Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to April Aquino. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

April, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my capstone film, Trigonometry’s Ultimate Method to Putting the Fun Back in Your Own Funeral. It’s a little animated short about a little cyborg boy who dies suddenly but refuses to go to the afterlife until his final wish is fulfilled – to cause chaos at his own funeral.

It was inspired by a project I made for my Animation Production 3 class the year before. For that class, we had to animate a music video for a song of our choosing and I decided to use one of my favorite songs, I Want to See a Brief Future by Sweet Dove, after receiving permission from the artist. The story I visualized for the music video was about a girl who dies young and watches her best friend grow up without her from the afterlife. I used that idea of someone dying too soon with my capstone film and put a more humorous spin on it while also keeping the sadness of the situation.

Trigonometry’s Ultimate Method to Putting the Fun Back in Your Own Funeral took the entirety of my last year of undergrad to create. It was my first time directing a film and working with a team of people, which was intimidating for me at the time. I was used to animating projects by myself and this forced me to slowly break out of my shell and open myself up to others. I got connected with a lot of talented people because of this project and grew closer to my classmates who shared the senior capstone experience with me. I still talk with some of them often and do art together!

Since then, my film has been screened at multiple film festivals in North America, including the 60th Chicago International Film Festival. It’s also won an award at the CineYouth Film Festival in 2024. It’s still making its way around the film fest circuit, so hopefully it keeps going far!

April, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a freelance 2D animator and illustrator, currently based in the Chicagoland area. I studied animation at DePaul University and graduated with a BFA back in the summer of 2023. Since then, I have worked on other animated short films that are currently making their way around the film festival circuit. At the moment, I’m doing some freelance short animations for a YouTube channel. In my free time, I like reading and listening to music, mainly K-Pop. Lately, I’ve been really into seeing live music (also mainly K-Pop but I listen to more than that I promise)!

I’ve always loved drawing and watching animated films, but I didn’t consider art as a career choice until high school. My high school offered animation and cartooning classes as an elective and one year I made space in my schedule to take one. The first assignment (after learning how to animate the bouncing ball of course) was to make a character move by drawing on paper notecards and while I was working on it, I realized how much I loved animating and wanted to keep doing it. I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at today if I never took that class.

My art style is pretty cutesy and anime inspired. One of my professors described my work as being a little demented, and I think that’s a good word to describe what I like to create. It’s silly and a bit off-beat, but once in a while it has its emotional moments. I also like to experiment and try different styles so that I can open myself up to learning about new things.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is being able to create something I like and sharing it with others. I like to experiment and try different things with drawing and animation and sometimes what I make doesn’t come out the way I want it to. However, I still learn something from the experience. Drawing is also just fun for me and I like seeing people react to what I create. Making people laugh and cry with my work is always a satisfying experience. Collaborating with others on projects is satisfying as well since I get to meet and connect with new creatives.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew earlier that there are a lot of animation specific groups that help you get connected with other people in the industry/people wanting to break into the industry. They hold events where you can learn more about certain aspects of the animation industry, such as building a portfolio for your concentration, and events where you can network and showcase your art.

The groups that I joined are Women in Animation and Asians in Animation and they’re pretty active on Discord and Instagram. They’re nice communities in my experience, a great way to learn about new job opportunities, and a chance to network and ask questions with people interested in animation around the world. They also offer volunteer work if you want to get more involved with the groups and send out newsletters every month with more helpful resources!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aprilaquino2001.wixsite.com/my-site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawnchair.salad/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-aquino-a21a021b4/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lawnchair_salad8475

Image Credits

Kate Valencia