Motion Design and animation

Idolic Requiem

Ariela Martinez

Bridgeport, CT

Advisor: Heejoo Kim

Artist Bio

Ariela Martinez is an aspiring illustrator and animator. While watching all sorts of movies and animations when she was a kid, her love for storytelling began to grow, and with a father whose art pieces always inspired her as a child, her passion for art began to flourish. In the four years she has spent at the University of Connecticut majoring in Digital Media Design, concentrating in Motion Design and Animation, she has learned many new skills that can help her create the art pieces and stories she has loved for so long. She finds most of her joy writing stories, designing characters, and creating art using her cute and silly art style. She wishes to pursue a career as a content creator, where she can freely create art and animations that can make people smile.

Artist Statement

IDOLic Requiem is a 2D animated short narrative with a storybook look that tells the story of a young idol who is being controlled by the ideals and expectations of those who call themselves her “fans”. I am a huge fan of idols, a piece of my heart has been filled by their music and by their kind souls, and I have seen my fair share of communities who show nothing but kindness and support to them. But I have also seen the dark side of communities, who think that they have a right to tell a person what they can and can’t do. People’s ideas of support are always different, and this leads to them sometimes being harmful. Idols have their own feelings and lives, just because they sparkle on stage, that doesn’t mean they have to sparkle all the time, they are allowed to feel their emotions just like us, to not always have to wear a mask to make us happy because we only see them as entertainment. My animation portrays an inner struggle between a girl and a manifestation of her ‘fans’ ideals. I wanted this to be a way to show how harmful people’s words and actions can be on an idol, and what it can do to them.