactive imagination and drew doodles of horses and stickmen on any spare piece of paper. Stacks of printer paper feared her because she created epic stories that expanded across multiple arcs. There were few survivors.

She is aiming to graduate in the Spring of 2021 with a BFA in Digital Media and Design (DMD) with a concentration in 2D Animation. She was the art director for the 2019 Bushnell Projection Mapping collaboration with DMD, participated in the 2021 Piano and Motion collaboration with the Music department, and won a Fine Arts Talent Scholarship from 2019-2021.

Her goal is to inspire other young artists to create and build just how she was inspired at a young age.

http://gillianpartyka.com
https://twitter.com/Chipper_Smol

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